Kaneohe Marine
killed in Iraq is
buried in Texas

SAN ANTONIO » The father of a Hawaii-based Marine killed in Iraq recalled his young son conducting his own chemistry experiments by mixing chlorine and bleach together.

"I'd walk out in the garage and there would be these foaming saucers," Frank Sweger said.

His nickname for Franklin Alan Sweger, who grew up in San Antonio, then was "Little Thunder."

"Frankie was always a handful," Sweger said. "It was tough to slow him down."

The 24-year-old lance corporal killed Dec. 16 while performing door-to-door searches for insurgents in Anbar province in Iraq was remembered during a 50-minute funeral service on Christmas Eve.

"He was the one who was kicking in the doors and going in first," Frank Sweger said. "That's what led to his demise."

Mourners recalled a young man with a desire to protect both his loved ones and his country.

"Franklin gave his life in an effort to help protect ... freedom for each and every one of us," Chaplain Larry West said. "He joins the list of thousands before him who have paid the ultimate price."

After graduating from MacArthur High School in 2000, he spent less than a year at Lamar State College. His father said that the student with a love for chemistry and math he realized he wasn't quite ready for academia, so he joined the Marine Corps.

He'd been stationed in Hawaii the past three years and was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment, 3rd Marine Division, III Marine Expeditionary Force. He was sent to Iraq this summer.

Sweger planned to return to college after completing his duty with the Marines, his father said.

Sweger was buried with military honors in Mission Burial Park North and was awarded the Purple Heart posthumously.

His stepmother, Becky Sweger, said her family won't forget Christmas this year, but "it will be really quiet," she said.

Since the March 2003 start of the war in Iraq, 51 armed forces members with notable ties to Hawaii have been killed in Iraq, Kuwait and Afghanistan. There are about 12,500 Hawaii-based troops deployed to those regions, with more scheduled to arrive there next year.