YOUNGSTOWN — When a Youngstown councilman proposed changing the name of Hadnet Drive, descendants of George F. Hadnett decided it was time for people to be reacquainted with the World War I hero.

The original name even became misspelled, as the family speculated that many years ago, someone from the street department dropped one “t” at the end.

Hadnett’s great-niece, Karolyn Hadnett Kopcial of Austintown, did not want his legacy to be forgotten. It was a happy coincidence that her son Ryan worked with a local historian.

Youngstown resident Steffon Jones presented his research at the main branch of the Public Library of Youngstown and Mahoning County on Saturday. Jones said he has always been interested in history and 30 years ago, he became a Civil War reenactor as well as a historian at Oak Hill Cemetery.

He said he likes to look for new projects. When Jones studied the life of Hadnett, he found 566 articles in The Vindicator and other newspapers about his service in the war, as well as his career as a city and county employee.

Hadnett was born in 1895 and grew up on the South Side of Youngstown. At the ripe old age of 13, he started working for Republic Steel. Besides his work ethic, he also had a strong sense of duty to his country, so when the United States went to war in 1917, he signed up and was sent to Europe the next year.

Hadnett was part of the 145th Infantry, 37th Division. This was known as the “Buckeye Division” because of the number of Ohioans. They were stationed in the Baccarat Sector in France. Jones said conditions would have been terrible, between trench warfare, mustard gas and the Spanish Influenza, which caused soldiers to be “so weak it would change the course of any battle.”

One evening, Hadnett was one of four men on guard duty while everyone else was asleep. They were approached by 80 German soldiers and they kept them from advancing, even resorting to hand-to-hand combat when they got closer. Two of them died. Hadnett’s friend, Pasquale DiGiacomo of Akron, survived but was killed soon afterwards, just seven days before the Nov. 11 Armistice.

If not for the fearlessness of Hadnett and his comrades, many Americans would have been killed. Corporal Hadnett was awarded a Distinguished Service Cross for his actions.

His grandson, Tim Swartz of Boardman, said the next day when the unit was inspecting the dead Germans, Hadnett noticed that several of them were wearing scapulars under their uniforms, indicating their Roman Catholic faith.

Swartz said Hadnett was upset by this for the rest of his life, as “it was one thing to kill an enemy, but it really bothered him to kill other Catholics.”

Jones joked that if he had fought so valiantly in a war, he would have rested on his laurels, but that was not Hadnett’s style. He worked for the Youngstown Water Department and the Mahoning County Sheriff’s Department, and then in 1933 he became a county probation officer, overseeing 2,500 convicts.

Jones said Hadnett “cared about the people under him and loved it when he watched some of them rise to positions of responsibility.” Hadnett retired in 1966. He died in 1975 and is buried in Calvary Cemetery, a Catholic cemetery in Youngstown.

Swartz described Hadnett’s personality as direct. He would give people straight answers and “once he said it, he didn’t repeat himself.” But he has very fond memories of the man who loved his country, gave everyone a chance, and was always there for his family.

Swartz described him as, “strict, but the fairest man I ever knew.”

Swartz said he would like to see his grandfather awarded a posthumous Medal of Honor for his bravery. Even more than that, he would like people to know the reason for the name on the street sign.