Correspondent photo / Sean Barron Poland Township Trustee Frank DeMain speaks as part of an annual Memorial Day ceremony Sunday at The Inn at Poland Way.

POLAND — Holly Lewis made it abundantly clear she wants those who made the ultimate sacrifice while serving the nation to be honored and remembered, but she also made that narrative a bit more personal.

“We are here for heroes like West Virginia National Guard Specialist Sarah Beckstrom, who was mortally wounded while serving her country,” Lewis, 2nd commander with the American Legion Department of Ohio, said. “Those who knew her described her as someone with quiet strength, a contagious smile and a presence that lifted the people around her.”

That was a core piece of the message Lewis intended to impart in the presentation she delivered as part of an annual Memorial Day ceremony Sunday afternoon at The Inn at Poland Way.

Lewis served in the U.S. Navy from 1985 to 1992, where she was an ocean systems technical maintainer. Her main duties were repairing and maintaining computers for underwater surveillance systems designed to track submarines.

Beckstrom was a military police officer with the 863rd Military Police Company, West Virginia National Guard before she was fatally shot Nov. 26, 2025, while performing her duties near the Farragut Square Metro Station in Washington, D.C. Beckstrom, 20, died the following day.

In her remarks at the ceremony, in its ninth year, Lewis also honored U.S. Air Force Staff Sgt. Andrew Wolfe of Martinsburg, W.Va., who was seriously wounded in the attack at the station. Wolfe was assigned to the Force Support Squadron, 167th Airlift Wing, West Virginia Air National Guard.

Lewis, of Steubenville, also remembered Air Force Staff Sgt. William H. Pitsenbarger, 21, who was killed April 11, 1966, in Cam My, Vietnam.

“Sixty years ago, in the jungles near Saigon, Pitsenbarger voluntarily descended into an active combat zone to rescue wounded soldiers. Again and again, he refused evacuation, and even after being wounded himself, he continued carrying the injured to safety, distributing ammunition and defending the men around him,” Lewis said, adding, “When the battle ended, his body was found with a rifle in one hand and a medical bag in the other.”

Memorial Day should not only be about remembering the fallen,but also paying homage to their families whose losses endure, she noted.

“Long after the ceremonies end and the flags are folded away, spouses still grieve,” Lewis continued. “Children still grow up without parents. Parents still mourn sons and daughters taken far too soon.

“Our responsibility to them does not end today. It begins anew today.”

A somber Lewis also honored the 2,341 Americans who were killed in the Dec. 7, 1941, surprise attack on Pearl Harbor during World War II.

Also speaking Sunday was Poland Township Trustee Frank DeMain, who referred to Memorial Day as “more than the unofficial start to summer.” Many freedoms Americans enjoy daily, such as raising their families in peace and being able to speak freely, came at a tremendous cost to those who made sacrifices that should not be forgotten, said DeMain, who also served 25 years with the Poland Township Police Department.

“They gave their tomorrows so we can have our todays,” he said.

Caring for others, serving one’s community and being kind to others are significant ways to respectfully remember and honor those who made the ultimate sacrifice, he added.

Piggybacking on DeMain’s general assessment of Memorial Day’s meaning was Jeff Vrabel, Mahoning Valley Squadron 15’s commander, who read aloud the names of 80 veterans who lived at The Inn at Poland Way since its opening in November 2016. He rang a bell for each name read.

“This weekend was not built on burger buns and beach days. It was built on silence — the kind of silence that comes after a folded flag is handed over, and ‘thank you’ will never be enough,” Vrabel said. “It’s red, white and blue, but it’s also grief dressed in uniforms, empty boots beside full hearts, letters that came home when people didn’t.”

Vrabel noted that an estimated 558 million people have lived in the U.S. over its 250-year history, of which about 1.1 million have died serving the nation. He reminded attendees that those who have been killed defending the country “represent a diverse patchwork that is the United States of America,” saying that they came from all political, ethnic, racial, socioeconomic and religious backgrounds.

It’s impossible for those who have never experienced it to understand the magnitude and scope of losing a loved one in combat, though the fallen can be honored in a variety of ways, including wearing poppies, saluting and honoring the flag, helping care for their families and placing flags at their resting places, Vrabel said. He added that perhaps the best way to do so is to be the type of person “that makes their sacrifice worthwhile.”

The somber gathering also included a Table of Remembrance on which were several items that represented deep and emotional symbolism. They included a white tablecloth to represent a soldier’s pure motives for serving the country, a single red rose that symbolized those holding onto faith for their loved ones’ return, salt that denoted the tears shed because of their inability to return from combat, a lemon that represented their bitter fate and a single chair that stood for their absence.

Also honored were those who are missing in action or prisoners of war.

In his remarks, Vrabel did not equivocate regarding what he hopes people’s takeaway will be for Memorial Day and beyond.

“This weekend, I want you to remember one thing: It’s not about picnics or furniture sales or candy at parades. It’s about honoring the men and women who never came home. It’s a day of remembrance.”