43rd Mississippian Dies Fighting War On Terror

Meridian Soldier On 3rd Iraq Tour Dies
By Joshua Cogswel
lmailto:ljcogswell@clarionledger.com

Sgt. 1st Class Clarence D. McSwain, who was killed last week in Iraq, was a devoted family man, his sister said Monday.
A Meridian native and the father of four, McSwain died Thursday in Baghdad of injuries sustained when a roadside bomb detonated near his convoy vehicle during combat operations, the Department of Defense said.
McSwain, 31, a 12-year Army veteran, was serving his third tour of duty in Iraq. He was the oldest of five siblings.
His sister, Ashley McSwain, 25, spoke for the family when reached by phone. She said he always was very protective of his family, especially his younger sisters, an impulse that Ashley McSwain says drew him to the Army.
"He was like that wherever he went. He wanted to protect people," McSwain said. "I think the world lost a good person. He was one of the best brothers anyone could have."
Maj. Nathan Banks, an Army spokesman at the Pentagon, said McSwain was traveling in a convoy near Al Kut, about 115 miles southeast of Baghdad, when soldiers noticed a possible bomb near the roadside.
McSwain and another soldier got out of their vehicle to identify the bomb, and it exploded as they approached, Banks said. The other soldier was not killed.
McSwain is survived by a wife, Kendra, two daughters, Krista and Jakayla, a stepdaughter, Jasmin, and an infant son, Kenneth.
Ashley McSwain said her brother had only seen his 5-month-old son once, when the sergeant was home on leave for Kenneth's birth in January.
"He talked to us as much as he could while he was over there, and he always talked about how much he wanted to get back to see his son," the sister said.
Ashley McSwain said she saw how much her brother loved the military when word reached him that one of his soldiers died in Iraq while he was home on leave.
"That really hurt him a lot," she said. "I didn't really know how much it affected him until I saw it on his face."
McSwain's father, the Rev. Theodis McSwain, is pastor of Gilfield Missionary Baptist Church in Pushmataha, Ala.
The soldier was a 1993 graduate of Meridian High School, where he played football and was an honors graduate.
He majored in English at the University of Southern Mississippi before enlisting in the Army at 19.
McSwain was assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 502nd Infantry Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) in Fort Campbell, Ky.
He is at least the 43rd soldier from Mississippi, or with strong ties to the state, to have died in Iraq, according to The Associated Press. One has died in Afghanistan.
Funeral arrangements were incomplete Monday.