After graduating from North Catholic High in Philadelphia, Harry Sykes couldn't imagine what the future held for him, but he knew he wanted to serve his country. The Navy Air Force rejected him because of his color blindness, but the Army was happy to draft him. After basic training, Harry advanced to a Specialized Training Program, where he was to have completed a four-year engineering degree in 18 months. As the war escalated, the Army closed the school and Harry was assigned to the 6th Ranger Battalion that was attached to the 7th and 96th Infantry Divisions in the Pacific Theatre. He fought on Kwajalein and Manus Islands before taking part in the invasion of Leyte.
Seven hundred ships were moored in the Gulf at Leyte with thousands of troops who were to be part of the Leyte Invasion of October 1944. The Japanese occupied the island. A Ranger squad, including Harry and eleven others, was ordered to land on the beach to scope out the location of the enemy and relay that information back. On the 12th day, the patrol was machine-gunned. A 19-year-old Harry was hit in the left femur and four inches of his bone shot away. One of his comrades probably saved his life when he used his belt as a tourniquet to staunch Harry's profuse bleeding. Two of Harry's best friends were killed and Harry lay in blood and mud for 8 hours before being rescued by four soldiers who carried him to safety on a poncho.
They got him to a MASH unit where he was put into a full body cast and then placed on a ship bound for a hospital in New Guinea. While at sea, one of the worst typhoons that ever hit the Pacific nearly sank the ship. A young and frightened Harry hung on unable to move in his body cast as the ship was tossed by the storm. Harry made it to the first of four hospitals where he would spend 33 months and endure twenty surgeries to save the leg that the doctors at first thought would have to be amputated. A section of bone from the uninjured leg was used to repair and lengthen the damaged leg; bone fragments from his hip and numerous pins were used to hold his leg together. Most of his friends were back home while he was still dealing with pain, low spirits and a bout of Malaria that caused his weight to drop to ninety-nine pounds. In 1947, he was discharged with the rank of Sergeant. Honoring a pact made with his buddies early in the war, he traveled to the hometowns of two of his fallen friends to visit their parents.
Harry graduated from LaSalle College under the Gl Bill. He met Dolores at a Holy Child dance, and the rest is history. Fifteen years after being wounded, Harry finally received his commendations: two Purple Hearts (one for a wound he had received a few months before Leyte), a Silver Star for a rescue he had made, and a Bronze Star for gallantry in action. Most of his squad died at Leyte, but Harry kept in touch with one of the other survivors for many years until that friend died.
Harry Patrick Sykes
7th and 96th Infantry Divisions
6th Ranger Battalion