By Roger Cornish (TOPEKA, Kan.)
Kansas Governor Mark Parkinson has directed flags to be flown at half-staff throughout Kansas from sunup to sundown May 27 in honor of U.S. Army Colonel John M. McHugh.
Colonel McHugh, 46, died May 18 in Afghanistan of wounds suffered when enemy forces used a vehicle borne improvised explosive device and struck his convoy.
McHugh was serving as Chief of Operations Group A with the Battle Command Training Program.
McHugh was on a NATO key leader training mission in support of Operation Enduring Freedom.
He is survived by his wife, five children and one granddaughter.
Since 2007, national policy has allowed the flags of the United States and the State of Kansas to be displayed at half-staff throughout the state when a member of the Kansas National Guard or Kansas Air National Guard is killed in the line of duty, or when a Kansas resident serving as a member of the United States Armed Forces is killed in the line of duty.
