For his senior prom, Nick Mason didn't rent a tuxedo. He made one--out of duct tape.

On a coffee table in his parents' King George County home sits a picture of that glorious moment. His date wears a full-length pale blue dress with white gloves that stretch from her fingertips to just above her elbows.

Beside her is a clean-cut young man attired in duct-tape-covered slacks and matching jacket and cap. Beneath his chin--where one would wear a bow tie--dangles a blue Chevrolet emblem.

Smiling at the recollection, Christine Mason says her son's date knew what she was getting when she accepted his invitation to the prom.

Character is often cited as a desirable trait for a soldier. Nick Mason had that brand of character, but his family also made it clear this week that the 2002 honors graduate of King George High School also was quite a character.

"Entertaining" was one word his mother used to describe the young man who picked up his sister from her first school dance with a dead deer affixed to the front bumper of his Jeep.

It was his first deer and he was proud of it, his father, Vic Mason, said. It didn't matter that he hadn't felled it with a rifle but with the grill of his vehicle.

Carley Mason, now 17, said he was upset she didn't immediately notice it; she was upset that he was an hour late.

Christine and Vic Mason and the younger of their two children, Carley, enjoy talking about Nick's antics.

Those were the good times.

They've also found comfort and purpose in planning and preparing a memorial to him on their 20-plus-acre property. The Masons considered Arlington National Cemetery, but instead chose to establish a family cemetery after 20-year-old Nicholas Conan Mason was killed four days before Christmas inside the mess tent of a U.S. base near Mosul, Iraq.

Despite his penchant for playfulness, Nick Mason also had a serious side.

He loved serving as a volunteer firefighter and, shortly after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, he asked his parents to sign the paperwork so he could join the National Guard--just one month after turning 17.