Although many flags are already being flown at half staff in honor of the servicemen from Indiana who lost their lives last Thursday in Afghanistan, the official mourning period begins at 8:00 a.m. this morning.
Starke County Service Officer Gordon Richie made the announcement yesterday. Richie was asked how long the period will last.
“Until the funeral day,” he said. “After the funeral, at the closing of the businesses and Courthouse, they will then take the flags down from half staff.”
Richie said there is a proper way to hoist the flag and take it down again.
“The flag is to be taken to the full length of the pole and then brought down to half staff. In the evening when it is taken down, it goes back up to the top and then back down to the bottom.”
Richie and members of the community have expresse condolences to the family of Spc. Robert Tauteris, Jr., of Hamlet, who was one of the soldiers from Indiana who lost his life Thursday after a vehicle he was in struck a roadside bomb.
