Wilson joined the Army just over a year ago, going through his training in Georgia, and was then based at Fort Drum, N.Y. He died on Monday in Nerkh, Afghanistan, along with two other U.S. soldiers.

It wasn't long ago that Wilson walked the halls of Miller High School in his junior year.

"Matt came to us in April of '06, came to us from Idaho, and was only here for about a year, actually. He left us in May '07," said Miller High School Counselor Vicki Baker.

During his time in Miller, he played on the football team.

"Football's a big thing in Miller, and he wanted to be part of that," Baker said.

Wilson was also known for being a whiz with computers.

"Matt was very interested in all the technology," said Baker. "In fact, he even did some networking of the computers. He was very technology literate, very technology oriented."

"He loved playing computer games. He left his computer games with my son," said Lisa Jester.

Wilson stayed with Jester and her family for a couple months before basic training after he became friends with one of Jester's sons at school.

"He was really nice, easy going, very helpful, very smart," said Jester.

The Jesters exchanged letters with Wilson but not recently. Then came word that he had been killed by a roadside bomb.

"It was really sad, because we hadn't heard from him in a while. And my husband mentioned we still had his mom's shawl that's wrapped in our cedar chest at home," Jester said.

Matthew was a foster child when he came to Miller. Now, at 19, he is a young casualty of war whom the small community of Miller is glad to call their own.

"He was here just a short time, but evidently he found what he wanted here, and we became his home," Baker said. "He just wanted to serve his country, and we're extremely proud of that for him."

People in Miller say the Army was Wilson's career goal. He was awarded the National Defense Service Medal. Wilson s survived by a wife and child.

The other two soldiers who were killed in the same attack in Nerkh were Staff Sgt. Jeffrey Hall, 28, of Huntsville, Ala., and Pfc. Matthew Ogden, 33, of Corpus Christi, Texas.

Hall was a highly decorated squad leader who graduated from the Ragner Course, Airborne Course, Jumpmaster Course and Warrior Leader Course. He was in his third deployment to Afghanistan; the first was in '01-'02 and the second was in '06-'07. He had a wife and daughter.

Ogden was a rifleman who'd been in the Army since October 2007. He had two children.