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Sharing Memories Of World War II With Sydney Parlow

photo by Photo Provided Sydney and Lois Parlow were a unit and were married for seventy-one years before Lois passed away just recently.

photo by Photo Provided Taken in the European front, this photograph of Sydney and a tank does not have an exact location, because as Sydney shared he moved often and was never far from the front.

photo by Photo Provided Sydney Parlow (left) and those he served with wanted to do the very best job they could for their country and go get home!

Tuesday November 4, 2014

By Cookie Steponaitis

At ninety-two years old Sydney Parlow’s handshake is strong and so is his ability to communicate across generations his reflections and memories of World War II. Sydney was born in the Boston area in 1922 and came of age as America entered the war. He was raised in Chelsea, Massachusetts in a family with three sisters and one brother and was a part of the generation that, as he expressed, “at that point every male of that time anticipated service and was proud to do it. It was almost an embarrassment to be seen in civilian clothing.”
    Sydney, was a sergeant in the United States Army from on October 14, 1942 to November 23, 1945 and was part of what was been dubbed one of the toughest outfits in the army. He was a combat engineer with the 1162nd Engineer Combat Group and as Sydney joked, “the engineers had lots of hair and harried faces.” Sydney was shipped to different locations in both the European and Pacific Fronts and his battalion was trained to deal with whatever happened and simply understood they were going to be the first ones to hit the area and the last ones to leave. They were trained as both military and civilian level engineers and they often were not told where they were going until they saw the coastline of their destination. “After a while it all looked like a blur,” remarked Sydney. “It really didn’t matter where you were going, because you knew that you were depending on the men who went with you and you were going to be up front. You would be the first group the enemies saw and the first to see them.” Sydney served also as a "Scout" and as a Rifle Sharpshooter. He was awarded the Good Conduct Medal, the Victory Medal, an American Theater Campaign Ribbon, and a European African Middle Eastern Theater Campaign Ribbon. He was in route to Japan when V-J Day occurred.
     While Sydney spoke highly of the training he and the others received, he cautioned that there was really no experience like it to fall back on or relate to. America had never faced war on such a global level before and on two fronts. “What kept us grounded and together,” expressed Sydney, “was we understood what we were up against and what the outcome was if we lost. We not only wanted to do our best for our country but common to all of us was a great love and affection for our country.”
    Sharing Sydney’s heart alongside his love of country was his love for his wife Lois. The two met on a beach at the age of sixteen and were wed before Sydney shipped out to war. The couple was married for seventy-one years until Lois passed away just recently and tears flowed freely when Sydney talked of his wife and their four children, Anita, Susan, Robert and Marcy. The Parlows’ youngest daughter Marcy was on hand and shared, “Not only was my mother an amazing writer but she wrote to dad every single day. The letters would be ten or more pages each day and were filled with details of life at home, questions and love. Each day when the mail call came overseas the men would joke, ‘just get Parlow, the rest of us didn’t get anything anyways.’ When dad came home he had footlockers of letters. My siblings and I would haveput them in the Smithsonian but mom and dad burned them as soon as he got home. “
    Standing on the deck of a ship or troop carrier Sydney and other combat engineers were often asked to count off and that would decide the mission they were sent on. One early morning when asked to count off Sydney got the distinct impression that none of his commanding officers expected Sydney’s group to return from their mission. “In fact, it was quite the reverse,” chuckled Sydney, “we all came back from that one by working together and following the simplest of military orders, keep your head down, your ass tucked in and keep moving.”
    When asked to comment on Tom Brokaw’s labeling of his age group the Greatest Generation, Sydney adamantly denied the title. “We got scared and we saw more than others before us,” reflected Sydney, “but it was not about fame or glory. It was about everybody serving and getting the job done and getting home. When I sailed back into Manhattan Harbor four years after I left it, that skyline meant a lot more to me than when I left. I just wanted to be home.” Sydney served for 3 years, 10 months, one day, and received a pay of $ 300.00.
    Veteran’s Day is personal and different for each man and woman who donned the uniform and when asked to remark on his views Sydney stated simply, “Veteran’s Day is in all finality an indication that people are willing to commit 100% to their nation before themselves. It isn’t about honor or even about duty. It is simply the knowledge that you are an American first.”
    As Veteran’s Day arrives and America pauses to reflect on the service of the past and those in uniform all over the world now, Sydney Parlow’s generation has much to offer in stories, lessons and ideals. When this reporter shook his hand and told him “thank you for your service,” Sydney’s eyes filled with tears and went into his mind to the place where only veterans can, the memories of that time and the faces of those they served with.  The rest of us can not follow him there but we can honor their service in how we live our lives and pay respect to those in uniform now, protecting and guarding America’s future.

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