Arnold Palmer airport officials in Unity to dedicate flag tribute to fallen service members

Dec. 4—A ceremony will be held Tuesday at Arnold Palmer Regional Airport to dedicate a flag memorial honoring fallen service members.

Erected early in November at the Unity airport, the 13 flags in a "V" formation will be officially dedicated as the Donald Rossi Airport Memorial Park. The former member of the Westmoreland County Airport Authority board conceived of — and largely funded — tribute to military veterans, including 13 service members who died Aug. 26 in a bombing outside the Kabul airport during efforts to rescue refugees fleeing Afghanistan.

The dedication ceremony is slated to start at 11 a.m. Dec. 7, Pearl Harbor Day. Participating will be a local honor guard, Army ROTC members from Ligonier Valley, the Latrobe Volunteer Fire Department bagpipe unit, trumpeters from the Greater Latrobe High School band and clergy from Saint Vincent Archabbey.

"I think the participation we'll get from the honor guard will be a nice tribute," said Gabe Monzo, executive director of the airport authority, which operates the airport. "It's the importance of that day and what it means to our country. Pearl Harbor was one of the most devastating attacks on the United States."

The memorial's setting at the local airport also is a fitting tribute to those service members who gave their lives near the Hamid Karzai International Airport in Afghanistan, he said.

The flag formation is at the edge of a parking lot adjacent to the lot in front of the airport terminal. The flags are lighted, so they can fly around the clock. Lowe's donated picnic tables to complement the memorial.

Monzo noted the memorial was completed at no cost to the authority.

"It's a beautiful place to sit," he said. "It's a place for people to sit and ponder."

Jeff Himler is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Jeff at 724-836-6622, jhimler@triblive.com or via Twitter .