Veterans Resource Center tribute to WWII veteran Samuel E. Lanza

Staff report

WARREN

The weather was too warm for World War II veteran Sam Lanza to attend, but Thursday’s ceremony was a tribute to him, as ground was broken for the Samuel E. Lanza Veteran’s Resource Center on East Market Street.

“I’m very proud of my father. I always have been,” said Linda Allen of Warren, one of Lanza’s seven children. She said her father, 89, of Warren, will no doubt be there when the facility is dedicated in the fall.

Construction on the 7,000-square-foot facility is expected to take about five months.

The $1.5 million center is being built just east of the East Market and Pine Street intersection, one block east of Courthouse Square.

Lanza served with the Marines during World War II and was injured by an incendiary bomb on Okinawa in 1945, Allen said.

He nearly lost both legs and an arm as a result of the explosion and spent about 18 months recuperating in Wisconsin, his daughter said. He is a member of the Ohio Veterans Hall of Fame.

Lanza also served 18 years on the board of the Veterans Service Commission and has been a member of the Disabled American Veterans since 1951, said Herman K. Breuer, director of the Trumbull County Veterans Service Commission.

Over the years, Lanza has helped countless veterans obtain benefits and jobs by helping them obtain things such as work clothing or transportation to an interview, Breuer said.

“When veterans needed help, they would call Sam Lanza,” Breuer said.

Warren Safety-Service Director Enzo Cantalamessa attended the ceremony, saying how beneficial it is that the new center will be “essentially in the center of the business district” and will be an asset to veterans and the city.

Breuer also spoke of the gratitude he has for Trumbull County Commissioner Paul Heltzel, who died last June, for his understanding of the need to provide “dignified” service to military veterans, meaning providing facilities easy for veterans to access.

The current office on the second floor of the county’s Job and Family Services building has very little parking, which makes trips there challenging for veterans with disabilities, Breuer said.