Offices will lower flags for fallen serviceman

Washington state offices will fly their flags at half-staff today in honor of a Colville resident killed last month in Iraq. Gov. Chris Gregoire ordered state offices to lower their flags in honor of Chief Warrant Officer Benjamin Todd, a pilot killed Jan. 26 when two Kiowa Warrior reconnaissance helicopters crashed in northern Iraq near the city of Kirkuk. Todd, 26, is a former Colville High School student who enlisted in the Army in 2000 and was assigned to the 10th Mountain Division based at Fort Drum, N.Y. He had been in Iraq since last October. Three other helicopter pilots from the same squadron died in the crash.