Updated at 4:03 p.m., Tuesday, August 28, 2007
State flags to fly at half-staff for Schofield soldiers
Advertiser Staff
Gov. Linda Lingle has ordered all U.S. and Hawai'i state flags at state, county and federal buildings and facilities to fly at half-staff tomorrow from sunrise to sunset, in honor of the 10 Schofield Barracks soldiers who lost their lives in a helicopter crash in Iraq last week.Lingle will attend a private 10 a.m. memorial service tomorrow for the fallen soldiers at Schofield Barracks.
The soldiers, from the 2nd Battalion, 35th Infantry Regiment "Cacti" at Schofield, were passengers on a UH-60 Black Hawk that crashed Wednesday in Multaka, just west of the oil-rich city of Kirkuk, killing all 14 aboard.
Four crewmen and the Black Hawk helicopter were from Fort Lewis, Wash.
A law signed by President Bush in June authorizes the governor of a state to order the national flag to be flown at half staff following the death of a member of the armed forces who dies while serving on active duty, the governor's office said.
Based on the law, Lingle, in consultation with State Adjutant General Maj. Gen. Robert G.F. Lee, established a state policy of lowering the national flag to honor an armed forces service member killed in action whose "home of record" is Hawai'i.
Due to the "large tragic loss" of life from one unit in the 25th Infantry Division, Lingle said she is making an exception to this policy by ordering the lowering of both the national and state flags on the occasion of the memorial service.
