Sydney Levit was born in Philadelphia [Annotator's Note: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania] in July 1924. He grew up in a family-oriented neighborhood. He had lots of friends in his community and attended high school. His father was a salesman, his mother a homemaker, and he had one younger sister, Helen. The Great Depression [Annotator's Note: The Great Depression, a global economic depression that lasted from 1929 through 1945] did not faze him because he was a young boy. His family was well off and they ate three meals a day. Levit was friends with many kids of a wide variety of ethnicity. He was Jewish and his best friend's family was Italian. The apartment he lived in always felt safe. They never had to lock their doors and once a week his Italian neighbors would bring over spaghetti and the next night his mother would bring over chicken to his neighbors. His parents were aware of the European conflict in the late 1930s and were concerned because they were Jewish. He and his family were unaware of any Japanese threats. The attack on Pearl Harbor [Annotator's Note: the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on 7 December 1941] was a wakeup call for him and for everyone and that changed everything. Levit was sitting on his porch with the radio on Sunday morning of 7 December 1941 when he heard of it. His neighborhood became alert. At first, he did not think about the service because he was only 16 at the time, but as he became of age of eligibility, Levit and his parents began to discuss his next steps. As the war continued, more and more of his friends were drafted into service. One friend was turned down by the military and was devastated because everyone wanted to go. Levit read the newspapers every day to keep up on the progress of the Americans in Europe and Pacific. He was drafted into the Army in December 1942. He received a physical and then went home to wait for his orders. He took a train to Camp Mackall [Annotator's Note: Camp Mackall in Hoke, Richmond, and Scotland Counties, North Carolina] for basic training. When he arrived the camp was incomplete, so the first week he had to help complete the construction of the camp. After he was issued his uniforms, he and other trainees were brought to the middle of the forest where they instructor handed them saws and told them to clear trees to make a parade ground. A naïve officer that lit the brush on fire and started a forest fire. After his basic training, he was sent to Fort Bragg [Annotator's Note: Fort Bragg, North Carolina] for glider infantry training and then he was sent to Camp Forrest [Annotator's Note: in Tullahoma, Tennessee]. During his glider training he had to fly in the glider five times before receiving his wings. When he was at Camp Forrest they worked on maneuvers. The weather was terrible. While there he reluctantly volunteered to receive paratrooper training. While he was in the plane about to do a practice jump, he was supposed to be the number five jumper, but all the jumpers before him kept pushing him up to the front. Three guys froze [Annotator's Note: out of fear] and did not jump. That was the end of their paratrooper training. In order to complete the training, he was required to make four jumps in the day and one jump at night. Levit completed all five jump and received his paratrooper wings, along with an extra $50 dollars a month in his pay.

After completing glider infantry and paratrooper training, Sydney Levit was selected to go to Citadel [Annotator's Note: The Citadel, The Military College of South Carolina in Charleston, South Carolina] to possibly join an engineering program. He failed the mathematical tests but was asked to stay a little longer to help train some of the Citadel students in infantry exercises. He then returned to his unit, the 193rd Glider Infantry Regiment [Annotator's Note: Company A, 193rd Glider Infantry Regiment, 17th Airborne Division]. Not long after, he and his unit boarded the USS Wakefield (AP-21) troop transport and crossed the Atlantic in a zig-zag course [Annotator's Note: a naval anti-submarine maneuver] landing in Liverpool [Annotator's Note: Liverpool, England]. His unit was shipped to a camp in England to continue training until the Battle of the Bulge [Annotator's Note: Battle of the Bulge or German Ardennes Counter Offensive, 16 December 1944 to 25 January 1945]. While in England, his grandmother asked him to visit her cousins who were living in London [Annotator's Note: London, England]. When he arrived at their home, he saw that the house had been hit by a V-bomb [Annotator's Note: V-1 pulse jet flying bomb, German name: Vengeance Weapon 1; Allied names: buzz bomb, doodlebug] and had been boarded up. His family was pleasantly surprised to meet him. Because they were short on supplies, Levit brought them cigarettes and other items. He was able to visit with his family three times before he was shipped to Belgium. As for training, they did a lot of hiking which helped build their endurance. Many guys were injured by stepping in rabbit holes. Levit was a rifleman and trained as the first gunner on a 60mm mortar team [Annotator's Note: M2 60mm mortar]. When his unit received orders to head to Europe, they boarded a plane which took them to France, where they were trucked up to Belgium. It was bitterly cold. He entered combat in Belgium during the Battle of the Bulge and fought on "Dead Man's Hill" [Annotator's Note: also called "Dead Man's Ridge". The 193rd Glider Infantry Regiment suffered heavy casualties in Belgium. They did not have the proper winter clothing and equipment like their German enemies. On his first day in combat, he did not know what to expect or felt prepared. After it was over, he matured very quickly. His captain, Ed Fitzgerald [Annotator's Note: US Army 2nd Lieutenant Edward W. Fitzgerald], ended up being wounded in his leg and captured by the Germans. He also thought highly of one of his sergeants, Marcus Beltch [Annotator's Note: Technical Sergeant Marcus W. Beltch], who died in a glider accident. The American troops had a humorous demeanor in the face of terrible situations, and at times it was a relief to be surrounded by men who were pleasant. The most important things to a G.I. [Annotator's Note: government issue; also, a slang term for an American soldier] were a hot shower, hot food, and warm clothing, and during the Battle of the Bulge they lacked all three. Once he was given hot pudding for dessert, but tasted sour to him, so he did not eat it. Not long after, all his fellow G.I.s developed "the runs" [Annotator's Note: slang for diarrhea] and his unit was taken off the line so everyone could rest. He was thankful he did not eat the pudding. Because it was so cold in the winter of 1945, many of the troops suffered from frozen hands and frozen feet. Levit was sent to a hospital in Paris [Annotator's Note: Paris, France] temporarily due to frostbite on his feet. After his hospital stay, he waited at a replacement camp for orders, and while there Marlene Dietrich [Annotator's Note: Marie Magdalene Marlene Dietrich, German American actress] invited him and others to the USO show [Annotator's Note: United Service Organizations, Inc.]. The local French and Belgium populations were very happy to see the American troops and were thankful for their presence. The troops shared their rations with the civilians.

After Sydney Levit rejoined his unit [Annotator's Note: Company A, 193rd Glider Infantry Regiment, 17th Airborne Division], he visited Paris [Annotator's Note: Paris, France] on liberty [Annotator's Note: an authorized absence for a short period of time]. After a few days, his outfit went back into combat action [Annotator's Note: now absorbed into the 194th Glider Infantry Regiment, 17th Airborne Division]. Having support from his family and receiving mail helped him through his war experience tremendously. He also received letter from his future wife. His regiment took part in Operation Varsity [Annotator's Note: Operation Varsity, 24 March 1945, Wesel, Germany], which was a success, despite the number of lethal gliders crashes. They were able to move through Germany at a fast pace taking one village after another. There was a lot of flak [Annotator's Note: antiaircraft artillery fire] when he glided into German during Operation Varsity. Luckily no one in his outfit was wounded. When they landed, they were able to regroup and move through Germany. [Annotator's Note: Levit pauses the interview to ask a question to someone off camera at 0:38:53.000]. As they came to the end of a forest, they saw a castle with a moat and drawbridge. His sergeant, by the name of Hendrick [Annotator's Note: phonetic spelling], was killed as he attempted to cross the bridge. The rest of the unit went around to the back of the castle where the Germans had retreated. They stayed at the castle for a couple of days. When they continued on, they were met by rainy weather. They came across a building that looked like a prison sitting on top of a hill. It was surrounded by barbed wire fencing and his leader told them not to enter it. Levit and five other men in his squadron went against orders and entered the building. Upon entering, they saw POWs [Annotator's Note: prisoners of war] sitting by a potbelly stove and then saw another man in a cell, chained to a machine. They found out he had been chained to the machine for two years forced to make shoes. Levit went back to his commanding officer, who proceeded to "chew him out," but then sent for aid to help the internees. His unit stayed at the prison for a couple of days before continuing. He had animosity towards the Germans after witnessing what they had done to those people. His unit reached a farm where the peasants tipped them off on the location of Franz von Papen [Annotator's Note: Franz Joseph Hermann Michael Maria von Papen, Erbsälzer zu Werl und Neuwerk, was a German conservative politician, diplomat, Prussian nobleman and General Staff officer. He served as the chancellor of Germany in 1932, and then as the vice-chancellor under Adolf Hitler from 1933 to 1934]. In April 1945, Levit was part of the team who captured Papen at his chalet. One night as they were driving through Germany, they were stopped by some American troops and told them that President Roosevelt died [Annotator's Note: Franklin Delano Roosevelt, 32nd President of the United States]. Everyone wondered who would replace him. No one was familiar with Harry Truman [Annotator's Note: Harry S. Truman, 33rd President of the United States]. After the conclusion of war in Europe, Levit boarded a ship to return to the United States and train for the invasion of Japan. While crossing the Atlantic, they announced the surrender of Japan. Everyone on the ship was elated. As his ship approached the Statue of Liberty [Annotator's Note: in New York, New York], all the troops ran to one side to see it. Levit received three 30-day leaves [Annotator's Note: an authorized absence for a short period of time] in a row because the military did not know what to do with him. As they marched through towns, all the German civilians waved white sheets or towels. They were told not to fraternize with the civilian Germans which they did not followed. He was discharged in November 1945 with the rank of PFC [Annotator's Note: private first class]. Levit attend the University of Penn [Annotator's Note: The University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania] on the G.I. Bill [Annotator's Note: the G.I. Bill, or Servicemen's Readjustment Act of 1944, was enacted by the United States Congress to aid United States veterans of World War 2 in transitioning back to civilian life and included financial aid for education, mortgages, business starts and unemployment], but eventually quit to work because he wanted to get married.

Sydney Levit's most memorable experience of World War 2 were the men that he was serving with and their close friendship. They supported each other which helped everyone through combat experience. He fought because he felt he obligated and wanted to protect the country. Levit's experience changed his life because he matured. He came up against danger, strangers, different foods, different living conditions to which he had to adapt. He learned quickly that not everything was nice and cozy like his childhood. He looks at his service as a transition of maturity. When he returned home, he wanted to get married, have a family, and work. World War 2 means nothing to America today. Going to war is a total waste. Win or lose, nothing can be gained from war. There should be institutions like the National WWII Museum [Annotator's Note: The National WWII Museum in New Orleans, Louisiana], and they should continue to teach World War 2 to future generations. The school system does not teach about it. He hopes to visit the museum soon and supports what it does for the public.