Sidney LaPook was born in Bayonne, New Jersey in September 1918. His father had a store during the Depression. The store was an ice cream parlor with stationary and tobacco sections. He grew up playing outside the store on a kiddy car. His father did not pay much attention to him until his mother complained about that. His dad brought him to the local park, put him on a merry go round and pushed him gently. Some larger boys got on and began pushing the merry go round faster and LaPook fell off and hurt his leg. He began to cry and said he could not walk so his dad carried him home. When he got home, his mother noticed that his leg was broken. That was the last time his father ever took him anywhere. LaPook had an older sister. They had a pretty good life. They had good clothes and enough to eat. When he was about six years old, LaPook's family moved to the northern part of Bayonne for two or three years then moved to North Bergen, New Jersey where his dad bought another store. LaPook finished elementary school at 12 years old and went into high school in Jersey City, New Jersey. He was active as a young person. He had a paper route and delivered groceries for the local grocery store. When Social Security came along in 1935, he was not happy about having to pay the tax out of his 26 cents per hour income. Another thing that was devastating to him was when the banks closed after the 1929 stock debacle. The 200 dollars he had saved at the bank was reduced to about 75 dollars when he finally got it back in 1935 or 1936. Life was not bad for LaPook's family during the depression because his father owned a store. The rich person on the block earned 40 dollars per week. Times were hard for others during the depression. Jobs were hard to get. LaPook saw well dressed people standing on the street corners selling apples for a nickel apiece because they could not find work. The Roosevelt Administration came in with the WPA [Annotator's Note: Works Progress Administration] and CCC [Annotator's Note: Civilian Conservation Corps]. People made fun of the WPA but they built the TVA and the Hoover Dam and was able to generate cheap electricity. That could be a lesson applied to today's situation. After the repeal of Prohibition, LaPook's father converted his store to a liquor store. LaPook's sister became a teacher. When LaPook finished high school, he was awarded a scholarship to NYU [Annotator's Note: New York University]. He enrolled in a special program at NYU to receive his BA [Annotator's Note: Bachelor of Arts degree for undergraduate work completion] after four years and his DDS, or Doctorate of Dental Surgery, after seven years. He lived at home for awhile while enrolled at NYU. It became tough so he roomed with other students in New York's Greenwich Village. In 1942 he received his DDS. While in Dental School, he managed a catering place in New York City. He spent days in the college and nights on the job. He managed to do both duties. He met his future wife in college and became engaged to her after he graduated from NYU Dental School. LaPook found out about Pearl Harbor when he was working in his father's luncheonette in the Bronx. He heard about the attack on the radio. While going to school, he was concerned but not disturbed because of his youth. When the draft started, he and his friends took it seriously. The attack on Pearl Harbor had a big effect on him. The sinking of the ships and the sneak attack had a big effect on him and his friends. Until then, the feeling was that America was isolated by the oceans. LaPook registered for the draft in March 1942 while he was a senior in dental school.

On 10 June 1942 Sidney LaPook graduated from NYU Dental College. He became engaged to his future wife that same day. At the end of June he began his internship at the Jersey City Medical Center. He also interned at the Margaret Hague Maternity Hospital. After five weeks he felt the urge to be part of the war. He decided to apply for a commission in the Army. He went back to the hospital and asked to work with the ambulance crews to get experience on first aid and immediate injury relief. He got orders to report to Fort Sill, Oklahoma on 2 September 1942. Other officer candidates were sent to Carlisle Barracks in Pennsylvania. LaPook did not even know where Oklahoma was. When he told his fiancée that he had volunteered, she wanted to get married before he went into the service. They eloped immediately. He went into the service as a first lieutenant since he was a dentist. He got part of his first uniform at Governor's Island and part at Macys. He bought a jacket at Macys and the Army reimbursed him for the expense. He called his draft board and said someone else could have his deferment. LaPook could not stand to stay home while others were out trying to do something. He took the train to Fort Sill and was met by a warrant officer with a side car motorcycle. After arriving at the camp he went to the commanding officer, Colonel Wonderlick [Annotator's Note: unsure of spelling]. He held out his hand to shake and the warrant officer got red but the commander just smiled. He said LaPook was part of Eighth Service Command since he was a dentist. The warrant officer gave him a lecture on addressing superior officers and other protocols. His wife stayed in New York while LaPook began organizing himself at Fort Sill. LaPook was assigned to a barracks right near the dental clinic where he worked, Dental Clinic Number 1. LaPook began working on soldiers waiting to be attached to other commands. A major asked LaPook if he were married and when he replied that he was, the major asked why he did not bring his wife out there. No one knew how long LaPook would be there but he had his wife to join him at Fort Sill anyway. Married life was good at Fort Sill. They managed to get a house after someone left. With officers' mess, tennis courts and swimming pools, it was like being a civilian except he was in uniform.

At Fort Sill, Sidney LaPook was just doing dentistry. It was required to have at least seven opposing teeth for the service. Many men coming into the Army had never visited a dentist and many of them had bad teeth. LaPook's job was to reduce the troubles that men would experience overseas with their teeth. Men who came in without teeth were presented with dentures. Some refused to use them but they were provided upper and lower dentures nevertheless. When the soldiers went to the POE, or Port of Embarkation, they had to show that they had dentures to go overseas. The Army did a lot to teach young people to take care of their teeth. LaPook stayed at Fort Sill for eight weeks and then was transferred to help with a new dental facility at Camp Gruber in Muscogee, Oklahoma. His wife followed him and they rented a house. The 88th Infantry Division was brought into Camp Gruber. At this time, the dental requirement for new soldiers was lowered. All the men needed were two jaws to allow for dentures to be used. LaPook became interested in prosthetics such as dentures, crowns and bridges. He set up a clinic and laboratory and was given free reign by the colonel. He also agreed to become coach for the Camp Gruber basketball team. He had six very good players with three of them being All Americans. They would win games. The officers bet on the team and they did well. One of his players was Ken Menke who had played for the Illinois Whiz Kids. One day LaPook was notified that four of his players were being transferred overseas so LaPook told the general he could not coach the team anymore. With a lot of the players going overseas and the load being too heavy for him, LaPook was relieved of his coaching assignment. The General got someone else to coach and the team was not so successful. In April 1943, there were tremendous floods in Oklahoma. LaPook was stuck in camp and they medically aided people in the adjacent areas who were struck by the flood. In June 1943, he was sent to the 193rd Field Artillery Group at Fort Sill, Oklahoma. This was good in his opinion. His commanding officer was Colonel Cooney, a good guy. There were 20 officers in the headquarters company including two dentists. The battery basically acted as communications for battalions of 155mm howitzers that were assigned to them. Coordination and orders came through the 193rd Field Artillery Group headquarters to the various attached gun battalions which did the firing. The 193rd Field Artillery Group was the head of a fighting machine of artillery batteries that were shifted back and forth. There were 125 to 130 men in the 193rd. LaPook made sure every man's mouth was in good shape before going overseas. He was largely allowed to practice dentistry as he had learned it at NYU with just a few Army restrictions. Back at Fort Sill there were no medical doctors for the battalion so the dentists had to take care of sick bay needs. Some medical needs were real and others were not. The dentists also gave lectures to the men on sex education, contraception and so forth. LaPook was also the mess officer in the outfit. For a while it seemed as if LaPook was going nowhere but he was soon shipped back to Camp Gruber to prepare to go east which they knew meant going to the European Theater. They left Camp Gruber for New York in March 1944. In New York, LaPook was sent to Camp Kilmer [Annotator's Note: Camp Kilmer, New Jersey]. LaPook was able to visit with his wife who lived in New York City prior to shipping out for Europe while the other guys did what they could to get passes.

On 8 April [Annotator's Note: 8 April 1944] they got a red flag in the area and they knew they were getting ready to go. Sidney LaPook bid farewell to his wife and shipped out. On 10 April, LaPook and the 193rd Field Artillery Group sailed from New York Harbor to Greenock, Scotland aboard the Queen Mary. Onboard the ship, LaPook gave injections to the troops. By that time, he had been promoted to captain. After arriving in Scotland, they went by train to Kington, Wales in western England. He remained there from 17 April until 17 July. During that three month period in Kington, LaPook had an ambulance assigned to him. He was mainly involved with picking up injured English pilots who crashed into the sides of mountains near Kington. He took a room in a hospital and made it his aid station. On 3 June 1944, trucks were arriving and outfitting the hospital. They did not know why the hospital outfitting was going on. They had no idea about the D-Day invasion that was coming. LaPook was part of General George Patton's [Annotator's Note: US Army General George S. Patton] Third Army. They were not allowed into London where flying bombs could hit them. On 5 June they were informed that they were going to hear a speech. This was where Patton gave his speech that every soldier was vital to the effort. The men knew that something had to be happening. After Patton's speech they went back to the camp at Kington. There, they saw that the hospital next door was ready and the 193rd [Annotator's Note: 193rd Field Artillery Group] doctors were asked to help with triage. About 48 hours after the D-Day invasion took place, the casualties started flooding into the hospital. LaPook helped with triage. On 15 July 1944, LaPook and the 193rd Field Artillery Group got ready to leave for Southampton to prepare to go to Utah Beach.

On 17 July 1944 Sidney LaPook and the 193rd Field Artillery Group left Kington for Southampton. On 21 July they took a 12 hour trip on a Liberty ship to Utah Beach. Antiaircraft balloons were used to keep the German aircraft away since Me-109s were around strafing everything. On 23 July, they loaded on Rhinos [Annotator's Note: Rhino Barges were used to transport vehicles to the beach] and went to the beach. They were led to an apple orchard and told to sleep in the jeep or in tire tracks because of land mines. LaPook went ashore on Utah Beach at 2330 [Annotator's Note: 11:30 at night] on 23 July. They proceeded to where XX Corps was bivouacked near the town of Besneville where they spent the next 12 days. As they were preparing to leave Besneville they saw and armada of about 2,000 planes, fighters and bombers, going over to carpet bomb St. Lo. At the same time, the Falaise Gap was being closed on the German troops. LaPook's unit was sent to help close the Falaise Gap. Because the English troops did not close the northern portion, many veteran German troops were able to escape along with their equipment. One day while walking to his aid station, LaPook saw an M4 tank [Annotator's Note: German Mark IV tank]. It seemed as if they were advancing directly toward him. While he was worried about it, a 155mm loaded up and fired at the treads of the tank. The M4 was a big tank and the only way the American soldiers could stop them was to hit the treads to immobilize it so that infantry could overcome it. From there, the 193rd [Annotator's Note: 193rd Field Artillery Group] went to Avranches. It was here that the Germans who had escaped the Falaise Gap went into a major counterattack. There was heavy fighting and bombing on both sides. Just after that, LaPook, wearing a Red Cross armband and therefore unable to carry a weapon, moved up into a wooded area with two infantry men carrying machine guns. They found seven American paratroopers strung up by their ankles with their private parts cut off. The inhumane deed must have been done to provide an example to the American troops. From Avranches, LaPook headed to Le Mans then to the east. The XX Corps was on the south side of the advance with General Leclerc [Annotator's Note: French Army General Jacques Leclerc] and his 2nd French Armored Division following the XX Corps toward Chartres. The city of Chartres was surrounded and the 193rd Field Artillery Group stayed there for three days. The artillery was asked not to destroy the city's cathedral even though there were German snipers in the church steeples. The American infantry took Chartres and there was a big day of rejoicing after the city was captured from the Germans. The 193rd next pushed on to Fontainebleau near Paris. They were told to hold their position so that Leclerc with his Free French 2nd Armored Division could enter Paris first. At Fontainebleau, LaPook aided civilians who needed dental help. After two days, the 193rd left Fontainebleau. At this time, LaPook heard that the Americans had captured a medical and liquor depot. LaPook went to the medical depot first and found some acrylic material not available in the United States that he thought he could use. He also went to the German liquor depot where a well stocked supply of liquor was found. LaPook had his assistant empty ten five gallon cans of water and filled them with Cognac. When GIs came to him and asked for water, he said that he would have to give them Cognac instead. The troops did not seem to mind. At this time, one of the battalions was shot up and a replacement battalion was coming in from Normandy. The colonel asked for LaPook to guide the new battalion into position. LaPook refused because he wore the Red Cross. He was unarmed and could not lead troops because of the Geneva Convention. The colonel was miffed. LaPook had been chosen because in previous testing in England, he had shown an ability to find locations and give directions and had gotten the highest grade. Thus the colonel wanted to use a dental officer, not artillery officer. The colonel was very angry and said he would read the Geneva Convention and threatened LaPook with court martial if he was not right about the Geneva Convention. No action was taken except one of the artillery officers took the new battalion into their position. Being a headquarters company, they would get artillery battalions as needed. Piper Cub aircraft assigned to them would assist in spotting targets. They were corps troops so different types of guns were assigned to them according to need and the action underway. There was constant change of assignments.

Sidney LaPook's next stop was Rheims, where they bivouacked. While LaPook was at Reims, General Patton [Annotator's Note: US Army General George S. Patton] visited the 193rd [Annotator's Note: 193rd Field Artillery Group] headquarters. When Colonel Cooney complained about LaPook to General Patton, the General dressed Cooney down on not selecting an artillery officer to position the new battalion. LaPook overheard the conversation between Patton and Cooney, and from that point General Patton was his hero. Patton and Cooney had been at West Point together. There was disrespect between Patton and Cooney such that when Patton left the command post, he urinated on the command post tent. Cooney decided to get back at LaPook, who was also serving as the mess officer. Cooney had steak served to Patton for lunch. Since troops were supposed to be eating Army K rations and C rations, Patton asked Cooney to explain why the 193rd was eating better than SHAEF [Annotator's Note: Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Forces]. Cooney, thinking that the steak would be a negative issue, said that mess officer Captain LaPook would explain. LaPook told Patton that he traded American food, especially white bread which was not available to local civilians, for meats from the local butchers. Patton commended the way LaPook handled the situation. Cooney left LaPook alone after that.

In Sidney LaPook's next bivouac, German pilots, called Bed Check Charlie by the GIs, buzzed them late at night and sometimes would drop bombs. One night while LaPook was in a foxhole, a 500 pound bomb was dropped but it did not explode. When checked by the bomb squad, it was discovered there was saw dust in the percussion cap, thus rendering the bomb a dud. It was thought to be sabotaged during manufacture. That was a lucky break for LaPook. Montois was the next destination. It was here that he saw the Bing Crosby show with flying bombs going over the 3,000 American troops. They then spent several weeks in a small town where they provided medical care for the local population. With no supply of gasoline because it was being directed toward Montgomery, the Americans had to pull back. LaPook treated American wounded and in the process he was wounded himself. He did not want the Purple Heart because his mother would worry if she heard he was wounded. They set up their aid station in the town mayor's house. LaPook even treated the mayor's brother's cow that had been injured by shrapnel. The treatment of the French citizens by the Americans was the opposite of how they had been treated by the German occupiers. At the end of November [Annotator's Note: November 1944] they headed toward Saarlauten. The forts at Metz had been taken by the Americans. In visiting a fortress, LaPook saw how intricate and strong they were. On 21 December, they began to hear that there was action going on up north. It was the beginning of the Ardennes Campaign [Annotator's Note: the German Ardennes Offensive, also known as the Battle of the Bulge].

Sidney LaPook heard that things were getting rough up there [Annotator's Note: in the Ardennes Forest] and that Bastone was being besieged. Patton [Annotator's Note: US Army General George S. Patton] was asked to support the defense against the German offensive and got to Bastone in two days. During the drive to the Ardennes, they [Annotator's Note: the 193rd Field Artillery Group] were attached to the 4th Armored Division. This was right after General McAuliffe [Annotator's Note: US Army General Anthony C. McAuliffe] replied "Nuts" to the German demand to surrender. At the time, General Maxwell Taylor, commanding general of the 101st Airborne Division, was in the States on leave. The reason for determined American resistance was the word of the massacre at Malmedy by German Colonel Peiper's [Annotator's Note: SS Standartenfuhrer Joachim Peiper] troops. The book titled Alamo in the Ardennes tells the story of the resistance at Bastone and the rationale for the determined defense by the Americans. LaPook was positioned in the town of Hompre, just south of Bastone. They shelled the town because it was occupied by Germans. LaPook set up an aid station there. LaPook's commanders retreated away from the German positions and LaPook felt that his aid station was at risk since no one had notified them of the retreat. The Germans had entered the town then left and LaPook felt anger over not being advised of the risk to the aid station. They left Hompre and went to Bastone where they set up an aid station in the cellar of a convent. LaPook's group set up the aid station with the medical group from Combat Command B, 10th Armored Division. In the cellar were two nuns and a priest. A nun LaPook assisted with a tooth ache gave him hot soup every morning during the three weeks they were there. Since they were there for three weeks it was critical to set up a latrine. When they went to the latrine at night they carried a roll of toilet paper in one hand and a .45 caliber pistol in the other. They were shelled all day long. LaPook was offered the opportunity to go up in a DC-3 [Annotator's Note: Douglas C-47 Skytrain cargo aircraft] to see what had happened in the area. LaPook was told by the paratroopers in the aircraft that he had to put on a parachute. He resisted at first but eventually complied. He saw the devastation in the area [Annotator's Note: around Bastone]. Disabled tanks stood out against the snow. Imprints of bodies also stood out in the snow. At about 3,000 feet, LaPook was surprised be hooked to a pole. At about 4,000 feet LaPook was pushed out of the plane by the paratroopers. The parachute opened automatically. He worried as he went down that he would break a leg but he got trapped in a tree and was not injured. The paratroops laughed at him. Although it was frightening at first, it was a thrill for LaPook. He gave his chute to four Belgian women who were happy to get the silk.

From there [Annotator's Note: the area around Bastone, Belgium], Sidney LaPook and his unit [Annotator's Note: 193rd Field Artillery Group] went to Trier. They were advancing at a very rapid pace. At Trier, they learned from SHAEF [Annotator's Note: Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force] that the town was heavily armed. SHAEF did not know that they had already taken the town. From Trier they went to Mainz. In Mainz, LaPook told his driver to turn right when they came to a split in the road. The truck behind them went left and hit a mine. All four men in the truck were killed. From Mainz they went to Frankfurt. Frankfurt was a mess. Things were going very quickly. There were German soldiers surrendering by the thousands. From there, they went to Nuremburg. LaPook passed through Nuremberg then bivouacked for two days in a little town called Furth. There, LaPook was taken by a German civilian to liberate 12 Jewish refugees who were hidden in a hollowed out tree that led to a cave. LaPook turned the refugees over to the MPs [Annotator's Note: military police] who sent them back to be deloused and fed. Next, LaPook was sent to a Polish DP [Annotator's Note: displaced persons] camp. The smell was horrible. LaPook located a physician in the Polish camp who could speak a little English and French. LaPook took him in the jeep to the first doctor's office they could find and took all of the equipment they needed out of it. There were five houses overlooking the camp and LaPook told the DPs to take any food or blankets from the nearby houses but they were not to disturb the people or the homes. When LaPook questioned the inhabitants of the house about seeing what was happening, they replied that they would have been shot if they interfered or questioned what was being done in the DP camp. LaPook does not know the name of the area the camp was located in. On 22 March [Annotator's Note: 22 March 1945], they entered a little town. One of their lieutenants, Lieutenant Poole [Annotator's Note: unsure of spelling], was killed by a sniper while looking around the town. LaPook was told to see what could be done about the snipers so he took a jeep and went to investigate the situation. The tanks that accompanied LaPook eventually killed the snipers. They took Poole to an aid station where LaPook demanded that he be given blood but the doctor there refused because Poole was already dead. LaPook was emotionally affected by Poole's death. Poole was the only fatality in this area. The most casualties suffered by the unit were during the Battle of the Bulge. Many communications wiremen in the Battle of the Bulge were killed and wounded. By April they had advanced through Zeiss [Annotator's Note: Zeiss, Germany] where German antiaircraft guns were set up to slow their advance. The Air Corps [Annotator's Note: US Army Air Forces] was called in to eliminate the flak guns. The TO [Annotator's Note: Table of Organization] of LaPook's outfit was changed from two dentists to one. In March the other dentist left the unit. In April, LaPook decided to leave the unit after he learned that the unit commander had volunteered the outfit for duty in the Pacific. LaPook was then transferred to the 4th Auxiliary Surgical Group. He left the unit along with his T5 [Annotator's Note: Technician 5th Grade, equivilent in pay grade to a corporal], Montegut Scott, and a driver named Nemick [Annotator's Note: unsure of spelling] and during the trip to join the 4th Auxiliary Surgical Group, his jeep was strafed by a German Me-109. No casualties were suffered and they got back in the jeep and proceeded onward.

Sidney LaPook joined the 4th Auxiliary Surgical Group about a week before the war ended. He was hoping to be able to work in a hospital but there were few cases to deal with after VE-Day [Annotator's Note: Victory in Europe Day, 8 may 1945]. LaPook was ready to go home, and had enough points to do so, but he was offered a mobile dental truck with three technicians. LaPook thought the 4th Auxiliary Surgical Group was not the right outfit for him. The group and their truck headed north. When they arrived at Bamberg, LaPook offered his services to the German hospital that had been taken over by the Americans. It was a hospital used to treat VD [Annotator's Note: venereal disease] cases. It was a leisurely assignment until he received orders to go home right after VJ-Day [Annotator's Note: Victory Over Japan Day, 14 August 1945]. LaPook's mother died on VJ-Day and he believes that her death may have had something to do with his return home being expedited. He flew from Paris to New York. During the flight, LaPook sat next to a colonel who offered to help him avoid Fort Dix [Annotator's Note: the separation center at Fort Dix] and delays in getting his orders to return home. The colonel gave LaPook a ride back to New York. The colonel was dropped off at Grand Central then told his driver to take LaPook home. At home, LaPook's wife and relatives gave him a big welcome back from the war.

[Annotator's Note: This segment begins with the interviewer thanking Sidney Lapook for doing the interview.] Sidney LaPook feels it is very important for students to learn about World War 2. War is not civilized and it should not be held up as something heroic. Nations should be more inclined to sit and talk through their differences. The National WWII Museum should be seen by all in this country, young and old. The 4th Armored Division freed Buchenwald. LaPook's unit [Annotator's Note: the 193rd Field Artillery Group] arrived at Buchenwald the following day but were not allowed into the camp. They were able to enter the office in which the commandant's wife made colored lampshades out of people's skin. Some of the troops in LaPook's outfit refused to believe what was done there despite what they were seeing first hand. They thought it was a Hollywood set up, despite seeing and smelling the camp. Patton [Annotator's Note: US Army General George S. Patton] forced the nearby German civilians to view the camp so they could see what was done. LaPook's message to future generations would be that war is inhuman but when it is forced upon you, an individual has to do the right and morally correct things. LaPook felt that World War 2 was his war. He had to take a role in order to do the right thing for his future children. Sometimes an individual learns what not to do as well as what to do during wartime. Coming home was the beginning of having a family. Having children and providing a safe world for them is one of the joys of life. He would ask his children to be good and moral and to enjoy life by being positive. The direction of future events is in our hands. Visiting The National WWII Museum can teach children as young as two or three years old the right and moral things to do in life. [Annotator's Note: LaPook concludes the interview reading off his simple thoughts on being a veteran.] Freedom is not free. Civilizations would benefit more without wars.