A local Marine who came to the U.S. from Poland will be buried in America as a hero who gave his life for a country of which he was not a citizen.

Marine Pfc. Dawid Pietrek, 24, of Bensenville, who was killed last month in Afghanistan, was buried this week at Arlington National Cemetery, according to the U.S. Department of Defense.

Pietrek was buried at Arlington July 1 with full military honors, in front of several family members who were provided transportation, passports and accommodations necessary to come from Poland to attend the burial ceremony, Marine Sgt. Dmitry Novak said.

Pietrek was killed June 14 along with three other Marines in the Farah Province of Afghanistan when their vehicle struck a roadside bomb, according to the U.S. Department of Defense.

After coming to the United States on a Green Card in 2004, Pietrek lived for a short time in an apartment in Bensenville with a relative. He worked for Family Care Agency in Chicago, where he worked assisting the elderly and families with sick relatives, including an Elmhurst family. In June 2007 after enlisting in the Marines, Pietrek went to California.

Bill Rohn of Elmhurst said Pietrek lived with the Rohn family for several months, caring for Rohn’s sick father-in-law. Rohn said the Marine “became part of his family” and saw the military as a faster way to achieve citizenship.