EAST CARROLL TOWNSHIP, Pa. --
A Cambria County man serving in the U.S. Air Force was killed in a tanker truck crash while serving in Japan, his family said.
Airman 1st Class Derek Kozorosky was a 2007 graduate of Bishop Carroll High School. After completing a semester of college, his family said he decided to join the Air Force.
Kozorosky became a fireman and EMT at the Kadena Air Base in Japan, where he graduated from fire school at the top of his class.
He was training a younger fireman when a tanker truck backed over him at the fire house.
His parents, David and Lisa Kozorosky, and younger sister, Mikayla, said Derek loved being a firefighter and EMT and was much loved. The family said they have been overwhelmed with e-mails from fellow airmen and so has Derek's girlfriend of six years, his high school sweetheart.
Derek's chief told the Kozoroskys there are 74 men in the firehouse and when he asked who wanted to accompany Derek's body home, he had 74 volunteers.
Just months ago, Derek got a tattoo that read "Forever Grateful," -- grateful for his fellow airmen, his job, his family and so much love.
A military service will be held at Kadena on Wednesday at 2 p.m. and Kozorosky 's body will be flown home at the end of the week. His family is still working out details, but said there will be a full military funeral in Ebensburg.
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