December 10, 2003

Governor Jennifer M. Granholm today issued a proclamation requiring United States flags lowered to half-staff throughout the state of Michigan and half-mast on Michigan waters to honor Michigan servicemen and servicewomen killed in action.  

"For more than 228 years, our servicemen and servicewomen have underwritten our freedom with their duty, honor, and selfless service,” Granholm said.  "We recognize that while all our military personnel are giving something of themselves to this country, some have given all by laying down their lives to defend the freedoms we hold so dear.”     

In Proclamation No. 2003-4, signed today by Governor Granholm, U.S. flags are ordered lowered to half-staff throughout the state of Michigan and to half-mast on Michigan waters whenever one of Michigan’s own is killed in the line of duty.     

Today, Governor Granholm is ordering flags lowered on Thursday and Friday, December 11 and 12, in honor of Michigan’s most recent loss, Pfc. Jason G. Wright, 19, of Luzerne, Michigan, who was killed by hostile fire December 8 in Mosul, Iraq.  Private Wright was assigned to the United States Army 1st Battalion, 502nd Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault), Fort Campbell, Kentucky.  He is the son of Todd and Leslie Wright also of Luzerne.