Update: Remembering and honoring our fallen heroes

Jindal orders flags at half-staff in remembrance of 2 Louisiana Navy Seals killed in Afghanistan

Published: Tuesday, August 09, 2011, 1:27 PM     Updated: Tuesday, August 09, 2011, 2:36 PM

By The Associated Press The Associated Press

BATON ROUGE — Gov. Bobby Jindal has ordered the flags on all state buildings to be flown at half-staff through sunset Friday in remembrance of two Louisiana Navy Seals killed in Afghanistan over the weekend.

View full sizeSteve Helber, Associated PressAn American flag is flown at half-staff Monday near the main gate of Naval Air Station Oceana Dam Neck Annex, the base of Navy Seal Team Six in Virginia Beach, Va.

Lt. Com. Jonas Kelsall and Chief Petty Officer Robert James Reeves, both of Shreveport, were among 30 servicemen, a civilian interpreter and seven Afghan commandos killed when their helicopter was shot down by insurgents in Wardak Province, in eastern Agfhanistan.
Jindal says the move is an "appropriate and fitting" tribute to the men to "mark their passing, and to honor their memory."
Meanwhile, assuming the grimmest role of his office, President Barack Obama on Tuesday privately honored the fallen forces returning home from war.
Obama's afternoon trip to Dover Air Force Base in Delaware was unannounced to ensure the security of his helicopter flight. Members of the media covering the trip agreed not to report on it until he had landed.
After about a half-hour flight from Washington, Marine One touched down at the base. The president climbed into a limousine that took him to the two C-17 aircraft that arrived earlier in the day carrying the remains of the 30 Americans killed in Afghanistan.

View full sizeCarolyn Kaster, Associated PressPresident Barack Obama is greeted by Col. Mark Camerer, the 436th Airlift Wing Commander, at Dover Air Force Base, Del., on Tuesday.

The president boarded each plane to pay his respects to the fallen.
The White House said Obama then spent more than an hour meeting with 250 family members and service members gathered at the base, offering his condolences for their loss and his gratitude for their service and sacrifice.
Reeves, 32, and Kelsall, 33, were childhood friends and both graduated from Caddo Magnet High School.
Assistant principal Bryan Gallant said the school, where classes open Aug. 18, put an "RIP" notice on its marquee, and someone — he didn't know who — put a couple of U.S. flags in a school garden as an impromptu memorial.
He said Kelsall graduated in 1996 and Reeves in 1997.
The families asked the school not to issue any further statement about them, he said.