LEWISTON – The father of Army Spc. Beau Beaulieu says that when his son was born, he knew he would be special.

“Not only was Beau a son, he was a friend and also my mentor,” his father Tim Beaulieu wrote in a statement read by Tim’s brother Albert. “He taught me much by his actions and ways. A brother, a friend, a perfect son – this is his character.”

Nearly 400 people attended Beaulieu’s funeral Thursday at the Vineyard Christian Fellowship Church, near the border of his hometown of Lisbon.

Family and friends passed a box of tissues as Maj. General Conrad Ponde Jr. presented Beaulieu’s family with a

Purple Heart and Bronze Star. Gov. John Baldacci delivered a Maine state flag flown over his residence, the Blaine House.

Beaulieu died May 24 at Camp Cooke in Taji, on the northern outskirts of Baghdad, while serving with the 27th Main Support Battalion of the 1st Cavalry Division. He was 20.

Beaulieu’s stepfather, Frederick Field, lost his brother, Staff Sgt. Thomas Field, after his Black Hawk helicopter was shot down over Mogadishu, Somalia in 1993.

“Our hearts cry out,” Field said Thursday, fighting tears. “We love you Beau Ramsey Beaulieu. We are forever entwined from here to eternity to your heart of gold.”

Beaulieu and his wife Christina were members of the class of 2002 at Lisbon High School and were married shortly before he left for Iraq.

A photograph of the couple was one of 24 shown in a slide show set to “So Rest High on that Mountain” by country star Vince Gill.

Slides showed Beaulieu’s transformation from a chubby toddler into a grown man in uniform. In each picture, his eyes crinkled and his smile was broad.

After the funeral, relatives carried Beaulieu’s flag-draped casket to a hearse destined for the new Maine Veterans Memorial Cemetery in Augusta, where he was buried with full military honors.