Shea joined the Army for the camaraderie, the sense of belonging. No one likes being in war, but he liked being a soldier, said his mother, Denise Anderson. Shea is the first soldier from Mansfield to die in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, according to the Massachusetts Veterans Services’ office. A popular student, he graduated from Mansfield High School in 2005. Shea died in Iraq on Nov. 12, 2008, near the city of Mosul when he and other soldiers were ambushed by a renegade Iraqi soldier with possible ties to al Qaeda. “He was a hero,” Anderson said.