Capital Region WWII Veteran to Receive Long Overdue Award

Purple Heart Presented to Army National Guard Veteran of NY's 27th Infantry Division

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Soldiers of the 105th Infantry during WWII in the Pacific. Archive photo.

LOUDONVILLE, NY (08/13/2010)(readMedia)-- A Cohoes WWII veteran of the 27th Division will be presented with his long overdue Purple Heart and the NYS Conspicuous Service Star this weekend. After a family's extensive research into the military service of John Sidur to uncover records to present the military awards, a ceremony to present the medals will be held in Loudonville.

WHO: WWII veteran and Cohoes native John Sidur, his wife Josephine and family meet with representatives of the New York Army National Guard.

WHAT: Presentation of the Purple Heart Award and the New York State Conspicuous Service Star to a WWII veteran of the New York Army National Guard who served in the Pacific and was wounded on Okinawa 65 years ago.

WHEN: Sunday, August 15 at 2 p.m. Family members will be on hand at 1:45.

WHERE: Loudon Green Park at the corner of Route 9 and Osborne Rd, Loudonville, N.Y.

BACKGROUND:

Staff Sgt. John Sidur joined the New York National Guard in Cohoes on September 17, 1940. He mobilized with the 105th Infantry Regiment on October 15, 1940, went to California after the attack on Pearl Harbor and in March 1942 went to the Pacific with the Orion. He served as a rifleman from October 1940 through August 1945 with Company B, 1-105th Infantry from Cohoes.

Sidur was wounded on Okinawa on April 21, 1945, as a platoon sergeant for the 39 men in Company B's 3rd platoon. While operating within the heavily fortified Shuri Line, an artillery fragment lodged in John's hand and he spent 10 days in the field hospital before returning to his unit. This is the subject of the Purple Heart presentation this Sunday.

Joining Sidur will be joined by his wife of 60+ years, Josephine, along with about 40 family members, including his nephew Bob Greene, who worked to arrange for the medals and did all the research.

John and Josephine are lifelong residents of Cohoes.

Sidur already received a Bronze Star for his actions on Saipan, where his regiment defeated the largest Japanese Banzai attack of the war. John was also shot in this battle, but was denied a Purple Heart because medical records of that treatment could not be found. In the chaos, he had been treated by a corpsman attached to the 2nd Marine Division and no record was forwarded to the Army.

Last year, in the family attempt to locate such a record, Greene ordered his complete records from the national archives. There, family found a record of his treatment for a battle casualty on April 21, 1945. When asked about this Sidur paused and said, "Oh, that was when I was shot on Okinawa."

Parking will be available in the Caldwell Banker realtor lot on Route 9 next to Loudon Green.

The family may be contacted through Mr. Bob Greene, nephew of John Sidur at (516) 557-5597.