
WOODLYN, N.J. — When 1st Lt. Jason Mann joined the Marines 11 years ago, his mom, Alfina, was nervous.
It was what he wanted, though, and she decided she had to let go.
“Jason wanted to make something of himself, and he felt becoming a Marine was the ultimate thing he could do,” Alfina Mann recalled Sunday inside her family’s home.
Then, last week, Mann got the news she’d dreaded for more than a decade: The 6-foot-tall, blue-eyed husband, son and father with the infectious smile was killed while serving in Afghanistan.
Mann, 29, died Thursday in a non-hostile incident, Defense...