WASHINGTON (AP) — The parents of a soldier who was beaten to death at Fort Campbell, Kentucky, are trying to block the promotion of its former commanding general.

The Kansas City, Missouri, couple met at the Pentagon with Maj. Gen. Robert T. Clark, whom the Bush administration has re-nominated for a third star and promotion.

Clark sought the meeting to talk about the 1999 killing of Pfc. Barry Winchell, who was bludgeoned with a baseball bat by a fellow soldier who believed Winchell was gay.

“Gen. Clark still did not take any responsibility and still did not even say he was sorry he hadn’t reached out to us,” said Patricia Kutteles, Winchell’s mother. She says Clark did not do enough to stop anti-gay harassment on the base.

Army spokesperson Elaine Kanellis would not comment on the meeting, saying Clark wanted it kept private. Of his promotion, she said: “The Army stands behind his nomination.”

Fort Campbell is on the Tennessee-Kentucky state line.

In a handwritten letter to Winchell’s mother last month, Clark wrote: “I am sincerely interested in talking to you for as long as you like in hopes that we can resolve any issues and misunderstandings that still exist and that I can address.”

Patricia and Wally Kutteles were taking their opposition to members of the Senate Armed Services Committee, which has control over Clark’s nomination. It is the second try for President Bush’s nominee, whose promotion stalled last year because of the 1999 slaying.

Clark is up for a third star, which would make him a lieutenant general, and for a promotion to commanding general of the Fifth United States Army at Fort Sam Houston, Texas, where he is deputy commanding general.

Winchell died in July 1999 at age 21. Pvt. Calvin Glover of Sulphur, Oklahoma, was sentenced to life in prison for murdering Winchell, and Spc. Justin Fisher of Lincoln, Nebraska, was sentenced to 12 and a half years in prison for lying to investigators.

An internal investigation turned up evidence of anti-gay behavior in Winchell’s unit. However, the Army’s inspector general concluded that the chain of command at Fort Campbell appropriately enforced the Pentagon’s policy of permitting gays to serve in the military, as long as they keep their sexual orientation to themselves.