DEVILS LAKE - Jeremiah Santos once slept in a cardboard box on a February night to see what it felt like to be homeless.

He thought it was cool to give his parents hugs and kisses in front of his teenage friends. He came through some tough times with a strong faith.

Those were among the memories of friends and relatives who gathered Wednesday at the Bethel Evangelical Free Church to remember Santos, 21, an Army soldier who died June 15 in a roadside bomb attack in Baghdad.

Santos grew up in Devils Lake and Minot. He was promoted to the rank of corporal and was buried June 26 in Ramona, Calif., where his father and other relatives live, with full military honors.

Wednesday's memorial service, attended by more than 250 people, was held at the same Devils Lake church where Santos spoke this spring about his military service in Iraq, when he was home on leave.

Mourners gathered around a portrait of Santos, a rose, an American flag and his medals. About 50 motorcycle riders with American flags lined up outside the church.

"Jeremiah spoke to the members of his church right here and the youth of the area on his believe in God and convictions of his service in the Army and to the Iraqi people," the Rev. Bruce Dick said.

Speakers at the memorial service included Santos' friends and former students at the Quentin Burdick Job Corps Center in Minot, where he studied from 2003 to 2004 and where a tree was planted in his honor. His friends drew laughs when they talked about his old truck with no floor boards.

Gov. John Hoeven and Darrin Cox, a former youth minister, talked about how Santos and others slept in cardboard boxes to try to better understand homelessness.

Santos was a "courageous, humorous and intelligent man whose caring leadership style affected the lives of all who came in contact with him," Dick said.

Santos' mother, Laurie McGlone, of Devils Lake, remembered that her son used to give her kisses in front of his high school friends.

"He kissed me in front of the high school, in front of his friends, and he got ribbed for it a lot," she said. "But then he'd say to them, 'Don't you kiss your mom?'"

One of Santos' best friends was Marie Wiens, 83, of Devils Lake.

Family members and friends said she was the first person he would look up when he came back on leave.

Wiens said he wrote her letters from Iraq. His death "hit me so hard I couldn't believe it," she said. "But I've accepted it now because he's with God."

Patrick McGlone said he and his stepson got matching tattoos last November when Santos was home on leave. The design, of a knight chess figure, had special meaning for them because they played chess. The tattoo included the words, "no guts, no glory."

"I used to say it to him to challenge him," McGlone said. "He was 100 percent committed to his country, to his president, to his family and his god."

Hoeven said Santos believed in what he was fighting for.

"He had a big heart and he was a good son of North Dakota," the governor said.

Santos was assigned to the 2nd Battalion of 8th Infantry Regiment, 2nd Brigade, 4th Infantry Division of Fort Hood, Texas, officials said.

His wife, Jessica, also is a former Job Corps student in Minot and is serving in the Army at Fort Hood, Texas.