WRIGHT-PATTERSON AIR FORCE BASE — While family members huddled in a hangar watching as the casket holding Marine Cpl. Paul “Rocky” Zanowick II’s body was lowered into a hearse, a mournful wail cut through the silence.

The 23-year-old’s body was flown from Dover Air Force Base Thursday. He was killed June 3 in combat in the Nahr-E Saraj of Helmand Province, Afghanistan.

“I want my son home,” Paul Zanowick said before the jet carrying his son landed on the north runway at Wright-Patt. “They knew this was a possibility, unfortunately.”

Zanowick, and his wife, Nanette, and the soldier’s wife, Ryan Lynn, son Uriah and sister Nicole huddled near the rear of the hearse before it drove off to Tobias Funeral Home in Washington Twp.

The hearse pulled past soldiers and other supporters, including Boy Scout Troop 103, which silently filled the hangar.

“My son was a hero. He loved his country and he loved our freedom. This is what he wanted to do,” Zanowick said before the “dignified transfer” from a chartered jet into the hands of six U.S. Marines who carried the flag-draped casket into the hangar.

“Rocky would have been a very dedicated person to what we are fighting for,” said Michael Sievers, 23, of Miamisburg, who joined Cub Scouts and attended Bishop Leibold through eighth grade with Zanowick. A public viewing is to be held for the 2006 Miamisburg grad from 4 to 8 p.m. today at the Miamisburg Christian Church, 1146 E. Central Ave., Miamisburg.

Sievers will be a communion minister for a memorial Mass at 11 a.m. Saturday at Our Lady of Good Hope Catholic Church, 6 S. 3rd St., Miamisburg.

Since the tragic news, the family has been consoled by friends and supporters in and around Miamisburg. “I didn’t know how many lives he touched,” Zanowick said.

Contact this reporter at (937) 225-2261 or lbudd@DaytonDailyNews.com.