Remembering Tioga County’s World War I heroes

A May 13, 1918 newspaper headline reads, “John Sittelotta gives life for world’s freedom.”

Four days later, a follow-up story acknowledges Sittelotta’s sacrifice, “First Owego soldier is killed in France.”

John Sittelotta shipped out with the first contingent in September 1917 and died from wounds he received in action. His name is one of 25 listed on the World War I monument in Owego, N.Y.      

Nov. 11 is Veterans Day as well as the anniversary of the signing of the armistice that ended World War I in 1918, known then as the Great War or “the war to end all wars.” 

A Veterans Day ceremony, to honor all who have served and are currently serving, is scheduled for 11 a.m. on Friday, Nov. 11 at the Tioga County Veterans Memorial Park.

Tioga County’s World War I heroes, affectionately called doughboys, were part of the American Expeditionary Forces (AEF) sent to Europe. Under the command of General John J. Pershing, over four million Americans were mobilized during World War I. The doughboys that did make it to the front lines, a majority on the Western Front, fought in some of the fiercest battles in military history. 

According to the U.S. National Library of Medicine, at the height of the American military involvement in the war, influenza and pneumonia sickened up to 40 percent of personnel and killed more Americans during the war than did enemy weapons.

Dick Zavatto, a member of today’s Candor Historical Society who has researched Candor’s veterans extensively, shared that pneumonia took the life of Arden Kelsey in France, the first Candor youth to die in the war. A 1908 graduate of Candor Free Academy, Kelsey is buried at Spencer’s Evergreen Cemetery. The Arden Kelsey American Legion Post 907 is named after him.

Zavatto shared that another Candor native, Richard J. Hoyt, who is buried in Candor’s Maple Grove Cemetery, died while serving in England on Oct. 15, 1918.  

Many parents or family members did not hear of their loved ones deaths until after the Armistice. Such was the case for the parents of Ellsworth Whitley, one of “Tioga County’s 25,” who died while serving in France. Whitley, with the approval of his parents, enlisted when he was just 17.    

A newspaper headline dated Nov. 20, 1918 stated, “Saddened by report of their son’s death, while happy over peace.” Whitley’s mother would have been one of the first recognized as a Gold Star Mother.

Frank Zoltowski, a graduate of Waverly High School, enlisted at age 26, three weeks after the U.S. entered the war on April 6, 1917. Zoltowski, who served in the medical corps, died on a battlefield in France.

A 1898 Waverly High School graduate and 1905 Columbia University Medical College graduate, Dr. Paul E. Betowski, was an assistant surgeon at the Bath, N.Y. State Soldiers’ Home before enlisting. A newspaper story stated he carried gas masks and other supplies to the men at the battlefront, and died in France on July 2, 1918, after an auto accident.  

The American Legion Post 492 in Waverly, N.Y. was named in honor of Betowski and another Waverly doughboy, Frederick Van DeMark.

The United States World War I Centennial Commission is involved in the building of a memorial to the Great War in Washington, D.C., on the site of Pershing Park near the White House. The anticipated memorial dedication will be in 2018, on the 100th anniversary of the war’s end.

For all of the “Tioga County 25,” we remember their service and sacrifice.