Ralph Sykes was born in March 1924 in Greenville, Pennsylvania. As a boy, his family moved to a farm outside of Cannonsburg [Annotator's Note: Cannonsburg, Pennsylvania], which is just south of Pittsburgh [Annotator's Note: Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania]. During the depression [Annotator's Note: Great Depression], his older brother worked on the farm. When he was in second grade, the family moved again, this time to Peters Township [Annotator's Note: Peters Township, Pennsylvania]. By the time he was 13 years old, Sykes had various jobs. At 15 years old, he was given the choice of becoming a machinist in a mill or work on the farm with his older brother. He decided to work on the farm because it had automobiles. He rode his bike from his parent's house to farm, making it before it got dark. He thought the farm was nice. Two days later, Sykes' brother taught him how to drive. Skyes was in his brother's car and heard about the attack on Pearl Harbor [Annotator's Note: the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on 7 December 1941]. He did not have any intentions of joining the military. After graduating from high school, his brother tried to get Sykes' deferment extended, but failed. Sykes decided to join because all of his friends had gone. A week letter he received a letter from the President [Annotator’s Note: President Franklin Delano Roosevelt] saying he was needed for military service.

Ralph Sykes was not affected much by the Army. It was a new experience though. He believes people should think hard about doing things, and then do that thing without asking permission. He was engaged when he joined the Army. His fiancé wanted to get married before he went away, which they did. He went to Fort Hood, Texas for basic training. After two weeks, he went into town a found an apartment and asked his wife to join him. On his way into camp one morning, Sykes' platoon sergeant sat next to him on the bus. Lucky for Sykes, the sergeant said he would not give him any trouble if he made it to base in time. He started loaning that sergeant money so he could buy alcohol, and the sergeant always paid him back the next day. Sykes was deployed overseas in the winter [Annotator's Note: 1944]. He was told that his training was being cut off and he would be shipping out. He spent three days at home in Pittsburgh [Annotator's Note: Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania]. He departed on the RMS Queen Mary from Camp Shanks, New York. The ship was beautiful and could outrun submarines. The ship zig-zagged [Annotator's Note: a naval anti-submarine maneuver] to Europe. Two days before he docked, the ship started rolling. The next morning, he was told submarines were chasing the ship. He anchored in the Firth of Clyde [Annotator's Note: in western Scotland]. Sykes loved every moment of the trip. He was transported to land using small fishing boats. Once on the train, he was told the window blinds had to stay down. He was greeted by Scottish women from the Red Cross with donuts. He did not think they were speaking English. He traveled to South Hampton in southern England. He saw a lot of Italian prisoners of war in the area working for the British government. He did not mind the food, but particularly liked the breakfast.

Ralph Sykes traveled to Le Havre [Annotator's Note: Le Havre, France], then took a train to Belgium. He then traveled by truck to the front. Sykes liked Belgium and was surprised to see horses and dairy farms still operating. He ended up in a town called Flosdorff [Annotator's Note: Flosdorff, Belgium], which was almost completely destroyed. Sykes and two other troops went into the town and was brought into a cellar being used as a CP [Annotator's Note: command post]. While in the cellar, a German mortar hit rather close. A lieutenant fell down the stairs into the cellar, but was uninjured. Sykes was then sent to his new unit. The captain was a nice guy, but told Sykes he needed to try and shave as often as possible. The platoon sergeant brought him to his new station. That night, the sergeant brought Sykes on his first patrol across a river to check a minefield. Sykes was afraid because he thought he would be shot at. That evening, a German bomber flew over the line. After the plane flew past, the Germans spoke over a loud speaker welcoming Sykes, by name, to the front line. Sykes met up with the patrol. They crossed the Roer River, which was very small. On the other side, they moved single file until the eventually arrived back on the other side of the river. Afterwards, he spoke with the sergeant about the patrol.

After a couple days, Ralph Sykes crossed the river [Annotator's Note: Roer River] on a pontoon boat. His first combat scared him. On his way to the river, he learned that the Americans did not hide behind things, they fought fire with fire. He became the ammo carrier for a BAR [Annotator's Note: Browning Automatic Rife], which made him the backup BAR man. The following day, Sykes was moving towards the Rhine River. While taking a town, a mortar took out the BAR man. [Annotator's Note: Sykes shows emotion.] They tried to save the soldier, but he was too badly injured. Sykes grabbed the BAR and got out of the area. He was told he had to stay close to the other BAR man so they could communicate with each other. They had to take out a German machine gun on the edge of the town. His squad leader took it out with a rifle grenade [Annotator's Note: grenade shot from a rifle]. Sykes had never seen anything like it. He did not realize what he had gotten into until that day. He decided to do what he can and not worry about anything else. At the end of that day, he stopped worrying about getting hit or killed. They took the town and some prisoners. He saw things he did not want to see.

For the next two weeks, Ralph Sykes continued moving forward taking village after village without much trouble. Coming up on the Rhine [Annotator's Note: Rhine, River], there was a town with defensive positions set up around it. Tanks and the heavy weapons platoon were called up. Suddenly, an 88 [Annotator's Note: German 88mm multi-purpose artillery] opened up on the tanks killing one of them. One GI [Annotator’s Note: government issue; also a slang term for an American soldier] jumped up on the tank and rescued the driver and another tanker, but lost his foot in the process. Sykes then came up against a German bunker and trench on the edge of the town. After someone called in for help, a P-47 [Annotator's Note: Republic P-47 Thunderbolt fightr aircraft] dropped two eggs [Annotator's Note: bombs] on the pillbox. This caused a German captain to surrender his troops. After crossing the Rhine River, Sykes did not experience too much combat. One day, they stopped in a small town for some sleep. General Patton [Annotator's Note: US Army Lieutenant General George S. Patton, Jr.] came on the radio bragging about being near the Rhine River. A communications unit came through and was told it was safe to move forward. The following morning, Sykes found that unit wiped out. [Annotator's Note: Sykes shows emotion.] The soldiers' helmets were staked in a local church. The soldiers were taken prisoner.

Further down the road, they came across the site of a German death march. Ralph Sykes saw emaciated, elderly people that had been in internment camps. He saw the bodies of those that had been shot. Another unit captured a company of SS [Annotator's Note: Schutzstaffel; German paramilitary organization; abbreviated SS] storm troopers. They heard that the guards had filled a barn up with prisoners, set up machine guns around it, and burned the barn down. When Sykes saw the remains, he could not eat for two days. The smell of burned flesh caused several people to vomit. He did not see the extermination camp to the south of his position. The officers that found the camp had the bodies buried in a mass grave. Sykes did not shoot his gun again until he reached the Elbe River. They stopped there and waited for the Russians to arrive. At one town he took, Sykes saw a bunch of farms and barges along the river. Hundreds of Germans were trying to surrender to the Americans, but they could not take the prisoners in. The Germans did not want to be taken by the Russians. Sykes was happy to still be alive. Around that time, German and American troops would take shots at each other's flags. Sykes remembers there being a nice car and a motorcycle in one of the barns. One day, someone took the motorcycle out and the Germans started firing over his head.

After the war ended, Ralph Sykes volunteered to work in the supply section. After a couple of days, Sykes was promoted to sergeant. The supply sergeant helped get him that promotion because he was old friends with the captain. That winter, he was being transferred to the occupation border with Russia. The supply sergeant was being sent home. Sykes was taught how to "lose" items in the supply room. He was told never to charge anyone, just get rid of things. That winter, the remainder of the 102nd Infantry Division relieved another unit. The snow was up to his waist making it difficult to move around. Moving up to the new position, he became responsible for all the equipment. He was nervous about getting the equipment through the snow. They had to use animals, sleds, and an entire company to move supplies. A week later the division was sent home but Sykes did not have enough points [Annotator's Note: a point system based on various criteria and used to determine who could be sent home at the end of the war] to leave. A new supply chief came in and wanted to find out where all of the missing equipment had gone. Sykes told the captain about it, but he was not worried. He then gave Sykes his 17 jewel watch. That March [Annotator's Note: March 1946], he transferred to the outskirts of Nuremburg to meet up with the 1st Infantry Division.

Soon after joining the 1st Infantry Division, Ralph Sykes became charge of quarters. One night, while typing a letter to his wife, someone came down to see him. He ended up becoming the first sergeant and was shipped to Nuremburg. Sykes was quartered in the old storm trooper [Annotator's Note: Schutzstaffel; German paramilitary organization; abbreviated SS] quarters. He was a prison guard. On his first watch, he trucked in his troops, inspected the guards, and started learning their names. At first, he was not allowed into the prison because the guard did not know him. Eventually the captain of the guard came out and let him in. After the changing of the guard, the captain explained the job to Sykes. He told his guards not to be sloppy with their rifle. It was a gratifying job. The building was shaped like a wagon wheel. There was another sergeant of the guard in the prisoner area with a man at each cell door. They kept a constant watch on the prisoners. One prisoner had committed suicide by hanging himself. Sykes was in charge of the inside of the prison. Their job was to make sure nothing happened to the prisoners. He got his position there because of his rank.

Among the prisoners in Ralph Sykes' prison were Hermann Goering's wife and daughter. The wives of other prisoners were also in the prison. There was a female officer that made sure no one went up to their cells. The guards were not allowed to interact with the prisoners. If a prisoner needed something, they could accommodate requests. One night the guards heard some scratching sounds. When they entered a cell, Sykes found a sharpened cleat in the cell. He took it from the prisoner. Another prisoner refused to follow orders. The guard argued with Sykes about working with the prisoner. Sykes let the captain know, who then had the guard arrested and court martialed. Goering was an outgoing person. One day, Goering was asked to go to the court room, so Sykes took him there. During the walk, they discussed the weather and how the trial was going. Goering did not think he would be hanged. Sykes thought the court guard's uniforms looked good. He was not allowed into the court session. He had brief exchanges with Hess [Annotator's Note: Rudolf Hess] and Speer [Annotator's Note: Albert Speer, Reich Minister of Armaments and War Production]. Sykes did not know a thing about the trials going on. Occasionally at night he would walk into the court room to see what it looked like. At the time, Sykes took the trials for granted. He thinks the trials helped him reconcile the war.

Ralph Sykes does not remember how he heard about Goering [Annotator's Note: German Reichsmarschall Hermann Goering] killing himself, but he laughed because Goering told him he would not be hanged. He does not know how he got the cyanide that killed him. Sykes was interviewed by the Herald and was asked if someone gave it to him through the cell door slits. All the prisoners ate in the same area and was attended to by guards and civilians. Nobody was allowed to leave for the duration of the trials. Sykes does not think about the trials often. He is glad he had the opportunity to be a part of it, but it has no other meaning in his life. He does not believe World War 2 had an effect on his life. He believes if people can come together, it would be a better country. He does not see war as necessary. He thinks society is educated enough to find a better way. He does not understand funding wars and space programs when people are going hungry. He is scared of all the division in government. He sees a parallel to 1930s Germany. Sykes believes Germany went to war before it was ready, materially. One time, he saw a German jet pilot surrender because he was out of fuel. [Annotator's Note: Sykes shows emotion.] Sykes' brother used to be a good hunter. He found a box of rifles in a town and managed to get a rifle sent home to his brother.