KETV 7 -- OMAHA, Neb. -- The Mayor of Ashland, Nebraska ordered flags to fly at half staff in Ashland on Friday.

It's a tribute to a 19-year-old hometown hero who died in the war in Iraq. Spc. Dustin Workman II's friends said he was killed by a roadside bomb.

"It's something you don't think about. Yeah, he's going over to the war. You don't think about the worst; you think about when you're coming home," said Workman's friend, Nick Stewart.

"He just sent me a message on Facebook a couple days ago saying how excited he was to come back," said Workman's friend, Alicia Widger.

Stewart and Widger said they can't believe their friend won't be coming home alive.

"It's someone you're used to seeing all the time, and now you're never going to see him again," said Stewart.

"You just don't think it will really happen until it really does. You hear about it all the time, to other families, but it doesn't hit until it's somebody you know," said Widger.

Stewart, Widger and Workman all graduated from Ashland Greenwood High School in 2005.

One of Stewart's favorite memories of Workman is from graduation day.

"I had to walk with Dustin during graduation, and while we're leaving he jumps up into my arms, and I had to carry him out. It was so funny; that's probably my favorite moment," said Stewart.

Stewart and Widger said Workman was a great writer, loved to sing and had so many friends. They say he always wanted to be in the military.

"I'm surprised he didn't go in the Air Force; he loved it so much," said Widger.

Widger said Workman was supposed to come home from the war in five months.