Trumbull vet honored Thursday

Staff report

MESOPOTAMIA

Vietnam veteran Mike Erro will receive six distinguished medals, including a Purple Heart, at a medal-pinning ceremony at 1 p.m. Thursday at Hopewell Therapeutic Farm on state Route 534 near the Ashtabula County line.

Erro, who has battled post-traumatic stress disorder and who has been at the farm for 16 years, returned home from Vietnam nearly 40 years ago. He is being recognized now through the efforts of a staff member of U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Cleveland.

Director Herman K. Breuer, director of the Trumbull County Veterans Service Commission, will perform the pinning.

Hopewell is a 300-acre residential farm that provides adults with mental illness a place to heal. It is Ohio’s only therapeutic farm, according to a farm press release.

Erro was born in Cleveland and was inducted into the Army in 1967. He served 10 months in Vietnam and earned six medals but never received them.

He will receive the Purple Heart, National Defense Service Medal, Combat Infantry Badge, Vietnam Service Medal with 4 Bronze Stars, Republic of Vietnam Campaign Ribbon with Device Sharpshooter Badge and Auto Rifle Bar and Machine Gun Bar.