When Italy declared war against the Central Powers in 1915, Italian nationals in the United States faced the prospect of losing their citizenship if they did not return and enlist in the Italian army. So many returned to their homeland that it created quite a labor problem for the railroads.<\/p>\n
The Italians who decided to stay in this country became subject to the United States draft when this country entered the war in 1917. The story of one of these individuals, John Sittelotta, made a special impression on the people of Tioga County.<\/p>\n
Sittelotta was born in 1893 in Valanidi, Superior, Italy and entered the United States about 1911. In 1917 he was a section hand foreman for the Erie Railroad. Although he worked in the Endicott area, he boarded with Daniel Pedro on Lackawanna Avenue.<\/p>\n
When he registered with the draft board in June of 1917, Sittelotta early expressed a desire to help build railroads in France. When his draft notice was served, however, he felt compelled to claim exemption because he was supporting an aged mother in Italy. When his brother, Dominic, living in Endicott, agreed to assume responsibility for their mother, Sittelotta \u201ctore up his exemption claim\u201d and was one of the first eight men to leave for service from Tioga County in September, 1917.<\/p>\n
At Camp Dix, Sittelotta showed a proficiency for small arms and was made acting corporal. In the winter of 1917 he was given an opportunity to volunteer for Foreign Service and was among the first quota of men to be sent to France.<\/p>\n
On May 12, 1918, his brother, Dominic, received an official notice from the war department that his brother had died from wounds received on the battlefield of Toul, France. He was the first Tioga County soldier to fall in battle. The Owego Gazette paid him fitting tribute, stating, \u201cHe was not born in America. He is a native of Italy. He had, however, declared his intention of becoming an American citizen, and Tioga County will honor him nonetheless that he is one of her sons by adoption rather than by birth.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cTioga County will always honor the memory of him who was her first sacrifice to liberty on a European battlefield. Private Sittelotta, may you sleep well beneath the green sod of fair Lorraine.\u201d (Gazette, May 16, 1918)<\/p>\n
Another Italian veteran that I profiled was Frank Zito of Nichols. This information is on pg. 346 of Seasons of Change, Tioga County’s Bicentennial History.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
When Italy declared war against the Central Powers in 1915, Italian nationals in the United States faced the prospect of losing their citizenship if they…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":61543,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-61545","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\n