To friends Sergeant Zach Tomczak was a regular high school kid wanting to have fun.

"I remember playing paintball with him all through high school. The four of us would get together and go out to the tree strip, and he would practice his military stuff while we got shot," said a good high school friend Bart Peiffer.

And to those who taught and coached him, he was determined to never give up.

"He was a giver, not a taker.  Zach was to be a starting fullback on the football team, but tore up his knee at the beginning of the season, yet he never missed a practice," remembers Huron High School Principal Terry Nebelsick.

But even in high school, while being involved in football and the school newspaper, he had a desire to fight for his country.

"He always enjoyed the military, or something like that, he enlisted when he was 17, and went through basic right after high school," said Peiffer.

Sergeant Tomczak grew up in Huron, but hasn't lived here for a while. He was stationed at Fort Bragg in North Carolina where he lived with his wife, Beth. His friends said when he did come back home, he was the same determined and fun-loving person they always knew. So it is hard for them to believe that this has happened.

"I did not want to believe his sister when she told me, but when it finally sunk in, and then I read the paper, it really hit hard," stated Peiffer. 

But for the people who knew Sgt. Zach Tomczak, they know he will be remembered as a dedicated friend, student and soldier.

Students and faculty at the Huron High School held a moment of silence today in memory of Sergeant Zach Tomczak. A date has not yet been set for his funeral.