A 2004 Salem High School graduate who spurned offers from a top-notch engineering school and opted for Army service died Saturday morning when a roadside bomb he was trying to neutralize detonated.

Staff Sgt. Edmond L. Lo, 23, had started his second tour of duty in January, his family said. He was one of six children born to parents who emigrated from Hong Kong, became U.S. citizens and started a family.

The family runs a computer repair service in Salem.

LO

"I told him to be careful, and he said 'I know, I know,'" recalled his mother, Rosa Lo, last night. "I didn't worry that much because he was smart. I thought he knew how to handle it."

Gov. John Lynch said in a statement his thoughts and prayers, and those of his wife, Susan, are with the Lo family.

"Sgt. Lo served his nation with dignity, courage and honor and sacrificed protecting all of us. He is a hero to us all. On behalf of the citizens of New Hampshire, our deepest sympathies go out to the entire Lo family," he said.

In a statement, the military said Lo's explosive ordnance disposal team was attempting to neutralize an improvised explosive device in Samarra City when it detonated, killing him. Lo was assigned to the 797th Ordnance Company, 79th Ordnance Battalion based in Fort Hood, Texas.

Mrs. Lo said military officers came to her family's house at 6:30 a.m. Saturday to inform them of his death. The military escorted the family to Dover (Del.) Air Force Base on Sunday, where they viewed the transfer of a flag-draped case containing his remains.

Lo graduated from Salem High School in 2004, where he was a member of the Air Force Junior ROTC program. An ROTC leader in his senior year, Lo was commander of the drill team, color guard and operations squadron, said Thomas Puzzo, a retired Air Force chief master sergeant and aerospace science instructor at the school.

►Images from the arrival Sunday of Staff Sgt. Lo's body at Dover AFB
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"We called him Mr. Dependable. Every time we needed something, he was there," Puzzo said.

Ryan Oldeman, a member of the 2004 graduating class, said Lo was quiet and nice.

"He showed up every day and showed nothing but kindness to the people he knew," Oldeman said.

Lo was gifted in science and mathematics, and Oldeman said he was surprised to hear that Lo joined the military.

Puzzo said Lo started talking about enlistment in the second half of his senior year. He had already been accepted to colleges, but thought Army service was the right thing to do, his former teacher said.

Mrs. Lo said she wanted her son to go to college. The Rochester Institute of Technology had accepted him and even kept calling after he was off at boot camp, she said.

"He's tough, he's smart, he's handsome. He wants to do it," she said. "He had a very strong will. He wanted to serve the Army."

After his first tour in Iraq, Lo visited Salem High and showed photographs of his tour and travels in Iraq. He didn't tell a lot of stories or details, but he found the Iraqis gracious, Puzzo recalled. The military was hard work, and he warned the student they had to stay on their toes, Puzzo said.

"I would call him a quiet professional," Puzzo said.

The Army trained him in explosives, and he had tried to land an assignment in Washington for advanced explosives technology, Mrs. Lo said.

She said the military did not provide a complete explanation of his death, but has said details will be forthcoming. The family is waiting for his body before arranging services, she said.

Meanwhile, Lo's death is being discussed respectfully on Facebook pages of his fellow Salem High graduates, Oldeman said. He said the exchanges are sad and somber.

"It made the war much more of a personal issue," Oldeman said. "It made it real to us."