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YOUNGSTOWN -- Mahoning County commissioners took time Thursday during their regular meeting to honor all veterans and especially those wounded or killed in combat.
The board also approved a resolution dedicating the Mahoning Avenue bridge over Meander Reservoir in honor of Purple Heart veterans.
Representing Military Order of the Purple Heart Chapter 606 to accept the proclamation was chapter commander Herm Breuer, who also is director of Trumbull County Veterans Services; and Leo Connelly, 75, of Boardman, who was wounded in hand-to-hand combat during the Vietnam War.
Connelly said naming the bridge with appropriate signage is part of the Purple Heart group's efforts to educate Americans about the sacrifices service members make in the name of freedom.
"We need to to educate our children about what it took for them to enjoy all this," Connelly said.
The group started in 1992, Connelly said, to educate about the Purple Heart honor that is given to every service member wounded or killed in combat. The Purple Heart was instituted as a merit badge by George Washington in the Revolutionary War and was updated and renamed by General Douglas MacArthur in 1932, Connelly said.
"We who have come back wounded have the duty to carry on the memory of those who didn't come back," Breuer said.
Commissioners with Connelly and Breuer also dedicated the sign that will be placed along both sides of the Meander Reservoir bridge honoring the Purple Heart order. Workers from the Mahoning County Engineer's Office took the sign immediately from the hearing room to erect Thursday afternoon on the bridge.
In a related action, commissioners allocated $7,133 of American Rescue Plan funding toward the purchase of a 2022 Sprinter mobile office that will be used by the Mahoning County Veterans Service Office to call on veterans for home visits or other uses, such as mobile medical clinics.
"This unit will be the second in its kind in the nation and can be parked in the area nursing homes. We can also travel to a veteran's workplace if needed," Connelly said.
The total cost of the vehicle is $247,000 which included allocations from other funding sources, Connelly said.
gvogrin@tribtoday.com