West Virginia Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin has ordered all U.S. and state flags at state facilities to be lowered to half-staff Monday in honor of an Alaska soldier who died during a visit to his home state. Funeral services for Maj. Gregory Vance Shumate of Fairbanks, Alaska, are scheduled for noon Monday at Calfee Funeral Service in Pineville. Tomblin says the 43-year-old Shumate died Dec. 16 in Wyoming County. He was a native of Ravencliff. A cause of death was not released. Shumate served in the U.S. Army from 1988 to 1991, and re-enlisted in 2004. He also served in the West Virginia National Guard from 1991 to 1995 and the U.S. Air Force from 1996 to 2000.
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