Flags lowered in memory of Marines killed in Afghanistan

NEW YORK – Gov. Andrew Cuomo has ordered flags lowered to half-staff in memory of two Marine Corps reservists from New York who were killed in Afghanistan.

Cpl. Robert A. Hendriks and Staff Sgt. Christopher Slutman were killed by a roadside bomb Monday along with Sgt. Benjamin S. Hines, of York, Pennsylvania.

Slutman grew up in Maryland and lived in Delaware and New York. He was a 15-year member of the Fire Department of New York.

Hendriks’ aunt tells Newsday that the resident of Long Island’s Locust Valley was a sweet, kind and loving young man.

Lorraine Caliendo says Hendriks’ brother Joseph, also a Marine, had just started a tour in Afghanistan but instead will be escorting his coffin back home.

Caliendo says both brothers hoped to become police officers after their military service.

She calls Robert’s death a “horrible, horrible thing.”

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Information from: Newsday, http://www.newsday.com