‘Remember their sacrifice:’ 3 Memorial Day services on Monday in Mahoning Valley
Memorial Day is this Monday, and the following veterans organizations in the area are paying respects.
Here are our top three picks for Memorial Day honorary commemorations happening on Monday in Mahoning, Columbiana and Trumbull counties.
Mahoning County
Youngstown
Attend the Smoky Hollow Memorial Day service at 11:15 a.m. on the corner of Walnut Street and Rayen Avenue in Youngstown.
Hear from U.S. Navy veteran John Mascardine.
He’s also one of the previous presidents of the Golden Eagle Club, a local veterans group.
The event is happening outside. Attendees are encouraged to bring their own chairs.
There will be refreshments at Yosteria Restaurant after the service wraps up at 225 Valley St. in Youngstown.
Trumbull County
Warren
The Trumbull County Veterans Services Commission invites the public to attend the annual Memorial Day service at 11 a.m. at the Warren Amphitheater.
“Monday will be the day we pay tribute to those who laid down their lives for our freedoms. Now more than ever it is important that we remember their sacrifice,” said Herman Breuer, executive director for the Trumbull County Veterans Services office. “ We are blessed with the freedom to choose what to believe and how to believe it. Many in this world will never know that option.”
There will be a parade at noon along on Niles Road SE from Mahoning Avenue NW to the Oakwood Cemetery.
“Those that laid down their lives, laid them down to strengthen those freedoms. They laid down their lives with others that may have worshipped differently, that may have spoken another language in their home,they did not look alike, they had very different upbringings. They laid down their life knowing that their children and their children’s children, would live in a world better than they would have ever known.”
Breuer stated that this weekend all Americans can remember that sacrifice and be thankful despite some divisions over national ideologies.
During the Memorial Day service in Warren, officials will honor the sacrifice of Richard M. Rees, a U.S. Army captain in Special Forces and 1959 Warren G. Harding graduate, who was killed on Dec. 15, 1973 while on a humanitarian mission to recover the remains of American soldiers.
Immediately after landing by helicopterat the site, Rees and his squadron came under enemy fire and four other Americans were wounded in the attack.
Rees was awarded a Distinguished Service Cross, a Bronze Star and two Silver Stars.
Special Forces worked with the Trumbull Veterans Services Commission to secure a new gravestone for Rees at Oakwood Cemetery. The new grave marker will be dedicated in a private ceremony.
Columbiana County
Washingtonville/Leetonia
The VFW Post 5532 in Washingtonville and the American Legion in Leetonia are hosting a commemoration called Toast to the Post, honoring members of the military who died during service.
Hear from Columbiana County Commissioner Tim Weigle of East Palestine.
After the service, there will be a parade at Jim Santini Builders lot on School Street in Washingtonville at 10 a.m., plus wreath-laying ceremonies at two Leetonia cemeteries.
The parade starts on School Street and goes to the Veterans Memorial at VFW Post 5532 at 575 South County Road in Washingtonville.
The wreath-laying ceremonies start after the service first at the Veterans Memorial at Wick Park in Leetonia then at Oakdale Cemetery in Leetonia at the gravesite on Medal of Honor recipient Ralph E. Dias.
The Washingtonville/Leetonia Memorial Day services are organized by the York Drexler Post 5532, Veterans of Foreign Wars in Washingtonville and American Legion Joe Williams Post 131 in Leetonia.