Loved ones welcome home fallen O.C. Marine

LOS ALAMITOS, Calif. (KABC) -- Family and friends of an Anaheim Marine killed in combat operations in Afghanistan gathered at the Joint Forces Training Base in Los Alamitos Thursday to welcome home his body.

Lance Cpl. Justin J. Swanson, 21, was a graduate of Buena Park High School and died Nov. 10 after an improvised explosive device detonated in southern Afghanistan.

His death came on the official birthday of the U.S. Marine Corps, and a day before Veterans Day.

Swanson's high school English teacher, Ron Carcich, told the OC Register he is heartbroken over Swanson's Death.

"He'll never be married. He'll never have children," said Carcich. "It's the loss of what could have been, what was just starting to be. It tore me to pieces. I cried like a baby."

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