Flags lowered to honor war casualty

The United States flag and the Illinois flag will be at half-staff at all State of Illinois facilities beginning today, Wednesday, Dec. 5, in honor of an Illinois man killed while serving in the military in the war in Iraq, under a proclamation signed by Gov. Rod R. Blagojevich.

The flags will be at half-staff from sunrise Wednesday to sunset Friday, Dec. 7, in honor of U.S. Marine Cpl. Allen C. Roberts. Reports indicate that Roberts, 21, of Arcola, died Nov. 27 in a Humvee accident near Al Asad, Iraq. Roberts enlisted in November 2004 and had been deployed in Iraq since August.

At the recommendation of a suburban Barrington man, Blagojevich in December 2004 issued a proclamation also directing all State of Illinois facilities to lower their flags to half-staff on the day of a funeral for any Illinois National Guardsman killed in combat. The flags are then raised again to full-staff the following day.

In September, Blagojevich signed legislation requiring all state agencies to fly the U.S. flag, the Illinois flag, and appropriate military flags at half-staff for the death of an Illinois resident killed by hostile fire while a member of the U.S. Armed Forces, or for a law enforcement officer killed in the line of duty.