March 04, 2009
Flags lowered to honor war casualties
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 two Illinois men killed last week by a roadside bomb while serving in the military in the war in Afghanistan.
Flags are to be flown at half-staff from sunrise, Thursday, March 5, until sunset, Saturday, March 7, in honor of Illinois Army National Guard Sgt. Scott B. Stream and Sgt. Schuyler B. Patch.
Reports indicate that Stream, 39, of Mattoon, and Patch, 25, of Galva, were killed Feb. 24, by a roadside bomb in Kandahar. Four U.S. soldiers died in the blast as the group provided “security for coalition training teams embedded with Afghan police and for smaller forward bases in the area,” according to a Feb. 27 story in the Chicago Tribune.
Stream and Patch were members of the Illinois National Guard’s 33rd Infantry Brigade Combat Team.
Stream was assigned to Company B, 2nd Battalion of the 130th Infantry based in Effingham; he joined the National Guard in July 2000. Patch was assigned to the 2nd Squadron, 106th Calvary Regiment. Patch, a member of the Kewanee National Guard Unit, began his second tour late last year. He initially enlisted with the Oklahoma Army National Guard in March 2005 and later transferred to the Illinois National Guard in November 2007, according to reports.