In Memoriam

Fallen Yadkin County Marine Remembered
 

YADKINVILLE, N.C. -- The weekend before Thanksgiving was a somber one in western North Carolina as a young Camp Lejeune Marine and a 49-year-old soldier called to serve in the National Guard were laid to rest.

Friends, family and a Marine honor guard in white dress caps and dark jackets gathered Sunday to bury Lance Cpl. Daniel Freeman Swaim in Yadkin County with military honors.

The 19-year-old was killed on Nov. 10 while searching for insurgents outside an Iraqi town near the Syrian border. Family members say Swaim was killed by an explosive device.

The Marines say they'll stay in touch with the Swaim family to help them cope with their loss. Swaim was a 2004 graduate of Forbush High School.

Staff Sgt. Mike Parrott also was killed on Nov. 10 when he was shot by a sniper as he patrolled an Iraqi highway.

Children, older couples, store merchants and families watched Saturday's procession down Canton's Main Street.

Parrott and his wife, Meg Corwin, ran marathons together. They ran on the Appalachian Trail and in the Rockies near the couple's Colorado home.