Lawrence Franks

Lawrence Joseph Franks Jr., graduated from the U.S. Military Academy on May 31, 2008. Less than a year later, he deserted the Army and fought Islamic militants with the French in northern Africa. On Monday, a military judge sentenced him to four years in prison.

(file photo)

A Damascus man was sentenced to four years in prison Monday for deserting the U.S. Army to fight Islamic extremists for the French in Northern Africa, according to The New York Times.

According to the Times report, Second Lt. Lawrence J. Franks Jr. grew up in Damascus and graduated near the top of his class from West Point in 2008. In 2009, he deserted his post at Fort Drum in upstate New York, hopped a plane to France and enlisted in the French Foreign Legion under an assumed name.

The reason, he told the Times, was severe depression and suicidal thoughts that made it unbearable to stay with the U.S. Army.

Once with the legion -- a wing of the French military that accepts anyone regardless of nationality -- he completed peacekeeping tours in the Central African Republic and Djibouti.

He was quickly promoted to the personal security guard for a French Brigadier General Laurent Kolodziej, accompanying him to Mali in 2013 to combat Islamic militants who had taken over the country's northern region.

"He is a man I will never forget and by whom I will always stand," Kolodziej said in video testimony from Paris. "He is more than a born soldier, he is a born gentleman. I would like to have 10 men like that in my team and I would be the happiest of generals."

Franks turned himself in to the U.S. Army in Germany this past March after his five-year contract was up, according to the Times.

"To turn myself in was the happiest moment in my life," he said. "Now I was coming home to my family and to take responsibility for what I had done."

Franks graduated from Sam Barlow High School in 2004. While at West Point, he earned the Superintendent's Award for Academic Achievement, according to a Portland Tribune article at the time.

In 2009, Franks' father wrote a letter to the editor of the Portland Tribune describing feeling sad and confused by his son's situation.

"Lawrence gave us no clue he was contemplating a life-changing decision when we spoke per phone on March 29," wrote Lawrence J. Franks Sr. "His commander informs me he was an exemplary young officer with a bright future. I am a sad, confused dad. My wife would like to say, 'We are surely not alone wondering why our beloved Lawrence left all behind, including us, whom he deeply loves.'"

Before the sentencing, Larry Franks Sr. told the Times he hoped the Army would return him to his post.

Calls to the family's home were not immediately returned Monday evening.

-- Ian K. Kullgren

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