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Flags lowered Wednesday for Staff Sgt. Joshua Throckmorton

by Tonya Durlach

July 18, 2011 | WMU News

Photo of Army Staff Sgt. Joshua A. Throckmorton.
Throckmorton
LANSING, Mich.--By order of Gov. Rick Snyder, U.S. flags on all campuses of Western Michigan University and throughout Michigan will be lowered Wednesday, July 20, in honor of Army Staff Sgt. Joshua A. Throckmorton, of Battle Creek, Mich., who died July 5 in Afghanistan's Paktia province.

Throckmorton, age 28, died of wounds suffered from an improvised explosive device. He was assigned to the 709th Military Police Battalion, 18th Military Police Brigade, 21st Theater Sustainment Command in Hohenfels, Germany. He served 15 months in Iraq, and was three months into a one-year deployment in Afghanistan. He was posthumously awarded a Bronze Star and Purple Heart.

Throckmorton's visitation will be held from 2 to 4 p.m. and 6 to 8 p.m. Tuesday, July 19, at the Farley-Estes & Dowdle Funeral Home in Battle Creek. The service will begin at 1 p.m. Wednesday, July 20, at the First Wesleyan Church of Battle Creek.

Former Michigan Gov. Jennifer M. Granholm issued a proclamation in December 2003, requiring U.S. flags to be lowered to half-staff throughout the state of Michigan and on Michigan waters to honor Michigan servicemen and servicewomen killed in the line of duty.

Michigan was among the first states to honor its fallen sons and daughters by lowering flags.