Army Pfc. David A. Jefferson, killed in Afghanistan, returns home

The body of Army Pfc. David A. Jefferson arrived Sunday evening at Dover Air Force Base, where his father was waiting with another family of a fallen soldier.

"It's a very beautiful ceremony," said James M. Lyles, Jefferson's father. "I really believe everyone should see it. Things don't actually hit you until you actually see it."

Nearby, other families were waiting for the next plane landing later that night.

Jefferson, 23, a combat medic from Philadelphia, was killed Friday by an enemy explosion during a foot patrol in Afghanistan, the Defense Department said Tuesday.

The Defense Department also announced the death of Spec. Louis R. Fastuca, 24, of West Chester, who died Monday from injuries suffered from an improvised explosive device in Afghanistan.

Jefferson was killed in Kandahar when his unit was attacked by insurgents using an IED, the Defense Department said.

There have been 212 U.S. military fatalities in Afghanistan this year, according to iCasualties.org. There were 317 last year - the worst year for U.S. deaths in Afghanistan since the war started in 2001.

On Tuesday evening, Jefferson's 2-year-old son, Ian, played on his great-grandmother's porch on Sparks Street in the city's Ogontz section while family members recalled David.

Ian had not been told of his father's death.

The family has a deep background in the military. Lyles, 70, who drove to Dover from his home in Columbia, S.C., and then on to Philadelphia, spent 30 years in the Army.

Jefferson's brother, William, 28, served in the Air Force. Their mother, Annette Jefferson, was also in the Army. She was 53 when she died in February of lung cancer.

Jefferson, born in Philadelphia, followed his father around the country from base to base, from Durham, N.C., to California, his father said.

He came back to Philadelphia as a teen and attended Lankenau High School. He did not graduate, but later got his G.E.D., his family said.

He saw his career opportunities were limited and thought the Army would give him a foundation for something better, his father said.

"It more or less made him into a man," he said.

With his experience as a combat medic, he was considering medical school after his service, said his maternal grandmother, Mildred Jefferson, 81.

He was deployed to Afghanistan in May.

Jefferson was assigned to the First Battalion, 502d Infantry Regiment, Second Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault), based at Fort Campbell, Ky.

He was married to Darniece T. Melton-Jackson of West Philadelphia.

Fastuca was assigned to First Battalion, 503d Infantry Regiment, 173d Airborne Brigade Combat Team, based at Camp Ederle, Italy.

Fastuca, who went to Afghanistan with his unit in mid-December, had come home to Pennsylvania on a two-week leave in May. He spent the time in East Goshen Township with his parents, Robert and Monette Fastuca, and his two younger brothers, Joseph, 14, and Anthony, 13.

He left to go back to his base in Italy on June 4. His mother said she was not aware he was back in Afghanistan until the family was informed of his death on Monday.

Fastuca was a 2004 graduate of Malvern Preparatory School.

After high school, he attended Temple University for a year and then did construction work, his mother said. He joined the Army in 2006.

Jim Stewart, president of Malvern Prep, said Fastuca had visited during a leave.

"He came by school in his uniform and he told us how happy he was to be in service," Stewart said.