Stars and Stripes 7.23.15

Volume 7, No. 31 ŠSS 2015

FRIDAY, JULY 24, 2015 For information please contact Waverly Williams 803-774-1237 or waverly@theitem.com

IN STORIES SHARED WITH FAMILY AND STRANGERS ALIKE,

FALLEN MARINE LIVES ON Mary Determan looks at a collage of photos of her grandson, Lance Cpl. Matthew Determan, who was killed in a training accident in May. Determan carries photos of Matthew and shares his story with strangers to keep his memory alive.

H EATH D RUZIN /Stars and Stripes

•

PAGE 2

S

TA R S

A N D

S

T R I P E S

•

Friday, July 24, 2015

COVER STORY

Lance Cpl. Matthew J. Determan, of Tucson, Ariz., died of injuries sustained during an MV-22B Osprey crash while training at Marine Corps Training Area Bellows in Hawaii.

KEEPING HIS MEMORY ALIVE JULIA DAGOSTINO Courtesy of the U.S. Marine Corps

Family of Marine killed in crash makes it their mission to tell his story

BY H EATH DRUZIN Stars and Stripes

TUCSON, Ariz. ike many grandmothers, Mary Determan loves to talk about her grandson. She carries pictures of Matt in a folder and lays them out for strangers, whether she’s at her weekly yoga class or in the Costco checkout line.

She tells them of his service to his country, his courage, his sense of humor.

Then she tells them that he was killed in a military plane crash.

Some of the strangers weep. Some stammer, unsure how to react. But they all hear Matt’s brief life story, the one she yearns to keep alive.

“I just didn’t want him to die in vain,” Mary said at a family barbecue held in Matt’s honor at her suburban Tucson home. “He was just at the peak, he had just found his niche — he had a hard time finding his niche — and he was excelling at everything he did, and I thought people have to know his story.”

L

Crushing grief When Lance Cpl. Matthew Determan died, he was — like the nation — somewhere between war and peace.

At 21, the Arizonan was on his way to the Gulf of Aden, near Yemen’s brutal sectarian conflict and Somalia’s endless war. At a training stop in Hawaii, he and 21 fellow Marines from the 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit loaded onto a tilt-rotor MV-22 Osprey — a hybrid between a plane and a helicopter. The Osprey, which has a history of high-profile crashes and safety questions, made Matt nervous.

He’d rather be on the ground fighting, he told his parents.

In the midst of the flight, something went wrong — witnesses reported an engine shutting off — and the Osprey slammed into a field, catching fire.

Lance Cpl. Joshua E. Barron, 24, was killed instantly, and Matt, unconscious and mortally injured, was pulled out of the smoldering aircraft just before it erupted in a ball of flames.

SEE PAGE 3

HEATH D RUZIN /Stars and Stripes

Mary Determan shovels dirt into the grave of her grandson, Lance Cpl. Matthew Determan, on July 4. Mary Determan has made it her mission to keep her grandson’s memory alive by sharing his story with strangers.

Friday, July 24, 2015

•

S

TA R S

A N D

S

T R I P E S

•

PAGE 3

COVER STORY FROM PAGE 2

Several others were seriously injured.

“Second Marine succumbs to Osprey crash injuries.” It’s a headline that makes readers shake their heads briefly, perhaps read on, perhaps flip the page. There have been thousands of headlines like this in the past 14 years of America’s long war, and behind each one, a family like the Determans carries a crushing share of our national grief.

War fatigue set in long ago, to the point where many Americans are unaware U.S. troops are still in combat. For some families of the fallen, making sure their loved ones do not die in anonymity becomes a mission.

They share their stories with all who will listen.

Matt’s father, Mike Determan, placed a picture of his son with some information about his life on a temporary post-9/11 troop memorial at a local mall, with Matt’s face nestled among more than 5,000 other tragedies. Now, Mike finds himself stopping by the mall from time to time, sitting in a chair down the hall, watching to see whether shoppers stop and read about his son.

“We’re not the only family that’s been through this misery and pain,” he said.

‘Hard landing’ For the Determans, the call came May 17 just before 8 p.m. from an unfamiliar Virginia area code. Matt’s mother, Charlesa Determan, picked up. The voice on the other end was robotic and cold — something about an accident, a “level three” injury. Mike saw his wife drop to one knee.

Matt’s parents, both Air Force veterans, scrambled to get themselves, their two other adult children and Matt’s grandparents to Hawaii. There they found Matt alive, attached to an array of tubes, with a catastrophic brain injury from which he would never recover.

‘ We got back from

Hawaii and I thought, “Nobody knows about Matthew. In this whole community, nobody knows.”

’

Mary Determan Lance Cpl. Matthew Determan’s grandmother

HEATH D RUZIN /Stars and Stripes

Lance Cpl. Matthew Determan’s boots sit in a place of honor at his grandmother Mary Determan’s home in Tucson, Ariz.

“Your son’s body is here but his soul is in heaven,” Charlesa recalled the doctor saying.

The Marines, long on the defensive about the safety of Ospreys, initially called the accident “a hard landing mishap,” though they later used the word “crash.”

“I think they tried to downplay it,” Mike Determan said.

Matt was pronounced dead on May 19. He had turned 21 a week earlier.

The Marines gave reporters the wrong hometown for Matt, which meant several initial reports misidentified it. (He was born in Tucson but spent part of his childhood in Ahwatukee, Ariz). There was confusion about whether he was stationed in Hawaii.

(He was not; he was stationed at Camp Pendleton, near San Diego.) It all compounded the Determans’ grief and spurred them to tell his story.

“We got back from Hawaii and I thought, ‘Nobody knows about Matthew. In this whole community, nobody knows,’ ” Mary Determan said.

The Determans recently told his story at Mary’s home, which is adorned with pictures of Matt. Babyfaced and trim, he stares out confidently in his dress uniform, his white hat covering his ginger hair, the brim obscuring the fact that he had shaved his eyebrows just because.

In some ways, the most important part of Matt’s story is the final chapter.

While he never had the chance to save lives in combat, in death he achieved what he had long dreamed of doing: His organs were donated, with his kidneys, liver, lungs and pancreas going to critically ill patients in four states.

“I wept after that,” Mike said.

“I was so happy that Matt lived on through somebody.”

A warrior spirit That gesture marked the end of a life destined for the Marines. Matt’s grandmother, Leanna Howard, be-

lieves that it had something to do with the family’s Cherokee blood, but she and other family members say even as a young boy, Matt had a warrior spirit and talked of joining the Marines like his grandfather. He became obsessed with U.S. military history, developing an encyclopedic knowledge of battles and weaponry.

But before he could join the Marines, he had to graduate high school.

Matt’s dislike for school was matched only by his love for military history and Jack Daniels Tennessee Honey whiskey, Charlesa said.

When the topic interested him, he would become an expert, but the walls of a classroom didn’t agree with his restless nature. His mother said he had a hard time keeping his mouth shut and his grades up, but he finally got his diploma — a year late with one expulsion — and could move on to achieve his lifelong dream of becoming a Marine.

SEE PAGE 4

•

PAGE 4

S

T A R S

A N D

S

T R I P E S

•

Friday, July 24, 2015

COVER STORY FROM PAGE 3

That mouth that got him into so much trouble was also the source of many family stories. Matt had no filter, just utter brutal honesty sprinkled with laugh-out-loud jokes and spot-on impersonations. His mother said he had no inhibitions in social situations.

“He would walk up to anyone and start a conversation,” Charlesa Determan said.

Matt’s death has hit his older brother, Taylor, 23, particularly hard. Matt, Taylor and their older sister, Ashley, 26, were inseparable growing up.

The garage was the gang’s clubhouse, whether it was 100 degrees or near freezing, and they would spend hours there watching TV and arguing.

Matt was the youngest, but Taylor said his brother grew up fast and was the one who looked out for him.

Taylor used to drive all night from Tucson after a long day at work for brief visits with Matt at Camp Pendleton in Oceanside, Calif. He struggled to get out the words, but he wanted everyone to know about his brother’s habit of slipping $20 or $30 to homeless people, which his friends thought was crazy. “Matt would always say, ‘What if you were in their shoes?’ ” Taylor recalled.

Despite his penchant for Al Capone cigarillos and Jack Daniels, Matt excelled athletically. He finished first in his boot-camp class for physical fitness, though he never mentioned it, his parents said. Privately, Matt developed a deep faith, which his parents found out about only after his death, when they discovered notepads full of Bible passages and sketches of Christian imagery.

Matt’s fellow Marines, who filed into his hospital room three by three for hours, told his parents that the lance corporal not only kept his squad mates loose with his humor but commanded respect, even from his superiors. Matt’s badly injured buddy, who survived after a last-minute seat swap with Matt, cried with guilt.

Charlesa said she told Matt’s friend that her son, had he known the outcome, would still have traded seats to save his buddy.

‘Semper fi, Marine!’

More than 300 mourners spilled out of the Church of Our Lady of the Desert in Tucson for Matt’s memorial service on May 29, some sweating in the brutal desert heat to pay their respects.

There was a 21-gun salute.

On Independence Day, the family

PHOTOS

BY

HEATH D RUZIN /Stars and Stripes

The family of Lance Cpl. Matthew Determan gathers on July 4 on the outskirts of Tucson, Ariz., to bury the Marine, who was killed in an Osprey crash during training in May.

Charlesa and Mike Determan pause while talking about their son, Matt, pictured at right, in a Tucson restaurant after his burial. had a chance to say goodbye to Matt privately, clambering up a rocky desert hillside dotted with saguaro cactus and ancient petroglyphs etched into rust-red boulders. It was an overcast morning, a stroke of luck in July, when temperatures often spike well above 100 degrees.

“I think Matthew had a lot to do with the weather,” the Rev. Greg Wiest said before presiding over the burial.

Matt loved his country, but he particularly liked fireworks, making the Fourth of July the perfect day for his

burial, Mary said. Ashley recalled the time Matt and his brother terrorized her with firecrackers in the backyard when their parents went out for the evening.

As they prepared to bury Matt, the Determan clan didn’t shy away from the gallows humor that Matt would have appreciated. When Matt’s grandfather, Dick Determan, accidentally stepped into the hole where Matt’s ashes were to be buried, there was a chorus of, “It’s not your turn, Grandpa!”

But when Wiest began reading from the Bible, the gregarious family fell silent. Charlesa looked to the sky, tears streaming down her face. Family members took turns shoveling dirt over the small square box holding Matt’s ashes.

“Semper fi, Marine!” Matt’s grandfather, Marine veteran Jack Moberg, said as he sobbed.

As Mike pounded the last bit of dirt into the ground where his son now rests, the finality of the moment sank in.

“It just doesn’t seem real,” Charlesa said. “I don’t think it ever will.” druzin.heath@stripes.com Twitter: @Druzin_Stripes

•

Friday, July 24, 2015

S

T A R S

Thank you Sumter for voting us the

#1 PLACE TO BUY AUTO AND TRUCK PARTS

4494 Broad Street 803.494.4444 YOUR FULL LINE PART STORE WHERE YOU GET IT ALL! PARTS • AUTO PAINT MIXED TO MATCH • HYDRAULIC HOSES MADE HERE

With Your Paid Print Subscription

theitem.com

A Great Way to Start Your Day Start your day with a balanced source of news, ideas and entertainment!

• Local News • Regional Updates • World Headlines • Shopping & Coupons • Local Events & Entertainment • Food • Home & Garden • Sports Coverage • Financial News • The Classifieds • Real Estate • Automotive • Comics, Games & Puzzles • Television Listings and much, much more!

20 N. Magnolia Street Sumter, SC 29150 803.774.1258 www.theitem.com

6-DAY DELIVERY as low as $14 /mo.

WEEKEND ONLY as low as $6 /mo.

A N D

S

T R I P E S

•

PAGE 5

•

PAGE 6

S

TA R S

A N D

S

T R I P E S

•

Friday, July 24, 2015

MILITARY

Courtesy of the British Royal Navy

A U.S. Marine Corps MV-22B Osprey Aircraft from the USS Kearsarge lands aboard the HMS Illustrious during Cougar 13. Cougar is the annual deployment of the U.K. Armed Forces’ Maritime Response Force Task Group to the Mediterranean and the Gulf region, which allows the U.K.’s maritime assets to exercise with multinational forces, enhancing interoperability.

With fewer ships available, Marines turning to allies

BY STEVEN BEARDSLEY Stars and Stripes

NAPLES, Italy — The HMS Ocean is the flagship of the British Royal Navy, a 22,000ton amphibious assault ship that can launch helicopters, landing craft and — if U.S. Marines get their way — the MV-22 tilt-rotor Osprey.

The Corps is working with European allies, including the United Kingdom, to see if it can deploy small aviationbased quick-response task forces aboard ships such as the Ocean during a crisis. The initiative is the latest effort to offset what Marine leaders say is a lack of sealift for the kind of missions the service is increasingly emphasizing.

The Allied Maritime Basing Initiative would center on quick-response teams with about 150 Marines and a minimum of three to four MV-22 Osprey tilt-rotor aircraft. It comes as Congress is hammering out a contentious defense bill and services are jockeying for more money by highlighting the dangers of operational deficits.

Corps leaders say the new initiative is a creative response to a lack of resources in a region with big challenges.

The 2012 attack against an American diplomatic facility in Benghazi, Libya, in which the U.S. ambassador and three others were killed pointed to the need for fast-response military options in North Africa. The region’s danger was underlined last month when a gunman killed 38 people at a beach resort in Tunisia, the majority of victims British tourists.

Navy warships rarely spend much time in European or African waters. Alternatives such as converted cargo ships have yet to arrive in the fleet in substantial numbers. Meanwhile, land bases are limited and don’t offer the flexibility of being afloat, said Brig. Gen. Norm Cooling, deputy commander of Marine Forces Europe-Africa in Stuttgart, Germany.

“None of those assets are currently here,” Cooling said in a recent phone interview.

“What is here that we can use?”

The Marines have singled out ships belonging to five nations so far: the U.K., the Netherlands, France, Spain and Italy. The Corps will test capabilities for the first time in November during the large NATO exercise Trident Juncture, Cooling said, putting

KYLE N. RUNNELS/Courtesy of the U.S. Marine Corps

An MV-22B Osprey assigned to Marine Medium Tiltrotor Squadron 226 (Reinforced), 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit, lands on the flight deck of the HMS Illustrious in September 2013.

Marines aboard the Ocean as well as working on the Spanish amphibious ship Juan Carlos I. The Navy’s aviation arm, Naval Air Systems Command, began working with Marines on the project in February, according to officials. Engineers will collect data and will work with counterparts from each nation to certify the ships can work with Ospreys. They’ll look at flight decks, aerodynamics and load capabilities. A fully loaded Osprey can weigh more than 60,000 pounds and can create significant heat on takeoff and landing.

Hangar space, elevator availability and resources for maintenance also will be looked at, according to the command.

Marines landed an Osprey on the Juan Carlos I last year and

are already familiar with some of the other ships. Some ships may have to make adjustments to handle the Osprey, Cooling said.

“Some can do it right off the bat and some need modifications, and obviously that will be the decision of our allies about whether they choose to take that expense or not,” Cooling said.

The general said even smaller foreign ships could be certified for Osprey flight operations, something that could come in handy for moving officials and resources between allied ships around an operation.

For years, the Marines have said they need more ships to meet the demand from global commanders. With little relief

in sight, they’ve created landbased task forces in Spain, Romania and Sicily. A heavyweapons company is slated to arrive in Bulgaria later this year.

The Corps is also looking at adapting its large pre-positioning ships — cargo ships, essentially — to house Marines and to handle Ospreys if they are needed in a pinch.

Marine leaders consider both alternatives stopgaps to deploying more conventional warships to the region. Putting Marines on foreign ships is a similar workaround, Cooling said. “It gives us options we wouldn’t otherwise have.” beardsley.steven@stripes.com Twitter: @sjbeardsley

Friday, July 24, 2015

•

S

T A R S

A N D

S

T R I P E S

•

PAGE 7

•

PAGE 8

WE

S

T A R S

A N D

S

T R I P E S

•

Friday, July 24, 2015

Salute OUR TROOPS ACE PARKER TIRE, INC.

24-Hour Towing

• Quality New Auto Parts • All Parts Serviced Guaranteed 930 N. Lafayette Blvd • P.O. Box 131 • Sumter, SC 29150 E-mail: aceparker@ftc-i.net

775-1277 Office 938-9848 Fax 458-4696 Timmy Bradley 491-7665 24 Hour Towing Arthur Bradley Billy Burrows Tammy Coleman Vice President Office Manager President 983-5260

20 N. Magnolia Street Sumter, SC 29150 803.774.1200

theitem.com Local News • Sports • Entertainment and more

To advertise on this page please contact your sales representative or 803.774.1237

theitem.com WITH MORE THAN ONE MILLION

PAGE VIEWS A MONTH YOU CAN’T AFFORD NOT TO BE HERE. For more information about online advertising please contact your sales representative or 803.774.1237

Friday, July 24, 2015

•

S

T A R S

A N D

S

T R I P E S

•

PAGE 9

PAGE 10

•

S

T A R S

A N D

S

T R I P E S

•

Friday, July 24, 2015

Friday, July 24, 2015

•

S

TA R S

A N D

S

T R I P E S

•

PAGE 11

VETERANS

G ENE J. PUSKAR /AP

President Barack Obama addresses the Veterans of Foreign Wars National Convention in Pittsburgh on Tuesday.

‘Our work isn’t done,’ Obama says of VA

BY H EATH DRUZIN Stars and Stripes

PITTSBURGH — Speaking to about 5,000 veterans Tuesday, President Barack Obama touted improvements in the scandal-plagued Department of Veterans Affairs and employment numbers for those who have left the service, though he cautioned that much more must be done.

“Veterans continue to tell us that once they get through the door [of VA hospitals], the care is very good,” Obama said. “But we’ve got to acknowledge our work isn’t done; we’ve still got a huge challenge.”

He touched on the recent nuclear deal with Iran, a foreign policy more focused on diplomacy than war, and the deadly shooting in Chattanooga, Tenn., that killed five servicemembers, but the bulk of his speech was focused on the health care and benefits system that so many in the audience rely on.

Pittsburgh is the site of a VA hospital where at least six patients died from an outbreak of Legionnaires’ disease that local hospital officials tried to cover

At VFW convention, president talks health care, benefits for veterans up.

Obama said the secret wait lists that VA hospitals used to make wait times look shorter are a thing of the past, and a long-standing disability claims backlog that keeps many veterans waiting for benefits has been reduced by 80 percent.

With VA Secretary Bob McDonald onstage, Obama said that despite the accomplishments, much more must be done to get veterans the care they deserve.

“I’m not satisfied, Bob’s still not satisfied,” he said. “We are focused on this at the highest levels.”

Obama also announced changes in consumer protection rules meant to keep predatory lenders from taking advantage of troops.

The Military Lending Act was passed in 2006 to tighten rules on payday loans

and similar short-term loan operations that often pop up near U.S. military installations. Still, loopholes allowed many businesses to continue charging rates that sometimes topped 400 percent, according to White House and Defense officials.

He personally paid tribute to the five victims of the Chattanooga mass shooting, saying, “God bless these American heroes.”

Perhaps reflecting mixed feelings about the president among veterans, Obama often drew tepid applause, especially for comments about his nuclear deal with Iran.

He did, however, receive a rousing ovation after calling for the release of five Americans — including Marine veteran Amir Mirza Hekmati and Washington Post journalist Jason

Rezaian — being held by the Iranian government.

“These Americans need to be back home with their families,” he said.

Early in the speech, a protester held up a sign about the attack in Benghazi, Libya, that left U.S. ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans dead. Fellow VFW members ripped the sign out of his hand, and a police officer removed him after the protester shouted “Benghazi” several times.

Before the speech, incoming VFW Commander John Biedrzycki gave the president generally high marks on his policy toward veterans, especially for his work to improve the VA. About Iran, Biedrzycki said there is a misperception that veterans are always against diplomatic overtures instead of military action.

“The Iran thing, the devil’s in the detail, and let’s see the details” before judging, he said. “Everyone thinks, ‘Oh, veterans want to go to war — no, they don’t. They’re the last ones who want to go to war.” druzin.heath@stripes.com Twitter: @Druzin_Stripes

•

PAGE 12

S

TA R S

A N D

S

T R I P E S

•

Friday, July 24, 2015

VETERANS

Vets’ views on Obama’s legacy decidedly mixed

BY H EATH DRUZIN Stars and Stripes

PITTSBURGH — During a presidency marked by two wars and an ongoing crisis in veterans’ health care, the policy decisions that Barack Obama has made have acutely affected many in the crowd of thousands of combat vets he addressed here on Tuesday.

Those who made it to Pittsburgh for the Veterans of Foreign Wars national convention, where the president spoke about health care, Iran and the recent murder of five servicemembers in Chattanooga, Tenn., had decidedly mixed views about Obama’s legacy on veterans’ issues.

Some VFW members were unhappy with Obama’s record, especially the perception that he was trying to cut veterans’ benefits to save money.

“Honest to God, I don’t want to listen to the man,” said former Green Beret Ron Johnson, 68, who served in Vietnam. “He’s wanted to balance the budget on the backs of veterans.”

One of Obama’s strongest endorsements came from the VFW’s incoming Commander John Biedrzycki.

“He went on the offensive about the VA (Veterans Affairs),” he said. “They’re moving in the right direction.”

Veterans split on the VA crisis Obama came to office in 2009 with the controversial war in Iraq still being fought and the long-ignored war in Afghanistan becoming increasingly violent and unpopular.

He pulled troops out of Iraq at the end of 2011, only to have to send a small contingent back after Islamic State militants took large swaths of the

‘ Honest to God,

I don’t want to listen to the man.

He’s wanted to balance the budget on the backs of veterans.

’

Ron Johnson former Green Beret who served in Vietnam country’s territory.

In Afghanistan, Obama declared the war over, though nearly 5,000 American troops will remain there through 2015, and violence and instability continue to rise.

Last year, revelations of veterans dying while on secret patient wait lists led to a national scandal over VA health care and exposed long-standing dysfunction entrenched in the federal government’s second-largest department.

Obama forced out then-VA Secretary Eric Shinseki, replacing him with Army veteran and former Procter & Gamble CEO Bob McDonald, who was tasked with an overhaul of the department.

“I made it clear I wanted those problems fixed,” Obama told the crowd.

On Tuesday morning, McDonald spoke to the VFW crowd, estimated at 5,000, and planned an afternoon visit to the VA Pittsburgh Health Care System in Oakland.

Veterans here were split about Obama’s response to the VA crisis. Some were upset that more senior VA leaders have not been fired, while others were impressed with the president’s continued focus on veterans’ health care.

HEATH D RUZIN /Stars and Stripes

Veterans listen to speeches at the Veterans of Foreign Wars National Convention in Pittsburgh, where President Barack Obama addressed several thousand members. Those in attendance gave mixed reviews of Obama’s record on veterans’ issues. Below: Veterans talk on a riverside patio of the David L. Lawrence Convention Center in Pittsburgh on Monday.

Some of the unhappiness with Obama was heightened by disagreements on his other policies, such as immigration.

Navy veteran Melissa Dawson, 58, said she was deeply disappointed with how the president has treated veterans, but she talked mostly about her desire to close the border with Mexico.

Like many at the VFW convention, Dawson was most concerned with seeing her benefits continue without being cut, echoing a common sentiment that the government should honor the pact they made with veterans when they joined the service.

“I want him to say that he will support veterans, period — for as long as it takes, without cutting our benefits and without cutting our pay,” she said.

‘He can only do so much’ Another pressing concern for the combat veterans at the convention was sequestration, the automatic cuts that threaten to reduce the ranks of the military even more than the cuts already planned — 40,000 soldiers.

“Sequestration is the most

ridiculous damn thing our government can do to our soldiers,” Biedrzycki said. “How can they be the finest military in the world if they can’t be razor-sharp?”

In his speech, Obama decried sequestration, saying he would veto any budget that locks in more sequesters.

“These mindless cuts have to end,” he said.

When Obama speaks about veterans, his speeches are often punctuated with the repeated refrain: “Hire a vet,

hire a vet.” Veterans gave him credit for putting the focus on helping servicemembers find work once they leave the military.

“I think he’s doing as good a job as he’s allowed to do,” said Iraq veteran Leevon Leggins II, 44, addressing the rift between Obama and Congress.

“He can only do so much, and the little bit that he has been able to do, he’s done a good job.” druzin.heath@stripes.com @Druzin_Stripes

‘ I think he’s doing as good a job as

he’s allowed to do. He can only do so much, and the little bit that he has been able to do, he’s done a good job.

’

Leevon Leggins II Iraq veteran

Friday, July 24, 2015

•

S

T A R S

A N D

S

T R I P E S

•

PAGE 13

•

PAGE 14

S

T A R S

A N D

S

T R I P E S

•

Friday, July 24, 2015

CHATTANOOGA SHOOTINGS

AMID MOUNTING PUBLIC PRESSURE

Obama puts flags at half-staff for shooting victims

BY TRAVIS J. TRITTEN Stars and Stripes

WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama on Tuesday ordered flags across the country to be flown at halfstaff for the victims of the Chattanooga shooting after mounting public pressure.

The presidential proclamation issued by the White House calls for all flags on public grounds and military bases to be lowered until sunset Saturday.

The White House drew public criticism over the weekend for not ordering flags at half-staff in honor of the five servicemembers killed July 16 by Tennessee gunman Mohammad Youssef Abdulazeez.

By Tuesday, House Speaker Rep. John Boehner, R-Ohio, had ordered Capitol flags down and lawmakers were calling for Obama to issue the order.

“Our thoughts and prayers as a nation are with the servicemembers killed last week in Chattanooga. We honor their service,” Obama wrote in the proclamation. “We offer our gratitude to the police

officers and first responders who stopped the rampage and saved lives.”

The president had issued similar presidential proclamations after other mass shootings, including attacks at the Washington Navy Yard, Fort Hood in Texas and Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut.

Beginning with Tennessee on July 17, governors in some states issued orders to lower flags. But the White House gave no explanation on Monday when questioned about the lack of a proclamation.

Spokesman Josh Earnest said Obama offered condolences last week and suggested he might mention the shooting during an address to veterans in Pennsylvania on Tuesday, which he did.

Boehner ordered the flags down on Capitol Hill hours before the White House announcement and said the House would also hold a moment of silence for the victims.

“Last week, five brave service members were murdered in a terror attack in Chattanooga, Tennessee,” he said

‘ Our thoughts and prayers as a nation

are with the servicemembers killed last week in Chattanooga. We honor their service. We offer our gratitude to the police officers and first responders who stopped the rampage and saved lives.

’

President Barack Obama proclamation

A NDREW H ARNIK /AP

The American flag is lowered to half-staff above the White House on Tuesday to honor the five servicemembers who were killed by a gunman in Chattanooga, Tenn., last week. in a released statement. “Out of respect for their courageous service and sacrifice to our nation, flags at the U.S. Capitol are being lowered to half-staff.”

Rep. Mac Thornberry, R-Texas, chairman of the

Armed Services Committee, lauded the move Tuesday morning and said it should be an example to Obama.

Boehner “follows the governors of Tennessee and other states who are doing the right thing to honor those

Max D. Lederer Jr., Publisher Terry Leonard, Editor Robert H. Reid, Senior Managing Editor Tina Croley, Managing Editor for Content Amanda L. Trypanis, U.S. Edition Editor Michael Davidson, Revenue Director CONTACT US 529 14th Street NW, Suite 350, Washington, D.C. 20045-1301 Email: stripesweekly@stripes.com Editorial: (202) 761-0908 Advertising: (202) 761-0910 Michael Davidson, Weekly Partnership Director: davidson.michael@stripes.com Additional contact information: stripes.com

casualties,” Thornberry said in a statement. “The president should follow suit and order flags flown at half-staff across the country, and he should do so immediately.” tritten.travis@stripes.com Twitter: @Travis_Tritten

This publication is a compilation of stories from Stars and Stripes, the editorially independent newspaper authorized by the Department of Defense for members of the military community. The contents of Stars and Stripes are unofficial, and are not to be considered as the official views of, or endorsed by, the U.S. government, including the Defense Department or the military services. The U.S. Edition of Stars and Stripes is published jointly by Stars and Stripes and this newspaper.

The appearance of advertising in this publication, including inserts or supplements, does not constitute endorsement by the DOD or Stars and Stripes of the products or services advertised.

Products or services advertised in this publication shall be made available for purchase, use, or patronage without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, marital status, physical handicap, political affiliation, or any other nonmerit factor of the purchaser, user, or patron.

© Stars and Stripes, 2015

Friday, July 24, 2015

•

S

T A R S

A N D

S

T R I P E S

•

PAGE 15

PAGE 16

•

S

T A R S

A N D

S

T R I P E S

•

Friday, July 24, 2015