Vietnam veterans remembered at Laying of Roses

YOUNGSTOWN — Mark Stanko may have been only 4 years old when his older brother Robert G. Stanko died during the Vietnam War, but he retains indelible memories and impressions of his brother nonetheless.

“He was a talented musician with a great smile, and he was loved by everyone who knew him,” recalled Mark Stanko of Boardman, the youngest of eight siblings.

“I remember him well.”

Robert Stanko, who served in the Army, was killed Oct. 31, 1968. He was one of 100 fallen soldiers from Mahoning County who served in that war, and who were honored at Sunday’s 16th annual Laying of the Roses ceremony near Central Square.

Gary Rupp, of Struthers, came to honor Andre G. Broumas, a commanding officer who served in the Army’s 8th Engineer 1st Air Cavalry unit and was killed in action in September 1969.

Rupp described Broumas as a close friend of Rupp’s family, and remembered Broumas as “low-key and humble.” Rupp added that Broumas, who was stationed in Germany in the early 1960s, used to come home each year on leave and visit Rupp’s grandfather and other family members.

“It was like welcoming home a long-lost relative,” he said.

A few hundred people attended the two-hour ceremony, sponsored by Vietnam Veterans of America Chapter No. 135 of Youngstown. As each name was read, family, friends or Honor Guard members placed one red rose at the base of the Mahoning County Vietnam War Memorial on the square to honor that person.

Also recognized the same way were Howard B. Carpenter and Donald M. Klemm, both of whom are prisoners of war or missing in action.

Read the full story Monday in The Vindicator and on Vindy.com