Marine Lance Cpl. Curtis Swenson was the fifth “;Lava Dog”; from the 1st Battalion at Kaneohe to be killed in Afghanistan since the unit left Oahu in November.

Minnesota Public Radio reported that Swenson, 20, of Rochester, Minn., was killed Friday after the vehicle he was traveling in hit an improvised explosive device. His body is expected to be returned to his hometown by Friday for memorial services.

He was a mortarman with weapons company in the 1st “;Lava Dog”; Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment, which is commanded by Lt. Col. James Baker. Swenson enlisted in June 2007 and deployed to Iraq in August 2008.

His younger sister, Emily, has created a a Facebook page in his memory.

“;You were loved and lost, but never forgotten. I will miss you brother, always in my heart,”; she wrote. More than 2,000 people have joined the Facebook page.

“;He was a good mentor for our younger youth — people looked up to him,”; the Rev. Norman Wahl of Bethel Lutheran Church in Rochester told the Rochester Post-Bulletin.

Cpl. Cody Wright posted on Swenson's Facebook page that a memorial service for Swenson will be held Saturday at COP (combat outpost) Sullivan in Afghanistan.

“;He was involved with pretty much everything we did,”; Michael Beckmann, Bethel's youth director, told the Minnesota newspaper. “;He was a good listener as well as a good friend to the younger kids in our youth group.”;

Wahl called Swenson a “;quiet leader,”; a description Beckmann said was fitting. Swenson had a good outlook on life, Beckmann said, and set a positive example through his actions.