Martin Sylvester U.S. Army 1943-1945
Martin “Marty” Sylvester U.S. Army 1943-1945
Martin Sylvester is the 1st Veteran interviewed by USA Warrior Stories for our project. We recently traveled to Normandy for the 80th Anniversary of D-Day and met with Martin and his sin Paul and have updated his story.
Martin Sylvester grew up in Brooklyn and on April 4, 1943 turned 18 and registered for the draft. Martin, a Jewish American, landed on Utah Beach on June 7, 1944 (D-Day +1), fought in The Battle of the Hürtgen Forest and Battle of the Bulge serving with U.S. ARMY Company G, 12th Regiment, 4th Infantry Division. Martin didn't know it until he returned home from the war that his brother Ernie was killed while in combat in the Hürtgen Forest.
During the Battle of the Bulge Martin was wounded and taken prisoner. Martin would eventually escape only to be captured again, escape again, be captured again and escape again before being taken in by a German family and finally liberated by a US Army advanced armored unit and flown to a hospital in Paris. "At the hospital I weighed 80 pounds. I had lice and fleas. I was told that my leg would have become gangrenous and without treatment I would probably have lost it in two weeks", from Martin's memoir.
While recording Martin's original story we were just about to turn the camera off when we asked Martin if there was anything else he would like to talk about. Martin replied, "Did I tell you about when the put me in front of a firing squad?" That day we decided to never turn the cameras off. Thank you for continuing to be our inspiration.
In June 2024 Martin and his son Paul traveled to France with American Airline to commemorate the 80th Anniversary of D-Day
In 2019 USA Warrior Stories teamed up with actor Alec Baldwin and SiriusXM for a Veterans Day Special. This is Martin Sylvester’s Interview.
Martin with USA Warrior Stories founders Matt Hindra & Nick Kraus at the 2021 NY State Broadcasters Awards.
It is our honor and privilege to know Martin Sylvester. Martin is the first veteran Nick Kraus and Matt Hindra recorded for USA Warrior Stories and when we finished our interview and asked Martin if there was anything he wanted to add, Martin said "Did I tell you about the time I was put in front of a firing squad?" We learned a valuable lesson that day, never stop recording!
Thank you to WVVH, Hampton Television’s Greg and Ernie Schmizzi for nominating and presenting the 2021 NYS Serving New York award to USA Warrior Stories.
