Vet Stands on Bridge 4 Hours to Honor Victims in Tennessee

Ben Kinsey makes silent tribute with American flag
By John Johnson,  Newser Staff
Posted Jul 17, 2015 6:01 PM CDT
Vet Stands on Bridge 4 Hours to Honor Victims in Tennessee
Ben Kinsey stands in tribute.   (Facebook/Noah Smith)

Plenty of words of praise have been offered for the four Marines shot to death in Chattanooga yesterday, but it's a veteran's silent tribute that is resonating online. Ben Kinsey stood on a South Carolina bridge for four hours yesterday with an American flag, an hour for each victim, reports CBS News. He wasn't looking to call attention to the salute: It just so happened that Noah Smith saw Kinsey on the I-20 overpass and stopped to ask what was going on. His subsequent Facebook post has been shared more than 40,000 times.

Smith writes that he parked his car and walked to Kinsey, saying, "'Sir this is really awesome of you but why are you doing this? He replies with 'I'm standing out here for the four Marines killed today in TN. You know they can survive combat and come home during a peaceful time and get killed.'" Kinsey tells CBS that he shows up on the bridge every Sept. 11 for an 11-hour tribute. (More Chattanooga stories.)

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