In Memoriam

Pa. man killed in Iraq had always wanted to be Marine

Associated Press

WARFORDSBURG, Pa. - A Marine from south-central Pennsylvania who was killed in Iraq told his parents when he was 5 years old that he wanted to join the Marines, family members said Sunday.

Steven W. Szwydek left for boot camp four days after he graduated high school.

On Thursday, the 20-year-old Marine lance corporal on his second tour of duty in Iraq was killed by a roadside bomb during combat, according to the Department of Defense.

Friends and relatives of Szwydek gathered Sunday at his home in this Fulton County town to remember him.

"We did try to talk him into - very strongly - looking into other branches of the armed forces," said his father, Wallace Szwydek.

Szwydek was serving with the 2nd Battalion, 2nd Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Division, II Marine Expeditionary Force, based in Camp Lejeune, N.C. He was killed with two other Marines - Lance Cpl. Andrew David Russoli, 21, of Greensboro, N.C., and staff Sgt. Rick Pummill, 27, of Cincinnati - near Nasser Wa Salaam, 25 miles west of Baghdad.

Szwydek was born in Portsmouth, Va., and in 2003 graduated from Southern Fulton High School, where he played outfield and catcher on the baseball team, managed the basketball team, sang in the school choir and was chaplain for the Future Farmers of America chapter

"He was one of the nicest guys you ever knew," said friend Timothy Keebaugh. "He'd do anything to help you out. He was a funny guy" who loved the outdoors.

Living about 50 miles from Gettysburg, he also was a military history enthusiast and accumulated a military weapons collection that included firearms dating back to World War I.

His younger brother, Corey, said Szwydek had discussed leaving the Marines to attend college and then returning as an officer.