Captain Leslie was a pilot in a AH-1 Cobra that crashed in the Straits of Hormuz off of Farsi Island on April 18, 1998.

Captain Leslie provided close air support on several Iranian oil platforms and apparently crashed while taking evasive maneuvers from an Iranian missle fired at him.

Advocate, The (Baton Rouge, LA) - April 30, 1988

Deceased Name: Memorial planned for Marine ; trust set up for unborn child

Two weeks after Marine Capt. Stephen Leslie was reported missing in action in the Persian Gulf, the 30-year-old captain with in-laws in Baton Rouge has been declared dead.

Leslie was one of two Marines aboard a helicopter that Iran claims to have shot down in the Persian Gulf on April 18. Capt. Kenneth W. Hill, 33, also was killed.

Both men were assigned to the New River, N.C., Marine Corps Air Station.

Leslie's in-laws in Baton Rouge are preparing for memorial services for him, and trying to give support to his wife Lisa, who grew up in Baton Rouge and taught school here. Lisa is six months' pregnant.

"She's doing as well as can be expected," Monica Bumgardner said of her sister, Lisa. "She's really strong. I think she'll make it.

"She had lost six pounds, but she has stopped losing weight now," she said. "She hasn't gained any back, but she hasn't lost any more."

Memorial services for Capt. Leslie have been scheduled Tuesday at 9 a.m. at the station in New River, she said. Services also will be conducted at Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia on May 9, where a headstone will be erected for Capt. Leslie, she said.

A trust fund has been set up for the child.

The baby will be named Stephen Craig Leslie Jr. or Stephanie Catherine Leslie, Bumgardner said.

Anyone who wishes to make a contribution to the trust fund may mail it to The S.C. Leslie Trust Fund in care of Capt. A.B. Wise, 305 Maplehurst Drive, Jacksonville, N.C., 28540. Wise is Lisa's brother-in-law.

Friday's corps statement added some details to the mystery surrounding the disappearance of the two men. In the statement, the corps admitted that a hostile radar had targeted the copter before it disappeared, but refused to say the AH-1T Cobra gunship flown by Leslie and Hill definitely was shot down by Iranian forces, as Iran has claimed.

However, the corps said its fact-finding board concluded there was "sufficient evidence to conclude that these Marines had been killed as a result of hostile action."

The statement said that as they were trying to identify a ship, Capts. Hill and Leslie reported a fire control radar lock-on. A fire control radar is used to track targets for a gun or missile. Their ship, the USS Wainwright, lost communication and radar contact with them after the report, the statement said.

CAPT, US MARINE CORPS

Burial:

Arlington National Cemetery

Arlington

Arlington County

Virginia, USA

Leslie, Stephen C, Capt