Governor orders flags at half-staff in memory of San Diego-area sailors

SAN DIEGO – Gov. Jerry Brown today ordered flags at the state Capitol to be flown at half-staff in memory of two San Diego-area sailors who died in the collision of a Navy destroyer and a merchant vessel near Japan.

Fire Controlman 2nd Class Carlos Victor Ganzon Sibayan of Chula Vista and Yeoman 3rd Class Shingo Alexander Douglass of San Diego were among seven crew members of the USS Fitzgerald killed Saturday.

Brown and first lady Anne Gust Brown said the sailors "bravely gave their lives in service to our state and nation'' and extended their "deepest condolences'' to the sailors' families and friends.

The victims were asleep in berths that were flooded in the Japan-based ship, which made it back to port.

On Sunday, Sibayan's mother said her 23-year-old son was her hero and acted as the family's father figure during his dad's own Navy deployments. He graduated in 2012 from Chaparral High School in Temecula, where he was active in the school's Navy Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps program for four years.

Douglass, 25, was "an adventurous young man'' proud to be a part of hiscrew and of service to his country, his family said. The publication Starsand Stripes reported that he grew up in Okinawa before moving to San Diego County and graduating from Fallbrook High School in 2010.