Forgotten Heroes Program pays tribute to soldiers in several wars

Civil War re-enactors read narratives at the graves of six veterans.

By SEAN BARRON

VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT

YOUNGSTOWN — Not long ago, Nancy Farmer had never heard of her great-great-great-grandfather John Wellendorf.

Three years of exhaustive research later, however, she found herself at a ceremony in which he was being honored.

“I never knew about John until my dad died,” explained Farmer, of Austintown. “I went through his effects and saw an envelope, and found out [Wellendorf] was in the Civil War.

“He seemed to be very well-respected in the community.”

Helping Farmer along her “three-year journey” was her niece, 13-year-old Shelby Dickey, also of Austintown. Shelby said she wasn’t interested in the genealogy project initially, but that old newspaper articles sparked her desire to help.

The teen, as well as Farmer and two other family members, were on hand for Sunday’s ninth annual Forgotten Heroes Program at Oak Hill Cemetery, 344 Oak Hill Ave., on Youngstown’s South Side.

The 90-minute ceremony, sponsored by the Fifth United States Colored Troops Co. I and the 19th Ohio Volunteer Infantry Co. B, was designed to recognize and honor Wellendorf and five others who fought in the Civil War, and to remember the service members’ sacrifices and duties. The program also provided a special honor in memory of Dr. Herbert Louis Armstrong and Anthony Feldes, both of whom died recently.

Farmer was one of several descendants to receive a Certificate of Excellence award on behalf of the soldiers’ accomplishments.

Armstrong, a 1938 South High School graduate, was in the Army during World War II and was the city’s first black elementary school principal. Feldes, who served 30 years in the Marines, including four tours of duty in Vietnam, had a vision for the construction of The Man on the Monument in Central Square, and last year was inducted into the Ohio Senior Citizens Hall of Fame.

The program consisted of a marching tour that stopped at the grave sites of the honored Civil War soldiers, who were Ferdinand Wellendorf, John Wellendorf, Emanuel Guthmom, James Johnson, Matthew Johnson and Thomas D. Johnson. Civil War re-enactment actors read narratives describing aspects of the service members’ military, professional and personal lives.

Thomas Johnson, for example, was born June 20, 1847, in Youngstown and enlisted in August 1864 in Company A of the 127th Regimen. He received an honorable discharge in November 1865.

Steffon W. Jones, an area historian, said that around 25 black Civil War soldiers are buried in Oak Hill Cemetery. This year's event was the first to also honor people who didn't serve in the Civil War, Jones added.

At least four Confederate soldiers also are buried there, added Ron Johnson, a member of the Sons of Confederate Veterans' Thomas W. Patton Camp in Boardman. The group’s main focus is teaching the Confederate history perspective of the Civil War, Johnson said.