PURCELLVILLE, Va. - An entire small town is coming together to remember a fallen hero who is being remembered as a young man who was passionate about his family and his country.

ABC 7 spoke with Specialist Stephan Mace's Grandmother. She said that what is helping her get through is remembering that in her son's 21 years he lived more than most people do in a lifetime, spending three summers on safari in African before joining the army.

"When you look into that airplane and see those caskets covered with flags and you know one of them is yours, and seven others were his buddies you can't explain it, you really can't," said Kay Petro, Mace's Grandmother.

John and Kay Petro were at Dover Air Force base Tuesday as their 21-year-old grandson's body returned to the United States. Army Specialist Stephan Mace was one of eight soldiers killed during a massive Taliban assault on their eastern Afghanistan outpost over the weekend, the largest U.S. loss of life in a single battle in more than a year.

"Those 8 men put their bodies between their buddies and the insurgents, that's why they died. He's a fallen hero," said John Petro. "He's always been ours, he's always been our hero. It's a whole vacuum in our lives because he was so important."

Mace grew up in Purcellville, where the town's mayor ordered flags to be flown at half-staff in honor of their fallen hero, the first of town's sons to give his life fighting in Afghanistan. Stephan was popular, an accomplished athlete who finished Loudoun Valley High School early with the goal of serving his country.

"He wanted to go into the military, he wanted to see how he could speed the process up, get into that life as quickly as possible," said Sam Gross, assistant principal.

While his family is devastated, they are proud of Mace's service and grateful they got to spend two weeks with him in August when he was home on leave. They say what they will miss most is his sense of humor, his powerful blue eyes and what they call his perfect smile.

"It's just so bright, it would light up a room," added Kay Petro.

Stephan has three brothers. His youngest brother, Chris is just 17 years old, but has enlisted in the army to follow in his big brother's foot steps. He'll report for active duty sometime after Mace's funeral, who is set to be buried at Arlington National Cemetery August 19th.

The other slain servicemembers were identified as Sgt. Joshua J. Kirk of South Portland, Maine; Spec. Michael P. Scusa of Villas, N.J.; Spec. Christopher T. Griffin of Kincheloe, Mich.; Pfc. Kevin C. Thomson of Reno, Nev.; and Sgt. Vernon W. Martin, of Savannah, Ga.

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