Family and friends of Lt. Francis L. Toner IV are inviting the community to join them at a memorial service to remember "Frankie," who died a hero while serving the U.S. Navy in Afghanistan.

The service, a tribute to Toner's life, will begin at 11 a.m. this Sat., May 2 at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1600 Erbes Road, Thousand Oaks.

Toner grew up in Thousand Oaks and died in Afghanistan on March 27.

"He was buried with full honors in Arlington and, as spectacular as that was, I'm looking forward to the local memorial to see the people in Thousand Oaks who made the boy the man he became," said his aunt, Linda Mooskian of Newbury Park.

Toner graduated from Westlake High School in 2001, where he was homecoming king. He attended the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy in Long Island, N.Y., on a scholarship and in 2006 graduated from the academy and joined the Navy.

The 26-year-old had been stationed in Afghanistan for five months when he was shot and killed while jogging with friends on base. The shooter was an Afghan insurgent disguised as an Afghan soldier.

Toner was trailing behind as the group was jogging because he was wearing body armor that slowed him down, but when the shooting started, the former WHS state championship football running back ran up and tried to tackle the insurgent. That's when he was shot, Moosekian said.

About 200 people gathered as Toner was laid to rest with military honors on April 16 at Arlington National Cemetery in Washington, D.C. It was a beautiful, clear day.

"It was a very large turnout with his family, classmates, football players and military personal—about 200 people," said former college roommate Greg Elliott of Queens, N.Y.

At the graveside service seven rifles simultaneously fired three times. According to Arlington Cemetery officials, this practice began many years ago when battle would stop so each side could bury their dead. After the casualties had been interred, each army would fire three volleys to indicate the dead had been cared for and they were ready to return to battle.

A bugler at Arlington played the slow and soulful "Taps."

Toner's wife, Brooke, received the flag that had been draped over her husband's casket after the color guard neatly folded it into a triangle.

Toner is also survived by his father and stepmother, Frank and Sharon Toner; his mother, Becky Toner; his sister, Amanda, 24; and his brothers, Michael, 26, and John, 9.