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Plant City Soldier Lost Overboard, Presumed Dead

Photo courtesy of the Ysasi family

Samuel Valdez, his wife, Lynda Ysasi Valdez, and their son, Samuel Jr., are shown in a family photo taken about a year ago.

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George Newman

Published: February 24, 2009

Updated: 02/24/2009 05:54 pm

PLANT CITY - A soldier from Plant City who survived a 15-month tour in Iraq was lost overboard and presumed dead while on a training mission off the coast of North Carolina.

Spc. Samuel Valdez stationed out of Fort Eustis, Va., was a 2004 graduate of Plant City High School. Family members were notified Sunday that Valdez was lost at sea and an extensive search was under way. The Coast Guard and U.S. Marines searched in an area about 15 miles off of Drum Inlet, N.C., south of the Ocracoke Inlet in the Outer Banks, the Coast Guard report said. After 40 hours, the search was suspended early today.

Valdez lived in Newport News, Va., with his wife Lynda, who is about three months pregnant, and their 2-year-old son, Samuel Jr.

"The feeling in the family was initially shock," said Belinda Conde, the missing soldier's sister. "Still, it is not about how or why this could happen. We are a strong Christian family. It is God's plan. The only closure that we are seeking is for his body to be found so that we can give him a proper burial. He deserves to be buried with honor."

Valdez, 22, joined the Army in March 2006 at the Tampa induction station, said Monica Miller Rodgers, a spokeswoman for Fort Eustis.

Family members said he was stationed in Iraq from about June 2007 through October 2008.

"Samuel was a very goodhearted man," his sister said. "He was a loving person. He was active in his church and played trumpet in the orchestra. He had many plans for his family once he finished his four years in the Army."

Valdez was a crew member aboard the Army vessel Major General Winfield Scott, a large tugboat with a 24-person crew that was on its way to Charleston, S.C., to support a U.S. Navy training mission.

Valdez reportedly fell overboard Sunday during an Army exercise off the North Carolina coast. Crew members said they last saw Valdez on the bridge of the vessel. After searching the vessel, Valdez was declared to be lost overboard about 11:20 a.m. Sunday.

Rodgers said Valdez is declared "Duty Status Whereabouts Unknown," and will remain classified that way for up to 10 days, with extensions, or until his remains are found or the investigation is completed.

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