Police motorcade, flags will escort remains of Pinckneyville soldier killed in Kuwait
The remains of Sgt. Holli R. Bolinski, a Pinckneyville soldier who was killed in a car crash in Kuwait this month, will be returned to her hometown on Monday following an observance at the Scott Air Force Base.
The Washington County Sheriff’s Office announced that a motorcade will escort the 37-year-old’s remains back to Pinckneyville from the base around 2:20 p.m. The observance at the Air Force Base is scheduled for 2 p.m.
Volunteers have told the sheriff’s office that flags will be flown on the overpasses at Okawville and Nashville and that the Nashville American Legion Post 110 will post flags along the route through Nashville, and present flags at Interstate 64 and Illinois 127. Any and all volunteers who wish to participate are welcome, the department said.
Larry “The Flag Man” Eckhardt, who posts flags for fallen soldiers and soldiers who are coming home, is asking for volunteers to help post flags in the Pinckneyville area. The sheriff’s office said he will meet volunteers at the KC Hall on Sunday at 2 p.m.
Bolinski, who was part of the Illinois-based 657th Army reserve transportation unit, was killed in a car crash in Kuwait on March 5. She and another soldier in the unit, Spc. Jackson D. Johnson, 20, of Hillsboro, Missouri, were driving an SUV during a routine, authorized mission when a water truck struck the vehicle they were in at a T-intersection. An investigation into the accident is ongoing.
This story was originally published March 17, 2019 at 12:08 PM.
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