Sherman Levine was born 29 June 1923 in Chicago, Cook county, Illinois to Harry and Ester (Burnstein) Levine; he had five brothers and three sisters, he being the youngest. His father was a salesman born in Russia and his mother born in Germany. Sherman graduated from the Von Steuben High School in Chicago. He enlisted 5 November 1940 standing 5’8’ tall and weighing 177 pounds, working as a sales clerk.
PFC Sherman Levine (Service Number 16003162) was assigned to the 7th Aircraft Squadron (Weather) at Hickman Field, Hawaii. The 7th Bombardment Group of B-17s was one of the older formations in the USAAC in 1941. Late in 1941 it was decided to reinforce the Far East Air Force on the Philippines. The 7th left San Francisco the evening of 6 December arriving at Hickam Field in the midst of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941. Unarmed and unable to fight back, they lost several aircraft but were able to land safely. After the attack, the remaining aircraft returned to the States before moving on to Java.
PFC Levine was admitted to the hospital but did not survive. He is listed as killed in action and is buried in the Westlawn Cemetery, Norridge, Illinois. He received a Purple Heart, WW II Victory, American Campaign, Asiatic-Pacific Campaign and Army Good Conduct medals as well as the Army Presidential Unit Citation.

This story is part of the Stories Behind the Stars project (see www.storiesbehindthestars.org). This is a national effort of volunteers to write the stories of all 400,000+ of the US WWII fallen saved on Together We Served and Fold3. Can you help write these stories? to this, there will be a smartphone app that will allow people to visit any war memorial or cemetery, scan the fallen's name and read his/her story.

Stories Behind The Stars Contributing Author - Lee Braswell

SOURCES:
Find-a-Grave memorial 114301003
HonorStates.org
Ancestry

Levine, Sherman, PFC