Sgt. Tofiga J. Tautolo, 23, never backed down from a challenge.

So when a husky soldier challenged the men around him in a weight room in Afghanistan to lift 100-pound dumbbells, Tautolo naturally spoke up.

Several curls later, Tautolo smirked.

“You know you should never challenge a Samoan to a contest of strength,” Tautolo said.

The story, told by eulogist Capt. Bryan Gray, summoned a rare chuckle from the hundreds of Tautolo’s friends, comrades and family members who gathered Friday in the Soldiers’ Memorial Chapel on Fort Carson.

Click here to see a slideshow from the memorial

The crowd wept quietly and often as they remembered the sergeant, who died May 27 — the day before Memorial Day — when an insurgent bomb exploded while he was on patrol in Nangarhar province of eastern Afghanistan.

“He was the strongest of us, the best of us,” said Gray, who is with Tautolo’s unit, the 4th Brigade Combat Team’s 3rd Squadron of the 61st Cavalry Regiment. “He will be missed.”

He is the fourth soldier in the brigade to be killed since the unit went to war in March. Seventy-five Fort Carson soldiers have died in Afghanistan, while another 258 died during the war in Iraq.

Born in Pago Pago, American Samoa, Tautolo first served as a Marine — deploying to Iraq in 2008 and then to Afghanistan in 2009 for seven-month tours, Fort Carson records show.

When he joined the Army in 2010, he made an immediate impression — expertly walking the line between quiet leader and laid-back jokester to keep his soldiers loose but ready for war.

“The first thing I noticed about him was a proud soldier who stood tall,” said Sgt. Richard Dorr, his voice cracking through a eulogy.

Standing guard in a tower one day, Dorr recalled Tautolo spoke of his biggest passion: being a father. Tautolo talked for hours about his wife, Rita, and his 19-month-old son.

“Everything he did, he did for his family,” Dorr said.

When his son was born on Nov. 10, 2010 — the anniversary of the Marines Corps’ 1775 founding — Tautolo thought back to his time in the military, said Capt. Joseph Moffitt, a post chaplain.

Tautolo named his son Toaotaua. Translated, it means “Warrior of War.”

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Soldiers salute a memorial display to fallen comrade Sgt. Tofiga Joshua Tautolo Friday, June 8, 2012 following a memorial service at Fort Carson’s Soldiers’ Memorial Chapel in Colorado Springs Colo. Tautolo, a 4th Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division soldier, was killed May 27 while serving in Afghanistan. Photo gallery at SpringsMilitaryLife.com Photo by Mark Reis, The Gazette

Soldiers wait to enter Fort Carson’s Soldiers’ Memorial Chapel in Colorado Springs Colo. Friday, June 8, 2012, for a memorial service for fallen soldier Sgt. Tofiga Joshua Tautolo. Tautolo, a 4th Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division soldier, was kil Photo by Mark Reis, The Gazette