NJ Flags to Be Lowered Friday To Honor Fallen Marine Derek Kerns

Gov. Chris Christie has ordered flags at all state buildings to be flown at half-staff to honor a fallen Marine corporal.

The flags will be lowered Friday in tribute to Derek Kerns, a 21-year-old Woodstown native killed last week in a training mission in Morocco.

Kerns joined the Marines in September 2008, shortly after he graduated from Woodstown High School.

He was a MV-22 crew chief with Marine Medium Tiltrotor Squadron 261, Marine Aircraft Group 26MV-22, and was based at New River Air Station in North Carolina.

Kerns was recently married and the father of a 3-month-old son.

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