While the speculation, recrimination, rationalization and many other “ations” have already started in the wake of yet another horrific massacre in America yesterday, perhaps today is a day to honor, mourn and remember.
The President issued the following Proclamation honoring the victims of the tragedy at the Washington Navy Yard
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A PROCLAMATION
As a mark of respect for the victims of the senseless acts of violence perpetrated on September 16, 2013, at the Washington Navy Yard, by the authority vested in me as President of the United States by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, I hereby order that the flag of the United States shall be flown at half-staff at the White House and upon all public buildings and grounds, at all military posts and naval stations, and on all naval vessels of the Federal Government in the District of Columbia and throughout the United States and its Territories and possessions until sunset, September 20, 2013. I also direct that the flag shall be flown at half-staff for the same length of time at all United States embassies, legations, consular offices, and other facilities abroad, including all military facilities and naval vessels and stations.
IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this sixteenth day of September, in the year of our Lord two thousand thirteen, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and thirty-eighth.
Others paid their respects, too:
From right to left, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel; Army Gen. Martin E. Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff; Navy Adm. Jonathan Greenhart, chief of naval operations; Navy Secretary Ray Mabus; and Navy Adm. James A. Winnefeld Jr., vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, honor the 12 victims of the Washington Navy Yard shooting during a ceremony at the Navy Memorial in Washington, D.C., Sept. 17, 2013.
Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel, center, and Army Gen. Martin E. Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, greet Washington Mayor Vincent Gray before laying a wreath at the Navy Memorial in Washington, D.C., Sept. 17, 2013. The defense leaders held the ceremony to remember the 12 victims of the Sept. 16 shooting at the Washington Navy Yard.
Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel, center, and Army Gen. Martin E. Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, lay a wreath at the Navy Memorial in Washington, D.C., Sept. 17, 2013. The defense leaders held the small ceremony to remember the 12 victims of the Sept. 16 shooting at the Washington Navy Yard. Navy Secretary Ray Mabus, second from right, and Navy Adm. Jonathan W. Greenert, right, chief of naval operations, look on.
Police in Washington have released the names of the 12 victims killed in Monday’s shooting rampage at Washington Navy Yard.
• Michael Arnold, 59
• Martin Bodrog, 54
• Arthur Daniels, 51
• Sylvia Frasier, 53
• Kathy Gaarde, 62
• John Roger Johnson, 73
• Frank Kohler, 50
• Mary Francis Knight, 51
• Kenneth Bernard Proctor, 46
• Vishnu Pandit, 61
• Gerald L. Read, 58
• Richard Michael Ridgell, 52
