Marine killed in Afghanistan honored with funeral procession from Delaware to New York
WILMINGTON, Del. - Firefighters from several states honored a fallen Marine and firefighter Monday as a motorcade carried his remains from the Dover Air Force Base to New York City.
Marine Staff Sgt. Christopher Slutman was killed in a roadside bomb in Afghanistan on April 8, along with two other Marines. Slutman was a New York City firefighter, who lived outside of Wilmington with his wife and three daughters.
Monday's police-escorted funeral procession began at 10 a.m. heading up Del. 1, I-95 and I-295 to the Delaware Memorial Bridge, then along the New Jersey Turnpike and over the George Washington Bridge into New York City.
Local fire departments lined overpasses along the route to pay their respects for the fallen fireman and soldier, as the U.S. Marines, the New York Fire Department, and the Kentland Volunteer Fire Department drove north with Delaware State Police.
Slutman will always be remembered as "the definition of an American patriot," friend and fellow Kentland firefighter Jonathan Clifford said.
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His father was a Maryland firefighter and Slutman followed in his footsteps at the Kentland Volunteer Fire Department in Landover, Maryland. Throughout his 19-years at the Maryland department, he rose through the ranks, becoming a captain.
Slutman later joined the New York City Fire Department, landing his dream job. The 15-year veteran of the department worked in the Bronx, where he earned a medal in 2014 for saving an unconscious woman from a burning high rise.
Slutman became a Marine and was assigned to the 25th Marine Regiment, 4th Marine Division, Marine Forces Reserve headquartered in Fort Devens, Massachusetts.
The 43-year-old was one of three killed in the explosion. The Department of Defense identified the two other Marines in the fatal Taliban attack as 31-year-old Sgt. Benjamin Hines, of York, Pennsylvania, and Cpl. Robert A. Hendriks, 25, of Locust Valley, New York.
The firefighter and Marine was a man of moral courage, who's dedication received respect from all, Clifford said.
"When he spoke, everybody listened," he said.
But around the firehouse kitchen table, he was a fun-loving guy with a lot of experience as a firefighter.
He was a "confident" as a husband, a father, a firefighter, and Marine who walked with pride, Clifford said.
Slutman's remains arrived at the Dover Air Force Base mortuary on April 11.
He is survived by his wife, Shannon, and three young daughters, aged 10, 8 and 4. His parents, Fletcher and Mary Slutman, live in Lower Windsor Township in York County, Pennsylvania.
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A public viewing will be held on Thursday, April 25, at the Joseph A. Lucchese Funeral Home in the Bronx from 2-4 p.m. and again from 7-9 p.m.
On Friday, April 26, at 11 a.m., the public funeral will be held at Saint Thomas Church. Seating is limited.
Slutman will be buried in the Arlington National Cemetery.
The Delaware fire service will be hosting a memorial on May 1 at the University of Delaware's Bob Carpenter Center.
Follow Josephine Peterson on Twitter: @jopeterson93.
This article originally appeared on Delaware News Journal: Marine killed in Afghanistan honored with funeral procession from Delaware to New York
