Joliet to Lower Flags to Half-Staff to Honor Local Military Hero
Joliet Mayor Terry D’Arcy has requested that flags throughout the city be lowered to half-staff starting at sunrise on Friday, April 18, and for the two days immediately preceding that day.
This request comes ahead of the funeral for Joliet native, SSgt. Jose Dueñez Jr., one of four U.S. Army soldiers recently killed in a training accident in Lithuania.
Dueñez, Jr. was from Joliet and would have turned 26 years old on April 8.
According to published reports from the U.S. Army, Dueñez, Jr. and the other soldiers, all assigned to the 1st Armored Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division at Fort Stewart, went missing on the morning of March 25.
They were in Lithuania in support of Operation Atlantic Resolve. The bodies of all four soldiers were later found submerged in a marsh inside their armored vehicle.
Dueñez, Jr. was one of six children and leaves behind a wife and a one-year-old son. He enlisted in the military after graduating from high school in 2017.
“This is a tragic loss of life,” said D’Arcy in a press release. “We all owe it to him and his family to show our deepest respect for his commitment to our country by lowering flags to half-staff.”
The Office of the Governor and the Illinois Flag Display Act stipulate that “the flag of the United States of America and the Illinois flag should be flown at half-staff for every Illinois member of the armed forces, police force, fire service, and other groups covered by the Act who are killed in the line of duty.”
The Act requires flags to be lowered to half-staff from sunrise to sunset on the day of the funeral and the two days immediately preceding it.
Visitation for SSgt. Dueñez, Jr. will be held on Thursday, April 17, from 4 to 8 p.m. at Tezak Funeral Home, 1211 Plainfield Road, Joliet.
Funeral services will be held on Friday, April 18, with visitation at Word of Life Church, 1500 Cedarwood Drive, Crest Hill, from 10 to 11 a.m. Services will begin at 11 a.m., with cremation to follow.
D’Arcy encourages schools, churches, businesses, and others to honor Dueñez’s life during these days.
“It is up to all of us to unite in our appreciation for those who put their lives on the line all over the world to protect our freedoms here at home.”