Hero Remembered: Great-uncle Honored Through Scout Project

By KAY SEDGMER - Times Leader Staff Writer

This past May marked 65 years since Sgt. Sylvester Antolak of Richland Township completed a courageous act that saved numerous lives but ended his own.

He bravely charged 200 yards through heavy enemy fire to destroy a machine gun during an offensive which broke through the German military lines around the Anzio beachhead in Italy.

During the heroic efforts, he was struck three times by bullets and knocked to the ground. He remained undeterred, each time struggling to his feet to continue the relentless advance he had begun: His shoulder was deeply gashed. His right arm was shattered yet he continued to rush directly into the enemy fire, with his weapon wedged firmly under his uninjured arm.

He was soon within 15 yards of the enemy strong point where he was able to take aim and kill two of those men firing back at him. Those very actions forced the surrender of the remaining 10 Germans.

The American hero soon reorganized his men and, ignoring his own wounds, began to lead the way toward another enemy location some 100 yards away.

Accounts indicate the Richland Township man disregarded the hail of bullets and stormed ahead between the two strong points. In a firestorm of bullets, Antolak was instantly killed in the hostile fire.

Yet his courage inspired his squad and his men went on to overwhelm enemy troops.

For his act of bravery, Antolak was posthumously awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor, one of only two Belmont County men to receive the honor in World War II. A memorial plaque in front of the Belmont Count Courthouse bears his name as a further honor.

Today, his great-nephew Cole Antolak, has also honored the man his family calls Uncle Sylvester.

As part of an Eagle Scout project, the sixteen-year-old Antolak has refurbished the site of the plaque that was installed in 1994 by Richland Township Trustees on the 50th anniversary of the hero's brave and heroic actions.

A member of Boy Scout Troop 66 of St. Clairsville, the younger Antolak organized and lead a group to complete the enhancement of the Sgt. Sylvester Antolak Memorial.

Cole has earned 25 Merit Badges since joining the troop in 2005. He is currently a Life Scout and serves as his troop's quartermaster. Past positions with the troop include chaplain, scribe, patrol leader and historian.

He was inducted into the Order of the Arrow in 2006 and is also a Brotherhood member.

The son of Paul and Tammy Antolak, he received assistance in the project from other members of his troop and family members, along with financial aid and further help from the park board, Gallagher Monuments, numerous businesses and individuals.

The refurbishing project included removal of plant materials, new landscaping, lights, installation of a flag pole and the inscription of the memorial.

In addition to this most recent honor by a great-nephew that he never knew, Sylvester was also referred to in the book "To Hell and Back" written by fellow Congressional medal of Honor awardee Audie L. Murphy.

Calling him Lutsky, Murphy concludes his praise of the man by saying, " .... the sergeant, helped buy the freedom that we cherish and abuse."

Sylvester was born in Fairpoint in 1916, the son of Polish immigrants. He was one of 10 children. He has one living sister, Ann Kogut of Martins Ferry and numerous nieces and nephews along with an extended family that includes his great-nephew who worked diligently to complete the upgrades and enhancements to the memorial.

Dad was diagnosed with lymphoma yesterday. The doctors are very optimistic about it since it is so isolated and hopefully caught in its early stages. We will know more when we meet with his cancer team on Wednesday. I will keep the family updated on his progress. Cards and well wishes would be greatly appreciated!

Much Love,
~Marla

Mitch Yudasz
5445 Hartwell
Dearborn, MI 48126

The following article appeared in the Times Leader on November 5. Featured is Luke Holubeck who is leading the charge down to the State Meet in Columbus. GOOD LUCK Luke! Go Irish!

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State Bound

By SETH STASKEY, T-L Sports Editor

Making the state meet in Ohio is a big deal.

The sizeable local delegation realizes and relishes the accomplishment.

However, the three teams and three individuals making the trip to Scioto Downs Racetrack in Columbus this weekend are by no means satisfied just being there.

The quest for all-Ohio status gets under way Saturday morning at 11:05 with the Division III girls race. The Division II girls race hears the sounding of the gun at 11:50 a.m., while Division I closes out the female portion of the season at 12:35 p.m.

The boys meet gets under way at 1:20 p.m. with the Division III schools and individuals beginning their 3.1 mile jaunt. The Division II field begins at 2:05 p.m. and the Division I race rounds out the day at 2:50 p.m.

Locally, a trio of teams and a like amount of individuals are slated to take part, seeking to end their seasons on successful notes.

The St. John Central boys lead the way to Columbus.

The Irish of head coach Jeremy Midei are embarking on their seventh consecutive state meet appearance as a team and have gotten better in finishing each time, but it would be impossible to finish better than they did a year ago when they won the school's first-ever boys state title in any sport.

The Irish find themselves in a wide-open race with Midei believing as many as five teams have legitimate title shots.

"The Division III boys race is going to be insane," Midei said. "This is probably the most wide open race of any division or gender, but we're positioned probably a little better than I thought we would be."

The likes of Independence, Maplewood, McDonald and St. Thomas Aquinas all possibly stand in the way of the Irish's repeat bid.

"We thought we were a distant third before the season, but we definitely have a shot to win," Midei said. "I actually think our team is a little better than last year, but we could still finish fifth. We're trying to fly under the radar, but I do think we match up well with any team in the division."

The Irish are led by their senior trio of Luke Holubeck, Matthew Moscato and Ian Gulley. All three finishers were scorers on the Irish's squad a year ago.

"Luke, Matthew and Ian are about the best group of seniors you could possibly have," Midei confessed. "They're more responsible for our success than anyone."

Holubeck - who earned all-Ohio in track and field - narrowly missed all-Ohio acclaim a season ago in CC. He enters this weekend with individual goals as well, seeing he's won the district and regional titles the past two weeks.

Moscato has finished right on his heels each of the past two weeks and will once again need to set the tone. Gulley, meanwhile, has been solid throughout the two previous post-season weeks, finishing seventh a week ago.

Matt Riffle was the fourth Irish runner last week and Ramon Nieves, who ran most of the regional without a shoe due to the muddy conditions, was the fifth.

"Our guys are running well right now, and I'm proud of them no matter the outcome this weekend," Midei said. "They've done everything they could over the past year to put us in this position."

Cory Foster and Matt Thomas round out the top seven for the Irish.

"The key for us is to get to the line healthy and run our race, not let the atmosphere and circumstances dictate what we're trying to do," Midei said.

Barnesville will send a pair of individuals after it narrowly missed on qualifying as a team at last week's regional.

Junior Brennan Delaney is slated to run in his second straight state meet. He earned all-Ohio a season ago and will run from box A Saturday morning. He'll be joined in that space by Wesley Lewis, who is set to compete in his first state meet.

Martins Ferry's Kylee Stewart earned the right to run at the state meet as an individual. She's a first-time state qualifier.

IN DIVISION II, the St. Clairsville Red Devils are a prime example of teams not satisfied with things of the past and both have solid chances at earning redemption.

The Lady Red Devils advanced - as a team - for the first time in school history a season ago.

Their finish has been well-documented, but all of those runners are back and they've added a few valuable cogs, which now have them listed amongst everyone's pre-meet favorites.

Coach Heidi Mooney's Lady Devils have been nothing short of a running juggernaut all season. They've been defeated just once and that came in the prestigious Boardman Invitational in the middle of September.

Since then, they've been lights out.

St. Clairsville has won the district and last week's regional performance was one for the ages when the Lady Devils placed four runners in the meet's top six and finished with 29 points to cruise to the school's first regional championship.

"I think the Division II meet will be a race to see," Mooney said.

Most prognostications are looking at a three-way battle between the Lady Devils, Akron St. Vincent-St. Mary and Cuyahoga Valley Christian Academy, which went one and two in the tough Youngstown regional last weekend.

"I think that the top three teams will finish very close to one another," Mooney said. "It should be an anticipated nailbiter."

The Red Devils finished the regional with an average time of 20:45, while SVSM was 21:03 and CVCA was 21:10 on the average.

"We could fare well if we're clicking on all cylinders," Mooney said. "We'll have our fingers crossed that (Saturday) is our day. The talent is there, but the question is whether or not the pieces will fall into place for us?"

The Lady Red Devils are led by senior standout Kelly Perzanowski who's ran twice at the state CC meet, but this is her first at St. C. She was the district champion and finished second in the regional. She's been beaten just three times the entire season.

Talented senior Kate Hodsgon was right behind Perzanowski a week ago, finishing third overall. She's qualified for the state meet each of her four years in high school.

Junior Jamie Perzanowski was a member of the Lady Red Devils' state-bound squad a year ago. She's had a tremendous season and is the steady third runner.

A pair of freshman round out the five scoring places. Phenom Amy Castle has been running exceptionally well all season. She's the fourth runner and finished sixth in the regional.

Classmate Julianna Madzia rounds out the scoring for the Lady Red Devils. She's been strong all season as well.

Melanie Hannan and Jamie Garbash round out the top seven entrants for the Lady Devils.

"We're fairly healthy and the girls are all ready," Mooney said. "We're excited about this opportunity and we know we've got to run well and if we do, we could stand on the podium."

The St. Clairsville boys are returning to the state capitol as regional champions for the second straight year and third time in head coach Tony Ciroli's career.

However, the last two times the Devils have reached this point in the season as a squad, they've finished seventh in the state.

"I want to finish better than sixth," Ciroli said. "I am tired of finishing sixth, and I think we've got the capabilities to finish better than that, but we'll have to run well."

The Red Devils have been one of the area's most steady teams. They've won the district title and also won yet another OVAC Class 3-A title this fall.

And like the St. C. girls and SJC boys, this week the Devils find themselves in a logjam of teams.

"We've been preparing for this race all season," Ciroli said. "Some of the larger races that we had run earlier in the year will benefit us mentally and physically. We will be ready to go."

The Red Devils are led by senior standout Alex Thornburg who has qualified to now four straight state meets. He earned all-Ohio a season ago and is looking to better his 18th place finish from a season ago.

Senior Shane Scheuer is the Red Devils' second runner, while sophomore Andy Thornburg holds down the third spot for St. C. Junior Nick Pokas is the fourth St. C. runner to cross.

The fifth spot was held down by Jacob Zink at last week's regional. Cole Antolak and Drake Walker round out the top seven.

"We need to be relaxed and ready to run our race," Ciroli said. "If we can do that we should do fairly well, but we'll need our fifth and maybe sixth runners to run well again. Our top four has been really steady most of the year and we'll need that again."

Admission for the state meet is set at $9 for both students and adults.

I would like to share a couple comments on the reunion. The entire weekend was great. The planning that everyone did for Sunday helped make the day a huge success.

I think those of us who were able to make it to the Pond in the evenings enjoyed ourselves. I would like to thank Kevin, Louise and Jeff for bringing their instruments. I can't tell you how it felt to hear them play polkas down by the pond that night! And Kevin playing that song on his trumpet to the four corners sent chills up your arm. I said that there was probably some old Polack who was born in Krakow living over the hill who may have thought we were being attacked!

For those of us who have been "down by the pond" or "behind the barn" we know that these random get-togethers are treasures. The "planned" reunions are great and I hope that we can continue these for many years to come, but those random meetings that we have are just as important to keep our great blessed family close. Michael has started his wine for the year and soon we will be making kielbassa. I still hope to make rag rugs again like I did with my mom and Aunt Mary Turkaly. These events are all a part of who we all are and it is important that they are continued or it will be lost.

Michael has an idea to have a "family home movie"night down by the pond. I have a projector that can show movies on the side of the barn. For those that didn't know, we once viewed the OSU-USC game on the side of the barn! It was great fun. I have two sheets sewn together and recently Jimmy had a football party to watch OSU play. We hung the sheet on the side of the playhouse that is down there. It worked great! Anyway, if anyone has any old home movies on video or dvd that shows the farm from earlier years it would be nice to get-together down by the pond sometime and show it.

Well this is my two cents. Thanks to all for making the reunion successful. See you behind the barn!

Hello Everyone. We will have a meeting at the P.N.A. in Maynard, on Sept 21 to take care on all the business from the reunion. Everyone is invited to attend.

See you then.

Ann Marie

Hello everyone, I hope you all had a very enjoyable day at the reunion. We will have a meeting soon to pay the bills and discuss how the reunion can be improved. We would like your input if you have any suggestions please submit them to the web site, and we will bring up the idea at the follow up meeting.

Thank You,

The Committee.

Hello Everyone.
I am sorry this is being submited so late... We had the final meeting for planning the reuinion.

This is what was discussed at the last meeting.
Every family should already know what food they are responsible for.

If you have something in your garden you would like to share with the family,
please bring it to the reunion
Vicki is still looking for recipes for the cook book. If you have any please e-mail them to her.
Each family is responsible for two games whether it be children or adult.

Jeff is in charge of the Mass.
One person from each family will participate in the Mass.
Mary - Jean Jeskey
Ann - Annette Wiater
John - John Satory Jr
Stella - Kenny Kinyo
Sophia - Shane Antolak
Francis - Wendy Pagot
Vicky - Patty Pacer
Joe - Adam Yudasz
Betty - Natalie Gainer
Richard - Emily Yudasz
Jeff will tell you what is to be done.

If you play an instrument bring it with you to the reunion so you can join the band.

DON'T FORGET PICTURES AT 10:30 SHARP. Be THERE AT 10:15.
Family members only, please.

Pictures will be taken at ST CLAIRSVILLE GYM. Park in the school parking lot on the left of the school. 108 Woodrow Ave
is the address of the school.

There will be approximately 200 members there so plan your food accordingly.


After the 12:00 Noon Mass, we will go to Maynard P.N.A. for the rest of the day.
Address:71560 Hall St Maynard, Ohio43937


For your convenience bring a lawn chair.

We will also have inflatables for the children.
We will set up on Saturday Morning at 10 a.m.
If you are in town please join us at the P.N.A. We can always use the help.

There will be a $5.00 charge for every person over the age of 14. Joyce Apicella is collecting the money, please pay her as soon as you can.

See you at the reunion.

____________________

The Reunion Committee

Thanks to everyone who has either filled out the form online, or mailied us the info... the Family History Book that we are updating is underway. There is still a LITTLE time left, so please get in touch with us at kevin@kevinadams.us if there is anything in the current book that you want changed. Also, if there are any additions let us know. If you don't tell us, we will NOT just automatically put it in the book.

When proofs are available, we will make every effort to have them proofread by family representatives. We'll be in touch.

Thanks again everyone, the book is really coming together.

Kevin and Barb

Plans are underway to update the Family History book from 2004. We've put together an online form so you can submit your changes to the book right here.

In recognition of Joseph & Valeria Yudasz’s 100th wedding anniversary in October 2009 we would like to feature some new photos of family groups at weddings. We are looking for you to submit new photos of large groups of people with parents/siblings/aunts/uncles together.

Please fill out the form available here, as soon as you can. We need this information no later then July 20, 2009.

Kevin and Barbara Adams

During the recent planning meeting for the Familiy Reunion, the group took some time out to celebrate Betty Holubeck's birthday. Sto Lat! Special thanks to Jeannie Sheilds for sending in these two pictures for the website.

Plan to attend the Reunion on Sunday September 6. Details can be found in the stories here on the website. Contact your family representative if you have any questions.

Hope to see everyone there.