Largo Marine who died in Afghanistan 'a good guy'

Two years after signing up with the U.S. Marine Corps partly because he couldn't get a job in his own country, Jonathan Porto was killed in Afghanistan on Sunday, leaving behind a new bride and an infant daughter he never got a chance to hold.

"I'm going to ask people to refer to him only in the present,'' his father, Steve, said while en route to Dover Air Force Base to receive the 26-year-old Largo man's coffin.

"He has a spirit, he has a life, he has a soul," Steve Porto said. "Jon IS a good guy." Also receiving the coffin were Jonathan Porto's mother and his wife of 10 months, Rachel.

A corporal, Porto was a small arms repair technician assigned to 1st Battalion 6th Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Division, II Marine Expeditionary Force, Camp Lejeune, N.C.

Sonya Porto, 33, said her brother was in a convoy in the Helmand province of Afghanistan when the truck he was in went off course and tumbled. He got caught underneath and was killed.

"It's pretty haunting, it's pretty sad," she said from her home in Missouri.

"He's one of eight kids. We're grieving. We're really close."

She said her brother and his wife were married in May and had a daughter in January. Porto's father said his son never got a chance to hold his newborn daughter and saw her only in pictures.

Sonya Porto described her brother as "probably the most fun" of the eight siblings. "He had a heart of gold and he really wanted to make sure everyone was OK."

Porto joined the Marine Corps in March 2008 and was promoted to corporal on Dec. 1. That same month, he deployed to Afghanistan in support of Operation Enduring Freedom.

"A lot of reasons he was in the military is jobs are so hard to find," Steve Porto said.

Porto's awards include the Afghanistan Campaign Medal, National Defense Service Medal, Global War on Terrorism Service Medal and NATO International Security Assistance Force Medal.