WRAL.com -- GREENVILLE, N.C. — An Army medic from North Carolina who was killed trying to help fellow soldiers after a bomb exploded in Iraq deserves a hero's send-off, a family friend said Wednesday.

Spc. Ryan D. Russell, 20, of Elm City, North Carolina, died Monday when an improvised explosive device detonated near his unit, the Department of Defense announced Wednesday. Also killed in the explosion were Spc. Blake Harris, 22, of Pueblo, Colorado, and Pvt. Barry W. Mayo, 21, of Ecru, Mississippi

Russell was assigned to the 1st Squadron, 12th Cavalry Regiment, 3rd Brigade, 1st Cavalry Division at Fort Hood, Texas.

Russell was aiding soldiers whose Humvee had been hit by a spring-loaded improvised explosive device when a second device went off, family friend Barbara Whitehead told The Daily Reflector of Greenville.

"Ryan was rushing to help his soldiers," Whitehead said, fighting back emotion. "As a mother, your heart just breaks whenever you hear this."

Whitehead, whose son is in Russell's company, said Russell deployed in August.

She said Russell's mother contacted her shortly after an Army casualty team came to her home in Ayden, a town south of Greenville.

"She was home alone when they showed up," said Whitehead, who was in Hawaii visiting her hew grandchild when she got the phone call.

Whitehead, who directs the Greenville branch of Give2TheTroops, an organization that sends supplies to troops, said she immediately contacted three volunteers to help Russell's grieving mother.

Russell's mother recently stopped by the organization and shared photographs that showed her son smiling with Iraqi children.

"Ryan was proud to do this job," Whitehead said. "He made an impact on this world forever. I want Pitt County to give Ryan a hero's send-off."