YOUNGSTOWN — It was a special Veterans Day at The Addison of Cornersburg on Tuesday as several veterans were recognized with a ceremonial pinning event. Resident veterans Ila Grace Emmitt Cochran, Robert Pittman and Joseph Defuria were recognized during a brief afternoon ceremony.

Topping the card for the ceremony was Cochran, a World War II veteran who is still going strong at the age of 106. She recalled her service to the country prior to the ceremony.

Cochran was born in 1919 and said she attended Haskins High School in Haskins, Ohio. She went on to attend the Lucas County School of Nursing in Toledo and worked five years at Fosteria City Hospital. On May 19, 1943 she enlisted in the Army Nursing Corps.

“Back then, everybody was joining the Army,” she said.

Cochran enlisted and was given the rank of lieutenant. After training, she was sent to serve in Liverpool, England, where she and other nurses treated and cared for men involved in the Battle of the Bulge. She said the nurses lived in Quonset huts next to the field hospital.

“We took care of a lot of (injured) men,” Cochran said.

From England, Cochran was reassigned to St. Quentin, France, and the 197th General Hospital. From there, she served in several cities while helping injured soldiers.

“We did a lot of marching, and we were tired, but we never thought about it as we had work to do,” she said.

Cochran was discharged in January of 1946 as a 1st Lieutenant. She returned home and continued her nursing career at South Side and North Side hospitals. She first attended The Ohio State University, where she met her husband, James A. Cochran Jr.

In 2024, Cochran entered The Addison of Cornersburg and this year was the star of the facility’s Wall of Honor, dedicated to resident veterans.

Another veteran honored at the Tuesday event was Robert Pittman, a veteran of the Army Reserve.

Pittman graduated from Jackson-Milton High School in 1957. He said many from his graduating class looked at a Reserve Forces Act program.

“You joined and had to serve six months active duty, then serve as a reserve unit for the next six-and-a-half years,” he said. “We never went overseas.”

He said as soon as he signed, he was put on a train for Fort Knox, Kentucky, where he served six months of active duty.

“I achieved the rank of sergeant,” he said. “The one thing I remember best was the comradery.”

After putting in his time, he returned to the area and went to work at General Motors in Lordstown, retiring after 32 years.

Another Addison veteran who was unable to attend the ceremony was Joseph Defuria, a Chaney graduate who served with the 742nd Military Intelligence Battalion. Defuria served as a military police officer and was stationed in Northern Luzon, Philippines.