Anthony J. Yakacki

Anthony Yakacki was born in Ebervale, PA on February 19, 1926 to the late Antoni K. and Teofila Ana (Rek) Yakacki. He graduated in 1943 from Hazle Township High School in Hazleton, PA. He was married to his wife of 71 years, Helen (Makowski) Yakacki on November 29, 1945.

Anthony joined the United States Marine Corps in 1944 and proudly served in WWII in the Asiatic-Pacific Area. Yakacki was a corporal with F Company, 2nd Battalion, 25th Marine Regiment of the 4th Marine Division.

He enlisted when he was 18 and was wounded on March 12, 1945, when a shell exploded nearby, less than a month after the landing on Iwo Jima on his 19th birthday. Fellow marines sung "Happy Birthday" to him in the landing craft before hitting the beach. Because it was his birthday, he was put in the back of the boat. Several marines sitting in the front were shot and killed before the landing. Within a couple of hours of coming ashore, Yakacki was ordered to pick up the fallen medic's bag and inject the wounded with morphine.

Corporal Yakacki was awarded the Purple Heart Medal for wounds received as a result of enemy action and was granted an honorable discharge.