MANCHESTER – A 1999 graduate of Memorial High School was killed Sunday in southern Afghanistan.

U.S. Marine Cpl. Mike Ouellette, 27, was killed early Sunday in Helmand Province by an improvised explosive device, according to his mother, Donna Ouellette.

The Department of Defense said last night Ouellette was killed while supporting combat operations. He died along with Cpl. Anthony L. Williams, 21, of Oxford, Pa. The two were part of the 3rd Battalion, 8th Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Division, II Marine Expeditionary Force, based at Camp Lejeune, N.C.

A moment of silence was held yesterday morning at Memorial High School. Principal Arthur Adamakos said Ouellette would be honored at a Memorial Day ceremony along with other Memorial graduates killed in service to their country.

"Mike was a great kid. He was friendly and outgoing," Adamakos said. "The last time I talked to him was probably about 2005 when he came to pick up some papers so he could join the Marines."

Adamakos said that for the faculty at the school during Ouellettes tenure, "this is a really sad day. Mike was a really nice guy."

Others also have good memories of Ouellette.

Nick Moutsioulis, now a Memorial High School teacher who graduated with Ouellette in 1999, recalled when Ouellette helped fix a flat tire on Moutsioulis' car a few years before that -- even though they didn't know each other all that well.

That memory stuck with Moutsioulis, who said Ouellette gave him a hand even when he didn't have to do so.

"I remember his smile. He was a kind-hearted person. He was a kind-hearted kid. Everywhere you'd go, you'd see him smiling," Moutsioulis said.

Ouellette's friends and former classmates were also mourning his death online. A group on the online networking site Facebook has been set up in his memory.

"This is such a tragedy. Mike was probably one of the nicest guys I went to school with," wrote Jeff Griffin, now of New Haven, Conn.

"My thoughts and prayers are with the family. I was a classmate of Mike's from elementary school through high school and I am glad that I had the chance to know him. He has given the ultimate sacrifice and will always be remembered as a hero in my eyes, wrote Nicole Daugherty of Manchester.

Ouellette had been a member of the Marine Corps for four years. His mother said he deployed to Afghanistan in October 2008.

Adamakos said he was a little surprised when Ouellette told him he was joining the Marines, noting he thought he was going to culinary arts school.

Along with attending Memorial High School, Ouellette also studied landscape-horticulture at the Manchester School of Technology, he said.

Ouellette is the first New Hampshire resident killed in Afghanistan or Iraq this year.

Last year, three state residents gave their lives: National Guard Cpl. Scott Dimond of Franklin, Sgt. David Stelmat of Littleton and CPO Nathan H. Hardy of Durham.

New Hampshire Union Leader Staff Writers Garry Rayno and Benjamin Kepple contributed to this report.