MOSCOW -- Two days after her son was killed in Baghdad, Gail Dore still could not believe the news.

"It's a roller coaster," a tearful Dore said on Tuesday at her home, surrounded by family and an Army casualties assistance officer. "It's unreal that my baby's gone. We'll have a hole in our soul forever, until we're together again."

Pfc. Jason E. Dore, 25, died Sunday. He served with the 2nd Battalion, 5th Cavalry Regiment, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division.

By mid-afternoon Tuesday, Army officials had notified the family that it was a suicide bomber -- not a roadside bomb, as the Army previously had reported -- that killed him.

"A convoy truck filled with explosives crashed outside his Humvee, and it killed him instantly," said Dore's 15-year-old brother, Logan French.

Members of the soldier's family -- including his fiancˇe, Sophie Belanger, of Westbrook -- comforted one another Tuesday as they answered questions from many members of the news media.

Outside, Dore's grandparents, Clayton and Lucille McDonald, took shade under a big maple tree. Cousins sat in the sun, near a tidy flower bed that surrounds the home. Vehicles jammed the driveway.

Despite their grief, family members graciously greeted each new visitor who would ask the same questions they had already answered many times before.

"We want the people to know what he was all about and why he was doing it," Clayton McDonald said. "He loved what he was doing." Gail Dore recalled that just two weeks prior to his death, Jason Dore had re-enlisted for another three years.

"He loved what he was doing because he knew he could make a difference and help somebody else," she said. "He wanted to go back to his brothers."

Pfc. Dore was on patrol as a gunner when the suicide bomber killed him, according to family friend Alan Hensley.

"He tried to bring the enemy out -- that was his job," Hensley said. "But you're not allowed to engage until they engage."

Misty-eyed, French recalled his big brother as his hero.

"He was there for me whenever I was sad or in trouble or something," he said. "He was my role model. It's going to be hard not seeing him."

As of Tuesday, family members had not yet been informed when the soldier's remains would be returned to Maine. The family hopes to have a funeral at Dore's old school, Upper Kennebec Valley Memorial High School. Burial will be at Robinson Cemetery in Moscow.

Gail Dore hopes that her nephew, Brandon Pratt of Bingham, will be able to accompany her son's remains home. Pratt is stationed in Germany with the Air Force.

"They were like brothers," said Dore, trembling. "Brandon says Jason's always been his hero."

Just two months ago, Pfc. Dore was home on leave, family members recalled. He vacationed with his family, fishing the great trout and salmon waters of the upper Kennebec Valley.

More importantly to Gail Dore, he was home for Mother's Day.

"It's the best Mother's Day I ever had, or ever will have," she said.

Larry Grard -- 474-9534, Ext. 343

lgrard@centralmaine.com