Flags to Fly at Half-Staff for Montana Soldier

By Beacon Staff

HELENA – Gov. Brian Schweitzer has ordered that flags be flown at half-staff from Friday through Saturday to honor a Montana soldier who was killed while on patrol in Afghanistan.

Sgt. Jeremiah Wittman died of injuries sustained when an improvised explosive device detonated near his patrol in Zhari Province on Feb. 13.

The 26-year-old soldier, a member of the 12th Infantry Regiment, was on his second deployment to the Middle East. He attended elementary and middle school in Billings before moving with his mother to Powell, Wyo., for a time. He graduated from Trapper Creek High School in Darby and enlisted in the Army in 2004.