Awarded the Purple Heart and Bronze Star after his death, Stiles earned a first Bronze Star last month when he crawled through heavy fire to rescue two soldiers trapped in a transport vehicle that had been bombed. Stiles’ vocal chord and lungs were injured in the blast but he refused medical leave and returned to service soon afterward, his father said.

Stiles was scheduled to return home in February. His eighth wedding anniversary would have been Tuesday.

It’s the 12th time Gov. Bill Ritter has ordered flags lowered in Colorado this year. In addition to seven occasions honoring fallen servicemen, Ritter has issued the order to commemorate Sept. 11, Law Enforcement Memorial Day, and Colorado firefighters killed on duty. The deaths of former Senate President Ray Powers and Adams County Prosecutor Sean May were also honored by flying the U.S. and Colorado flags at half-staff at all public buildings in the state. Check the state’s flag status here.

A recent communique from the National Guard Bureau reveals that Army units from four states were in the Mile High City to assist federal and local law enforcement authorities with security and crowd control operations.

Units from Georgia, Nebraska, Utah and Wyoming worked with soldiers from the Colorado Army National guard during the massive political event:

As with almost any National Guard mission, units were prepared to assist military and civilians alike if authorities called upon them, task force officials said. They explained that in a civil support capacity, Guardsmen are capable of providing medical and security support, in addition to other specialties reserved for catastrophic events, such as site decontamination, personnel evacuation and medical triage.

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Prior to setting up their equipment, the Guardsmen practiced donning and doffing their specialized personal protective gear and setting up and moving any external equipment in order to ensure they were ready to respond to an event if called by authorities.

Although military officials are still mum on just how many soldiers were stationed in Denver during convention week, The Colorado Independent reported leading up to the convention that the the state’s Army National Guard was planning to station at least 500 soldiers in facilities surrounding the city.