MOREHEAD CITY, N.C. (AP) - North Carolina's governor has ordered flags lowered to half-staff in honor of a soldier killed in Afghanistan.
Gov. Roy Cooper ordered United States and North Carolina flags to be lowered Tuesday in honor of 23-year-old Sgt. James Allen Slape of Morehead City. Slape died Thursday from wounds caused by an improvised explosive device.
In a statement released Monday, Slape's family says there are no words to express how much they already miss him. Slape's wife, Shawn, says they always playfully argued about who loved the other more, but he loved her more "as he literally put his life on the line for myself and the rest of our country."
The explosive ordinance specialist joined up in 2013. He's the 26th North Carolina Army National Guard soldier killed in action since 2001.
