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The West Township Memorial Association will host its annual Memorial Day service May 29 at Moultrie Chapel on state Route 172 east of New Franklin.
The march to decorate the graves will begin at 2 p.m., led by Don V. Cross American Legion Post #357 from Minerva. Amelia Whiteleather, fifth grader from Minerva Elementary School, will recite the Gettysburg Address. Patriotic music and taps will be provided by the Minerva Community Band.
The program inside the chapel will include speaker Lt. Col. Vito J. Abruzzino from Lisbon. Attending veterans will be recognized. Special music will be provided by Kendra Bertsch. Joseph Ellis will lead the congregation in a group singing. Ice cream will be served after the service.
The West Township Memorial Association includes Shirley Whiteleather Fox, president; Jeff Haynam, vice president; Diana Richeson, secretary; William Ellis, treasurer; Stephen Smith, Joseph Ellis, and Sarah Ellis.
Keynote Speaker
Lt. Col. Vito J. Abruzzino is the Columbiana County prosecuting attorney, taking office in January of 2021. In both 2021 and 2022, the office indicted more cases than at any time in the office's history, while achieving a conviction rate of nearly 99%.
Abruzzino is also a lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Air Force Reserve Judge Advocate General's (JAG) Corps. He is the staff judge advocate (SJA) for the 914th Air Refueling Wing in Niagara Falls, New York. He is in command of the station's legal office, serving the more than 2,000 airmen.
Abruzzino's role consists of being a legal advisor to senior-military commanders, an ethics counselor, prosecutor and estate planner. Prior to joining the 914th, he was the deputy staff judge advocate (DSJA) of the 910th Airlift Wing, Youngstown Air Reserve Station, Vienna, Ohio. Prior to this, he was the senior defense counsel (SDC) for Team 8, Tennessee Valley Region, 154th Legal Operations Detachment, Alexandria, Virginia.
Abruzzino enlisted into the U.S. Army Reserve after high school, attended basic combat training at Fort Sill, Oklahoma in the summer of 2000 and immediately joined the West Virginia University U.S. Army ROTC Battalion, commissioning out of that program in May of 2004. Following commissioning, he attended West Virginia University College of Law, graduating in 2007 and assessed into the active duty JAG Corps in early 2008. He has served as a legal assistance attorney, trial counsel, special assistant U.S. attorney, senior trial counsel, tax center OIC, and defense counsel at different times in his career.