Relating to a Proclamation that the Flag of the United States and the Flag of the State of Wisconsin be Flown at Half-Staff as a Mark of Respect for Spc. Paul J. Sturino of the United States Army Who Lost His Life During Operation Iraqi Freedom
WHEREAS, on September 22, 2003, Spc. Paul J. Sturino of Rice Lake, Wisconsin, a member of the United States Army, B Battery, 2nd Battalion, 320th Field Artillery Regiment, died in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom in Quest, Iraq; and
WHEREAS, Spc. Paul J. Sturino provided faithful and honorable service to the people of the State of Wisconsin and the people of the United States; and
WHEREAS, the people of Wisconsin mourn the death of Spc. Paul J. Sturino in this tragic incident; and
WHEREAS, Spc. Paul J. Sturino will be laid to rest on Wednesday, October 1, 2003;
NOW, THEREFORE, I, JIM DOYLE, Governor of the State of Wisconsin, by the authority vested in me by Federal and State law, do hereby order that the flag of the United States and the flag of the State of Wisconsin shall be flown at half-staff at all buildings, grounds and military installations of the State of Wisconsin equipped with such flags beginning at sunrise on Wednesday, October 1, 2003 and ending at sunset at that date.
IN TESTIMONY WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the Great Seal of the State of Wisconsin to be affixed. Done at the Capitol in the City of Madison this thirtieth day of September in the year two thousand three.
JIM DOYLE
Governor
Wrapped in grief: Yellow ribbons now support slain soldier's family
Sep 27 2003 12:00AM By John Schultz Staff Writer
Elm Grove residents Dino Sturino and Christine Straate were in bed when the Army sergeant came to their door at 10 p.m. Monday night.
He was the visitor they were dreading.
The sergeant brought with him the news that Spc. Paul Sturino, Dino Sturino's 21-year-old son, was killed in Iraq from what the government described as a "nonhostile gunshot wound." He died Monday in an area south of Mosul. Paul Sturino was with the 101st Airborne Division based at Fort Campbell, Ky.
"He is just devastated," Straate said Tuesday of Dino Sturino. "He cried a lot and didn't sleep much at all last night."
Sturino was unable to talk about his son Tuesday, Straate said, because he was sorting through his emotions. She said Sturino wanted to grieve in private before he shared his feelings with others.
Straate said the Army sergeant did not tell them much; just that Paul Sturino died of a gunshot wound to the neck. Records from the Department of Defense state that Sturino died from a noncombat weapons discharge in Quest, Iraq.
"The details are still fuzzy and under investigation," she said.
Now the family is waiting for a bereavement officer to come, and -- they hope -- give them more details about how Sturino's son died. The couple are hoping to have a funeral in Elm Grove, where they have lived for the last two years, and in Rice Lake, where Paul Sturino grew up and where his mother and younger sister still live. Details will not be finalized until the family knows when Sturino's body will be returned to the United States.
Sturino had six to nine months left on his tour of duty.
Subject of articles
Sturino and Straate were the subjects of two earlier stories in the Elm Leaves because Paul Sturino and his brother, Alonzo, 22, were both serving in Iraq earlier this year.
Alonzo Sturino is in a special forces troop in the Army. He returned from Iraq in July and is stationed at Fort Bliss in Texas.
Contacted at Fort Bliss, Sturino said he was taking the death of his brother and fellow solider very hard.
He last saw his brother at Christmas at their mother's home in Rice Lake, he said.
Elm Grove residents who travel past the Sturino home got to know the house at 1500 Highland Drive because trees on the property have been decorated with more than 50 bright yellow ribbons since the war began earlier this year, a sign of hope that soliders will come home alive.
Brother takes different road after death of sibling in Iraq
Associated Press
RACINE, Wis. — Army Spc. Alonzo Sturino arranged his little brother’s hair in his casket at the Hanson Funeral Home, carefully placed rosary beads in his hands and made sure all other details were perfect.
They were things Sturino wished he didn’t have to do Sunday for his 21-year-old brother Spc. Paul J. Sturino, who died Sept. 22 in Quest, Iraq.
Paul Sturino had been assigned to B Battery, 2nd Battalion, 320th Field Artillery Regiment out of Fort Campbell, Ky. Family members say he died as the result of an accidental discharge from another soldier’s firearm.
Alonzo Sturino also had escorted his brother’s body to Wisconsin, first to Racine, where area relatives gathered for services, and then to the Sturino brothers’ hometown, Rice Lake.
After years of Alonzo leading and Paul following — from high school wrestling at Rice Lake High School, joining the Army, then going to Iraq — Paul’s death now sets the brothers on separate journeys.
Duane Sturino of Kenosha, the brothers’ uncle, said his nephews were having a friendly race to see who would be the first promoted to sergeant.
“Alonzo said he is even more motivated now because of Paul’s death,” Duane Sturino said.
Overcast skies and rain reflected the somber gathering at the funeral home, where the American flag flew at half-staff. Red, white and blue was the theme for the flower sprays that surrounded the casket, which was also draped in a flag.
Family members reminisced about the happy boy who often spent summers in Kenosha, where the Sturino family is widely known and well-loved. Paul’s grandparents, George and Gloria, ran a family restaurant in Kenosha for years. Paul also spent three summers on the Barracuda Swim Team in Kenosha.
“He was a fun-loving, well-liked young man,” Duane Sturino said.
The Rev. Jeffrey Thielen, who officiated at the slain soldier’s memorial service, reminded the Sturino family that Paul will always be in their hearts.
“He dedicated his life to make the world better for us, and for that we say, ‘Thank you, Paul,”’ Thielen said.
A burial with full military honors at the Northern Wisconsin Veterans Memorial Cemetery was planned, Spooner said.
Sturino is the fourth Wisconsin soldier to die in Iraq. Army Reservist Dan Gabrielson, 40, of Frederic, was killed July 9; Army Maj. Mathew Schram, 36, of Brookfield, died May 27 and Marine Sgt. Kirk Straseskie, 23, of Beaver Dam, drowned May 19.
• • • • •
Family says 21-year-old Wisconsin soldier accidentally shot
ELM GROVE, Wis. — The fourth soldier from Wisconsin killed in Iraq was fatally shot in some kind of accident, his family said Sept. 23.
Christine Straate, the fiancée of the soldier’s father who lives in Elm Grove, said the family has been told some of the details surrounding the incident that killed Army Spc. Paul J. Sturino, 21, but she did not want to comment further.
“It was an accident,” she said.
Sturino, who graduated from Rice Lake High School in 2001, died Monday from what the Army called a “non-combat weapons discharge.”
He was assigned to the 101st Airborne Division and was in an area south of Mosul in northern Iraq.
Lt. Col. Kevin Curry, an Army spokesman at the Pentagon, said Wednesday the incident that killed Sturino remained under investigation.
The military’s labeling of the cause of Sturino’s death means only that there was no enemy contact at the time a weapon was fired killing him, Curry said.
“It doesn’t really fill in all the blanks yet. That is why it is under investigation,” he said.
Curry said it was unknown how long the official probe into Sturino’s death would take.
Three American flags fluttered in the breeze outside the home of Sturino’s mother, Christine Wetzel, near Rice Lake. A woman who answered the telephone at the home Wednesday said the family wanted to be left alone for now.
Randy Drost, one of Sturino’s high school teachers and his wrestling coach, said he was awaiting word about exactly what happened to the soldier. “We know what they’ve said can mean multiple things,” Drost said.
Since Operation Iraqi Freedom began, 211 Army soldiers have been killed — 131 in hostile actions and 80 in non-hostile situations with no enemy contact, Curry said.
As of Tuesday, 304 U.S. service members have died in the war and its aftermath, including three others from Wisconsin, according to the Department of Defense.
Army Reservist Dan Gabrielson, 40, of Frederic, was killed July 9 when his convoy came under attack from a rocket-propelled grenade north of Baghdad.
Army Maj. Mathew Schram, 36, of Brookfield, died May 27 when his resupply convoy was attacked with machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades near the town of Hadithah about 120 miles north of Baghdad.
Marine Sgt. Kirk Straseskie, 23, of Beaver Dam, drowned May 19 after leaping into a canal to rescue a downed helicopter crew about 60 miles south of Baghdad.
A funeral date for Sturino has not been set, but his family wants him to be buried at Veteran’s Memorial Cemetery near Spooner in northern Wisconsin.
An Army soldier killed in Iraq planned to leave the military and eventually become a history teacher, policeman or game warden, his family said Tuesday. Spc. Paul J. Sturino, 21, of Rice Lake, Wis., died Monday from a non-hostile gunshot wound, the Army said. He was assigned to the 101st Airborne Division, based at Fort Campbell, Ky., and was in an area south of Mosul in northern Iraq, where the death remained under investigation.
Outside the Elm Grove home of Sturino's father, Dino Sturino, yellow ribbons hung from about 30 trees. The Navy veteran of Vietnam was choked with emotion and his eyes filled with tears. "Any parent who has a child, and all of a sudden they find out their child is dead, how would they feel?" Sturino said. "I feel like hell -- stabbed, ripped, whatever you want to call it."
Sturino and his fiancee, Christine Straate, last talked with the soldier on Sept. 14 -- his 21st birthday. He had recently learned he had to serve another year in the Army because of the hostilities in Iraq. His discharge was frozen. "He called on his birthday and said, 'Dad, I have to go on a mission, but I really don't want to,"' Sturino said.
Sturino joined the Army in July 2001 after graduating from Rice Lake High School, following his older brother, Alonzo, 23, who served in Iraq but is now stationed in Texas, Straate said. Jessica Meyers of Rice Lake, Paul Sturino's second cousin, said his two-year enlistment had been due to end last July before it was extended.
The soldier's grandfather and great-grandfather also were military veterans, Straate said. But Dino Sturino said he took little consolation from the fact that his son died serving his country. "He said he was proud to be a soldier in the 101st," he said. "I can't hug him. I can't kiss him. The price is too high."
Sturino's grandmother, Marilyn Peer, said the family was awaiting details of what happened. "We don't know anything," she said. "This is a shock."
