Man dies in Iraq from gunshot

SEMPER FI: His family and friends remember the 18-year-old who loved being a Marine.

10:00 PM PST on Wednesday, November 1, 2006

By SONJA BJELLAND
The Press-Enterprise

CORONA - Gulf War veteran and retired Marine Genaro Franco sat in his living room talking about how his son loved his mother's lasagna, his Mercedes Benz C320 and spending time with their large, extended family.

He said he also knows his 18-year-old son loved being a Marine.

Jason Franco had been in Iraq less than a month when he died Tuesday. He was the seventh Inland man to die in one of the war's deadliest months and the second Buena Vista High School graduate to die there this year.

About 2 a.m. Tuesday, the family got a knock on the front door. His mother, Guadalupe Franco, asked who it was, and when the answer was the Marine Corps, she knew.

The family had spoken to him just a few hours before he died.

"He was so happy to be there. That's why he volunteered," said his teary-eyed mother, who was glad to have had that last conversation.

Jason Franco also told his father that no matter what happened to him in Iraq, his father should take care of his younger brother, Kristian, 14, and sister Kuuielani, 12.

Officials in Iraq are investigating the death, which the family described as a gunshot wound to the head. The Department of Defense has classified the death as a nonhostile incident, not from action against the enemy. Major Stewart Upton said he did not have more information on the incident but said something initially classified as nonhostile could change after an investigation.

Jason Franco joined the Marine Corps shortly after turning 18 last December. After boot camp and military occupational specialty training, he was stationed at Miramar Marine Corps Air Station and went home to Corona every weekend, Guadalupe Franco said. He told his sergeant that he would volunteer to go to Iraq in advance of the unit's scheduled deployment in February.

With little fanfare, the former swimmer and water-polo player deployed to Iraq on Oct. 5.

"He didn't like saying goodbye," his father recalled.

Jason had wanted to become a Marine to follow in his father and uncle's footsteps. Genaro Franco served in the Marine Corps for 20 years before retiring and works for the U.S. Postal Service.

"He was proud that his dad was there," Guadalupe Franco said of the time her husband served in Kuwait.

Jason started swimming when he was little boy, and the Marine family was stationed in Hawaii. He kept it up, and during his freshman year, he played water polo for Mission Viejo High School. In 2002, the family moved to Corona, where he attended Santiago High School, but he struggled at Santiago, and after learning that he would not graduate on time, he went to Buena Vista High for what he described in a class paper he wrote as "a second chance.".

While there, Jason took classes in law enforcement through the regional occupation program, and he loved math.

Administrators and a teacher at Buena Vista remembered Franco as quiet, cooperative and polite.

"You'd almost have to draw him out for answers," said Dennis Brandt, a teacher who had Jason in his English class and later worked with him in the extended-day program.

"He was a very nice young man, very kind," said Janet Parks, the school's assistant principal.

He also liked to have fun, playing video games, going to parties and hanging out with friends were favorite pastimes. He loved his mother's lasagna and enchiladas; his favorite cat, Lucy Lou; and his new car.

Jason and his cousin, Jeff Ponce, had been good friends growing up.

"We always wanted to have fun," Ponce said. "Always looking for something to keep us entertained."

Staff writer Shirin Parsavand contributed to this story.

Reach Sonja Bjelland at 951-893-2114 or sbjelland@PE.com.

© 2006, The Press-Enterprise Company

Patrick O'Neil / The Press-Enterprise
Marine Pfc. Jason Franco's brother Kristian Franco, left, mother Guadalupe Franco and father Genaro Franco mourn Wednesday.

Soldier's funeral services announced

01:34 AM PST on Saturday, November 4, 2006

By SONJA BJELLAND
The Press-Enterprise


Funeral arrangements have been set for Pfc. Jason Franco, who died Tuesday in Iraq.

The 18-year-old was the seventh Inland man to die in October in the Iraq war.

The viewing will be held before the service from 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Monday at Crossroads Church, 2331 Kellogg Ave., Corona.

The service will follow from 12:30 to 1:30 p.m. at the church.

Following the service, Franco's body will be interred with military honors at Riverside National Cemetery, 22495 Van Buren Blvd., near the March Air Reserve Base.

Franco is survived by his parents, Genaro and Guadalupe Franco; his brother, Kristian, 14; and his sister, Kuuielani, 12.

© 2006, The Press-Enterprise Company

MILITARY DEATHS
Marine Pfc. Jason Franco, 18, Corona; dies of gunshot wound to the head in a 'nonhostile incident' in Iraq
By Stuart Silverstein
Times Staff Writer

December 3, 2006

Jason Franco was a young man in a hurry, and he didn't wait long to join the Marine Corps. He enlisted in March, little more than two months after turning 18.

And when Franco, a Corona resident, learned this fall that his unit would head to Iraq early next year, he again was eager to get started. He volunteered to ship out early and was sent to Iraq within a few days.

But tragedy also struck quickly for the private first class. On Oct. 31, less than four weeks after arriving in Iraq and two months shy of his 19th birthday, Franco died of a gunshot wound to the head in what the Department of Defense termed a "nonhostile incident."

Franco's death, which occurred in Al Anbar province, west of Baghdad, remains under investigation. He was assigned to Marine Aviation Logistics Squadron 11, Marine Aircraft Group 11, 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing in Miramar, Calif.

His family said Franco long dreamed of serving in the Marines. He wanted to follow in the footsteps of his uncle and his father, Genaro Franco, who spent 20 years in the military, 13 of them as a Marine. "He always looked up to his Dad," said his mother, Guadalupe.

Franco was part of a close-knit extended family. He lived in Corona with his parents, a younger brother and sister and two grandparents.

After finishing boot camp and his occupational training in administrative skills, he was stationed in Miramar and came home to Corona on weekends.

Brian Linares, a cousin who developed a close bond with Franco while living with the Franco family for two years, said that when the two teenagers would reunite after spending time apart, "Me and Jason wouldn't handshake, we'd hug."

Franco spoke Spanish with his Mexican-born grandparents. He loved his mother's cooking, particularly her enchiladas and lasagna. While at boot camp and away from those favorite dishes, the powerfully built Franco, who was 5 feet 11, lost nearly 60 pounds and slimmed down to 140.

"We said, 'Son, they don't feed you!' " his mother recalled. "He was like, 'Mom, we run like there's no tomorrow.' "

"He looked great in his uniform. And he took so much pride," his mother said.

In high school, Franco liked math, but his grades dropped off when his father was diagnosed with cancer, his mother said. Still, when Franco found out as a junior that he might not graduate with his class, he switched to an alternative school in Corona, Buena Vista High, to catch up.

As it turned out, Franco loaded up on coursework and took an independent study program in the spring, enabling him to finish school several weeks ahead of schedule while also holding down a fast-food job.

Dennis Brandt, a Buena Vista teacher who had Franco in a language arts class and supervised his independent study program, described his former student as a laid-back teenager who in class was capable and attentive but also very quiet.

"He just wanted to go about his business," Brandt said. "He was a great conversationalist, but you had to approach him."

Franco had many talents. He taught himself to play the guitar, keyboard and drums, as well as to sketch graffiti-style drawings.

And he liked to keep busy, his cousin said. "He always had to be doing something, whether it was cleaning up around the house, washing the dishes or working out," Linares said.

Franco also liked video games and cars, and bought a used black C320 Mercedes-Benz for $18,000 just a few days before heading to Iraq. His parents said he wanted to go to Iraq quickly to earn extra pay for combat duty to help pay off his car loan.

"We don't drive it, but it's in the garage," his mother said, explaining that she and her husband don't have the heart to sell a car that their son loved. They last talked to their son the day before he died. "He was so happy. He said, 'Mom, tell everybody not to worry. I'm OK, and I'll be back in May,' " she said.

In addition to his parents and grandparents, Franco is survived by his brother, Kristian, 14; his sister, Kuuielani, 12; and numerous aunts, uncles and cousins.


stuart.silverstein@latimes.com

Copyright 2006 Los Angeles Times