Air Force Airman 1st Class Antoine J. Holt

Died April 10, 2004 Serving During Operation Iraqi Freedom

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20, of Kennesaw, Ga.; assigned to the 603rd Air Control Squadron, Aviano Air Base, Italy; died April 10 when his tent was hit during a mortar attack at Balad Air Field, Iraq.

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Family, friends remember Georgia man killed in Iraq

By Doug Gross

Associated Press

ATLANTA — With ceremonial flourishes honoring his military service and an emotional outpouring from family and friends, a Georgia man killed in Iraq was buried Saturday.

Airman First Class Antoine Holt, of Kennesaw, was killed April 10.

In southwest Fulton County, just outside of Atlanta, Holt, a Kennesaw native, was remembered as a man who, while just 20 years old, served as an example to those around him.

“Antoine lived every day to try to do what’s right, regardless of the circumstance,” said his father, Michael Holt, at services at Elizabeth Baptist Church. “This is what made him our hero.”

Holt was serving with the 603rd Air Control Squadron when a mortar round hit the tent where he was sleeping last Saturday at Balad Air Base in Iraq.

Brig. Gen. Mike Worden, Holt’s squadron commander, said that despite his young age, Holt had been entrusted with unusually complex tasks monitoring airspace activity and hooking up communication systems.

“He was a leader of leaders and everyone who knew him liked him,” said Worden. “That’s rare for a young man.”

Others remembered Holt as a talented poet, a positive role model and a fierce competitor at everything from basketball to dominoes to video games.

“Antoine used to tell me that all he wanted to do was help people,” said his wife, Patricia Gail Holt, whom he met while they were both students at Georgia State University. “He wanted to make a difference.”

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Kennesaw native killed by mortar fire in Iraq

KENNESAW, Ga. — A Kennesaw airman has died after being struck by mortar fire Saturday in Iraq.

Airman 1st Class Antoine Holt, 20, of the 603rd Air Control Squadron at Aviano Air Base in Italy, died of injuries sustained after a mortar round hit his tent at Balad Air Force Base in Iraq, according to the U.S. Department of Defense. Holt had been in Iraq since October.

“He enjoyed serving. Don’t get me wrong, but he missed home. He wanted to get home to Italy,” said his mother, Courtney Garmon.

Garmon said Holt’s wife, Patricia, and their daughter, Carmen, 1, will fly from Italy to Kennesaw within the next few days. Holt and his wife met at Georgia State University in Atlanta.

An April 1 article in the military publication Stars and Stripes said Holt’s duties included monitoring airspace activity.

Garmon said Air Force officials told her two other soldiers were injured in the attack.

By an Associated Press count, at least 59 U.S. troops with Georgia ties have died in fighting in Iraq. The soldiers either have family in the state or were stationed in the state before deployment.

— Associated Press