Antonio Sledd Figueroa
Marine Lance Cpl. Antonio
Sledd Figueroa, 20, of Hillsborough, FL Unit: Lima Company, 3rd Battalion, 1st
Marines, 11th Marine Expeditionary Unit, Camp Pendleton, California on October
8, 2002 Died in an ambush in Northern Kuwait
Rest in Peace
Lance Cpl. Antonio Sledd
Tampa Grieves for Marine
gunned down in Kuwait
by Brad Smith
bsmith@tampatrib.com
October 10, 2002
TAMPA - From Kuwait, Tony Sledd assured his mom he would be home for Thanksgiving. "Tell everybody I love them and we are doing our best to protect y'all's country,'' Sledd wrote by e-mail to his family.
That was days ago, but the Marine lance corporal from Tampa never made it. At 20, Sledd was fatally shot by two al-Qaida-trained Kuwaiti gunmen Tuesday during an urban assault training exercise on heavily guarded Failaka Island, 10 miles east of Kuwait City in the Persian Gulf. A second Marine was wounded. Sledd's body is due home today. A military investigation of the attack continued Wednesday.
Meanwhile, family, friends, neighbors and Gaither High School classmates on Wednesday remembered Sledd as an optimist with a sense of humor who loved his country and wanted to be an FBI agent. "He was determined to be a Marine when he graduated'' in 2000 with his twin brother, Mike, said their aunt, Iris Figueroa. Tony Sledd joined the Marine Corps two years ago, and Mike followed at his brother's urging a year later.
Figueroa, who teaches at Gaither, said the stunned, close-knit family was in seclusion at home in the North Pointe subdivision in north Tampa. She spoke for them after Sledd's father told her "his son doesn't only belong to the family, but he belongs to the country, the country he loved so much.''
A small U.S. flag fluttered on the mailbox as grieving neighbors recalled Tony Sledd as a friendly young man who played ball in the street with other teenagers. "I didn't believe it when I heard it. I am so shocked,'' said neighbor Ferryl Locke, 57, an Air Force veteran who befriended Sledd's parents, Tom Sledd, a psychiatric nurse, and Norma Figueroa, a nurse manager at the James A. Haley Veterans' Hospital in Tampa.
Locke sobbed as he spoke of a "really good, really nice'' young man, who assured his worried mom by telephone two weeks ago that he would be safe on military duty in the troubled Mideast. "He said, `Mom, don't worry. I'm a Marine,' '' Locke quoted Norma Figueroa as saying. But Locke said Sledd's mother remembered experiencing a "feeling something wasn't right, and told him to be careful.''
Sledd, whose given name was Antonio, enjoyed the Marines and wasn't worried about the danger despite his recent assignment to Kuwait from Camp Pendleton in California, Locke said. After receiving word of his twin's death, Michael was said to be on his way home from his base in Okinawa, Japan.
In Washington, U.S. Rep. Jim Davis, D-Tampa, called for a moment of silence in the House of Representatives. "America's servicemen and women, like Antonio, put their lives on the line each and every day to protect our way of life,'' Davis said. "Today, I would like to thank Lance Cpl. Sledd and his colleagues for their bravery and heroism, and their choice to serve while knowing that any day they may be called upon to make the ultimate sacrifice for our country.''
At Gaither, the school's 2,450 students observed a moment of silence at day's end after Principal Ken Adum announced that "our Tony Sledd'' was the latest casualty of the nation's war on terror. Senior Andrew Wilson, 18, called it "kind of frightening to think that something like this can happen so close to home.''
Wilson, who didn't know either of the Sledd brothers, said Tony Sledd's death conferred some "pride in knowing this school has put out such a great patriot. You've got to take some pride in knowing someone like him walked these same halls and had these same teachers.''
Teacher Mary Frances Granell recalled Tony Sledd in her homeroom class. "You remember his face,'' Granell said. "I was like, `Oh, my goodness,' when I heard. He was kind of a little guy, funny, nice, just a nice young man. I had no idea he'd gone into the military.''
In the 2000 Gaither yearbook, pictures of Tony and Mike Sledd appear side by side with a message from their parents: "You have brought joy and happiness to our life. We are proud of the men you are today. We wish you the best that life has to offer; be productive and may God guide you on your new journey. Love, Mom and Dad.''
Word of Sledd's death filtered through relatives by Tuesday afternoon. Soon, co- workers and much of the family's immediate neighborhood heard the news. About 100 of Norma Figueroa's colleagues at the VA hospital gathered in the hospital chapel for a memorial Mass on Wednesday. She has worked there at least 18 years, said hospital spokeswoman Carolyn Clark. "We are deeply saddened by this and our thoughts and prayers are with her and her family,'' Clark said.
In the neighborhood where Tony Sledd grew up, neighbor Cheryl Kersey remembered how the Sledd brothers refereed and played ball in the street with her son, Ryan, who is about eight years younger. Tony Sledd "was good with little kids,'' she said.
Neighbor Drew Grever said his daughter Megan, a Gaither sophomore, was driven to school daily by then-senior Tony Sledd because she didn't like to ride the bus. "They weren't supposed to become newsworthy,'' he said.
Down the street, Maxine France, 78, said it "really hurt me'' to learn the boy she once watched play was a casualty of war. "It's sad to think that I must have seen him walk by here,'' she said. "He didn't live long enough, didn't get to marry or anything.''
Tampa Marine Is
Mourned At Camp Pendleton Service
By JIM SLOAN jsloan@tampatrib.com
Published: Oct 12, 2002
TAMPA - Lance Cpl. Tony Sledd's fellow Marines mourned his death Friday, and U.S. authorities confirmed that the Kuwaiti extremists who killed him had planned more assaults on Americans.
"Marines don't forget their own,'' said Capt. Joseph Plenzler of Camp Pendleton, Calif., where Marines held a memorial service for the 20-year-old Tampa native. Sledd had been stationed there with the 11th Marine Expeditionary Unit. "He may be gone from this Earth, but in the Marines, no one gets left behind,'' Plenzler said. The ceremony included a hymn by the regimental band and the traditional helmet- topped M-16 rifle stuck in the ground next to a pair of combat boots. "Folks here, a lot of them knew this kid,'' Plenzler said. "We're like one big family.''
Since Tuesday's shooting, information gleaned from questioning 60 suspects and witnesses has led investigators to a "cell of around 15 people'' that was headed by Anas al- Kandari, one of the attackers, an Interior Ministry official said on condition of anonymity. Anas Al-Kandari, 21, and his cousin, Jassem Al-Kandari, 26, both Muslim extremists who trained and fought in Afghanistan, opened fire on Marines taking a break Tuesday from urban assault training on the island of Failaka, 10 miles off the coast of Kuwait City.
Sledd was killed, and Lance Cpl. George R. Simpson, 21, of Dayton, Ohio, was wounded. The attackers then drove to a second location and attacked again before being killed by Marines. "Yes, there is a group behind Anas and Jassem. ... And they were planning other operations including some against American installations,'' the source said.
As authorities investigated the attack, the Department of the Navy considered a request by Sledd's mother to transfer her remaining son, Sledd's twin brother, Michael, also a Marine, out of harm's way. In an e-mail to President Bush, Norma Figueroa said she wants Michael, stationed in Okinawa, sent to a duty station closer to the family's Carrollwood home.
Department of Defense spokesman Brian Whitman said the military usually honors such requests, although approval is not automatic. "There aren't many of these cases, and I honestly don't know of any that have been turned down,'' he said.
A Defense Department directive says a sole surviving son or daughter "may not be assigned to ... duties involving actual combat with the enemy if he or she or one of his or her parents submits a written request for non-combat duty.'' The directive was inspired by the case of the five Sullivan brothers, killed in World War II when their ship, the USS Juneau, was sunk.
Whitman, however, said Michael Sledd could waive a transfer, overriding his mother's wishes. "He could say, `Thanks, mom, but this is my duty, this is what I want to do,' '' he said. Frances Fusco, a friend speaking for the family Friday, said the request might get help from the state. "Gov. Bush called earlier today and said he is going to work with whomever is necessary to assist the family with that request,'' she said. Meanwhile, Michael Sledd flew home for his brother's funeral.
A plane carrying his brother's remains left Kuwait early Thursday for Dover Air Force Base in Delaware, Pentagon officials said, where it remained late Friday. From there it was to be transferred to Tampa. Blount, Curry and Roel chapel in Carrollwood, which is handling the funeral, said Friday that arrangements were pending.
A White House spokeswoman said that despite an invitation from Figueroa, President Bush would not be able to attend the funeral. "The president wishes that he could attend the funeral of every victim in the war on terrorism,'' said Jeanie Mama. She said Bush's "thoughts and prayers'' were with Sledd's family and friends, and that the president said, "The nation is grateful for his service, and he did not die in vain.''
Information from The Associated Press was used in this report. Reporter Jim Sloan can be reached at (813) 259-7691.
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TAMPA MARINE, TWIN - KILLED
IN KUWAIT
serviceman killed during an attack in Kuwait grew up in
Carrollwood and is remembered as being funny and brave. His twin brother is also
serving in the marines
By TIM GRANT, Times Staff Writer/© St. Petersburg Times/published October 10,
2002
TAMPA -- At 19, Antonio Sledd was so
proud to be a Marine that he got his twin brother to enlist.
Neighbors in the quiet suburb where the Sledd boys grew up remembered the one
called Tony coming home from boot camp and training twin brother Mike for the
rigors of Semper Fi. They recalled two slender young men jogging through the
quiet streets early mornings and late nights.
"They were nice boys," said neighbor Maxine France.
Today, the Sledd brothers are coming home again. One will be laid to rest. The
other will say a final goodbye.
Lance Cpl. Antonio Sledd, 20, was killed Tuesday by two Kuwaiti civilians who
opened fire on members of the 11th Marine Expeditionary who were training in the
Persian Gulf.
Sledd's body will be flown home within 24 hours, a spokesman for the 5th Fleet
said Wednesday.
Mike Sledd, now a Marine stationed in Japan, will be allowed to return home for
his brother's funeral, according to his aunt Iris Figueroa, a teacher at Gaither
High School.
Sledd's parents, Thomas D. and Norma Sledd, learned of his death Tuesday from
government officials who visited their Carrollwood home around noon.
A family friend who answered the door told reporters Wednesday that the Sledds
did not wish to make a statement.
Antonio Sledd, whom family members called funny and brave, and who loved
football and basketball, had not been in Kuwait long. Iris Figueroa recalled a
day about two weeks ago when she was in the Sledd kitchen with her sister, the
twins' mother. The phone rang and it was Tony, calling to tell them he was
shipping out to Kuwait.
"It was kind of a goodbye, telling us that he loved us very much.
"I can't describe what I felt yesterday," Figueroa said Wednesday. "For me, it
was like the world was falling apart, that the world stopped for a moment. I
couldn't think anymore. I just felt this terrible pain in my heart."
Sledd grew up on Capitol Drive, a street lined with tidy middle-class homes,
many with American flags on garage doors and mailboxes. Thomas and Norma Sledd
are both nurses at the James A. Haley Veterans Hospital, according to a neighbor
and a co-worker. The Sledds' white and red brick home is a reflection of Thomas
Sledd's obsession with the University of Arkansas Razorbacks. Their mailbox
displays a U.S. flag next to a Razorback hog.
Antonio Sledd graduated from Gaither High School in 2000 and attended a semester
at Hillsborough Community College, according to neighbor Tim Regan, whose son
was close to the brothers.
His cousin Dana Padilla said that part of Antonio Sledd's dream was to follow
his dad to the University of Arkansas. He wanted to earn a degree in criminology
and become an FBI agent. "One day he came to the house saying he needed to get
some money for college and he would join the service," Regan said. "The next
thing I knew, he was off.
"When Tony came back from boot camp, his brother was working odd jobs and not
really doing anything. And he convinced Mike to join, too."
Sledd entered the Marine Corps on Jan. 10, 2001, military records show. He was
promoted twice, making lance corporal Feb. 1, 2002. He was based in Southern
California at Camp Pendleton.
He was assigned to Lima Company, 3rd Battalion, 1st Marines, 11th Marine
Expeditionary Unit. He stayed in close touch with his family. According to his
cousin, Sledd's last words to them were, "Tell everybody I love them and we're
doing our best to protect y'alls country. Love, Big T."
"For him," Figueroa said, "his country was the most beautiful thing."
In his 21 months in the Marines, Sledd received two awards. The National Defense
Service medal is given to members of the military who serve during a time of
conflict. Sledd also received a Deployment Ribbon for serving more than 90 days
outside the United States.
U.S. Rep. Jim Davis, D-Tampa, who led a moment of silence on the House floor in
Sledd's memory, issued a statement of sympathy.
"America's service men and women, like Antonio, put their lives on the line each
and every day to protect our way of life," Davis said.
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