O'ahu's residents and military community gathered by the hundreds at a downtown city auditorium last night to say goodbye to Sgt. Deyson Ken Cariaga, Hawai'i's first citizen-soldier killed in the war in Iraq.

The Mission Memorial Auditorium near Honolulu Hale was filled to capacity and several hundred people spilled out onto the lawn next to it, where event tents had been erected and a closed-circuit video feed was shown on a big screen. The Hawai'i Army National Guard, the Honolulu Police Department — where Cariaga's mother and stepfather work — and Island political leaders pulled out all the stops.

"I think it is appropriate to hold this here, where we can all express our condolences," Mayor Mufi Hannemann said. "I think he stands as a tribute to his generation. He wanted to defend his country, and I'm grateful to him."

Gov. Linda Lingle and Honolulu Police Chief Boisse Correa were among the guests. Flags flown in Washington and over the state Capitol were given to the family. Cariaga's boots, helmet and rifle were on stage in a traditional soldier's tribute.

Sgt. Justin Lui, who served in Iraq with Cariaga and is home on leave, stood for a moment outside the hall after the ceremony, and thought about how all the pomp made him feel.

"Proud," he said. "Saddened by the loss, but still proud and honored."

The 20-year-old Cariaga, of Kalihi and a 2002 graduate of Roosevelt High School, will be laid to rest today at 9:30 a.m. at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific at Punchbowl.

Cariaga was assigned to the 229th Military Intelligence Company. He died July 8, halfway through the 29th Brigade Combat Team's one-year deployment to Iraq.

He was driving the third Humvee in a convoy of seven when a roadside bomb exploded beneath his vehicle. The road on which he drove, a stretch of beat-up asphalt that runs between LSA Anaconda and Balad, is one of many that bears the nickname "IED Alley" after the military term for roadside bombs.

Staff Sgt. Frank F. Tiai, an American Samoan soldier serving with the 100th Battalion, 442nd Infantry, a U.S. Army Reserve unit attached to the Guard's 29th Brigade Combat Team, was also killed by a roadside bomb, as was a California soldier serving with the 29th. Tiai died Saturday.

Authorities with the 29th in Iraq said this week that the brigade's troops have received 50 new, more heavily armored Humvees that will serve alongside the older models.

Cariaga was driving in one of the older, less protected vehicles. He was killed instantly, and was posthumously promoted to sergeant.

Cariaga, who was born in Honolulu and attended Honolulu Community College, arrived in Iraq in February.

He was a local boy who loved surfing, the ocean, li hing mango and coconut balls, family members said. He was spoiled — or perhaps just well cared for — by his grandparents. He always put his family first, and he was homesick in Iraq.

His mother, Theresa Inouye, said during a recent news conference that he wrote e-mails home every week, describing the 120-degree heat and the ever-present dust.

As the horrors of war hit home with him, he had — at least once, on a personal Web site — questioned what he had gotten himself into.

But Spc. Justen Laupola and Sgt. Faateleupu Ifopo, who served with Cariaga in the 229th Military Intelligence Company in Iraq, said the face the 20-year-old showed to those with whom he served didn't reveal doubts. They called up their images of Cariaga after the ceremony.

"Big smiling face," Laupola said. "Joking around, making us feel at home."

"Every time we were down or sad," Ifopo said, "he would cheer us up."

The program from Cariaga's service contained quotes from his e-mails home.

"I need to move forward with eyes open," he wrote. "Don't worry ... Take care everyone."

Cariaga is survived by his mother and stepfather, Theresa and Jerry Inouye; brother, Lance; grandparents, Roland and Haruko Akatsuka, and Margaret Boydston; and his father, Rodney.