However, an injury suffered during his senior year of high school threatened his soccer career at West Point. He played JV his first year and gradually climbed his way up the ranks to earn a starting position on the varsity squad by his junior year.

He eventually made all-Patriot league, and even tried his hand as a semi-professional player in Germany.

Matt T. Wiger, an HBS student who was a classmate of Adamouski’s at West Point, described James Adamouski as a congenial and enthusiastic spirit.

“He was one of those guys. In the army it’s very hard to be liked by both your commanders and your subordinates. Jimmy was able to balance both. He was loved up and down the chain of command,” Wiger said in April.

After graduating from West Point, James Adamouski attended flight school, where he learned to fly Black Hawk helicopters.

According to his father, he was also a very committed Christian and a lay Eucharist minister in the Catholic Church.

According to a letter he sent to his family before his death, James Adamouski came to be known as “Father Jimmy” by the soldiers under his command because he conducted prayer services, scripture readings, and served communion for his fellow soldiers.

Adamouski is survived by his wife, whom he married shortly before his deployment to Iraq.

Meighan Adamouski said that Jimmy had been committed to reaching out and helping those around him.

“He always had a smile on his face,” she said. “He loved life and lived that love.”

—Staff writer Wendy D. Widman can be reached at widman@fas.harvard.edu.