WMU Home > About WMU > WMU News

WMU News

Flags at half-staff for WMU student war casualty

May 5, 2006

LANSING, Mich.--Gov. Jennifer M. Granholm today ordered that U.S. flags throughout Michigan and on Michigan waters be lowered for one day, Friday, May 5, in honor of Army Sgt. Matthew A. Webber of Kalamazoo, who died April 27 at Brooke Army Medical Center in Texas.

Webber, age 23, was a junior marketing major at Western Michigan University before he was called to active military service in Iraq. He died as the result of injuries sustained when an improvised explosive device detonated near his vehicle during combat operations in Habbaniyah, Iraq, Nov. 21, 2005. He was assigned to the Army National Guard's 1st Battalion, 125th Infantry Regiment (Mechanized), Saginaw, Mich.

In December 2003, Gov. Granholm issued a proclamation requiring U.S. flags to be lowered to half-staff throughout Michigan to honor Michigan servicemen and servicewomen killed in the line of duty. More information is available on the governor's Web site at www.michigan.gov/gov in the section titled Spotlight.

Media contact: Thom Myers, (269) 387-8400, thom.myers@wmich.edu

WMU News
Office of University Relations
Western Michigan University
1903 W Michigan Ave
Kalamazoo MI 49008-5433 USA
(269) 387-8400
www.wmich.edu/wmu/news