HLS 15RS-4165 ORIGINAL
2015 Regular Session
HOUSE CONCURRENT RESOL UTION NO. 217
BY REPRESENTATIVE ARMES
MILITARY AFFAIRS/NATL GD: Requests the Louisiana Congressional Delegation to
urge the secretary for the United States Army to allow the burial of a national
guardsman at Arlington National Cemetery
1 A CONCURRENT RESOL UTION
2To urge and request that the Louisiana Congressional delegation send a formal request to the
3 secretary of the United States Army to reconsider the decision denying the family of
4 Staff Sergeant Thomas Florich the right to bury Staff Sergeant Florich at Arlington
5 National Cemetery, a place of sacred honor.
6 WHEREAS, Staff Sergeant Thomas Florich of Fairfax County, Virginia, enlisted in
7the Louisiana National Guard in 2007, as a Black Hawk repairer, served state deployments
8for Operation Deepwater Horizon and Hurricane Isaac, earning more than one hundred
9twenty-five flight hours, and was also a graduate of the warrior leader course; and
10 WHEREAS, Staff Sergeant Thomas Florich was a member of A Company, 1st
11Assault Helicopter Battalion, 244th Aviation Regiment, headquartered in Hammond, and
12was living in Baton Rouge as he served in the guard while he also attended Louisiana State
13University; and
14 WHEREAS, Staff Sergeant Florich was twenty-six years old when he and his crew
15flew out of Eglin Air Force Base near Pensacola, Florida, on March 10, 2015, to engage in
16a nighttime water insertion operation with Marine Special Operations Command personnel
17from Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, but the aircraft, without warning, suddenly crashed into
18Santa Rosa Sound and all aboard perished; and
19 WHEREAS, Staff Sergeant Florich was married and leaves behind his wife who is
20now seven months pregnant with his child, his father, and stepmother; and
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HCR NO. 217
1 WHEREAS, Staff Sergeant Florich was in uniform and acting in his capacity as a
2crew chief and door gunner in a training exercise that took place during adverse weather
3conditions on that tragic day; unfortunately, the U.S. Army does not include National Guard
4training exercises in the definition of "active duty" status and has therefore denied his
5family's request for Staff Sergeant Florich to be buried in ground interment at Arlington
6National Cemetery due to eligibility requirements regarding internment and inurnment; and
7 WHEREAS, this Sergeant may not have been in "active duty" status as defined by
8the U.S. Army, but he was performing his duties and serving his country and should be
9allowed to be buried at Arlington National Cemetery alongside other servicemen and his
10grandfather who was a green beret, who also gave his life among many others in an effort
11to protect this state and country; and
12 WHEREAS, Louisiana National Guard, Major General Glenn Curtis sent a letter to
13the secretary of the U.S. Army, John McHugh, asking that the decision be reconsidered.
14 THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the Legislature of Louisiana does hereby
15urge and request the Louisiana Congressional delegation to send a formal request that the
16decision denying the family of Staff Sergeant Thomas Florich the right to bury Staff
17Sergeant Florich at Arlington National Cemetery, a place of sacred honor, be reconsidered.
18 BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that a copy of the Resolution be transmitted to each
19member of the Louisiana Congressional delegation.
DIGEST
The digest printed below was prepared by House Legislative Services. It constitutes no part
of the legislative instrument. The keyword, one-liner, abstract, and digest do not constitute
part of the law or proof or indicia of legislative intent. [R.S. 1:13(B) and 24:177(E)]
HCR 217 Original 2015 Regular Session Armes
Requests the Louisiana Congressional delegation to send a formal request that the decision
denying the family of Staff Sergeant Thomas Florich the right to bury Staff Sergeant Florich
at Arlington National Cemetery, a place of sacred honor, be reconsidered.
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