October 13, 2010

Flags lowered to honor war casualty

Under a proclamation signed by Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn, the United States flag and the Illinois flag are to be at half-staff at all State of Illinois facilities in honor of a U.S. soldier killed earlier this month in the war in Afghanistan.

Flags are to be flown at half-staff beginning immediately, Wednesday, Oct. 13, until sunset, Thursday, Oct. 14, in honor of U.S. Air Force Senior Airman Daniel J. Johnson.

Reports indicate that Johnson, 23, of Schiller Park, died Oct. 5, from injuries received from an improvised explosive device that detonated while trying to deactivate a bomb in Hendu, Kandahar, Afghanistan. The explosion injured another airman.

Johnson was an explosive ordinance disposal technician, assigned to the 30th Civil Engineer Squadron, Explosive Ordinance Flight, out of Vandenberg Air Force Base in Lompoc Calif.

Reports say Johnson, a 2005 graduate of Monona Grove High School in Monona, Wis., attended classes at Triton College in River Grove, and joined the military in November 2006. He was on his second deployment -- his first to Afghanistan -- in August 2010. He previously served a seven-month tour in Iraq in 2009.