Sidney H. Levenson was born in Garfield NJ on July 12, 1916 to Simon and Nellie Levenson, who had arrived in the U.S. from Latvia in 1910. He had an older sister June and a younger sister Marion. They moved from Garfield to Rutherford NJ, first to an apartment at 282 Park Ave and later to a single family Victorian style home at 78 Sylvan Street. The 1930 Census records Simon and Nellie as proprietors of a Candy Store.

The Levenson children attended Rutherford schools. Sidney was a standout on the Rutherford High School Basketball team and after graduation he coached and refereed sports in the south Bergen county area. He attended Pace Institute in New York as well as Panzer College. Before enlistment he worked as a salesman at the Kramer Lumber Company in Clifton, NJ.

According to an article in the Rutherford American Newspaper dated November 30, 1944, Levenson told his friends immediately after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor: “ I’ve got to get into this.” Sidney enlisted in the United States Marine Corps on January 22, 1942. After basic training at Parris Island, he enjoyed a 72 hour leave at home with his family before participating in advanced training at New River, NC. He deployed overseas in May of 1942 to the South Pacific. Private Levenson went ashore at Guadalcanal on August 7, 1942 as a member of the 1st Marine Division. Surviving Guadalcanal, Levenson and his comrades would next fight at Cape Gloucester, New Britain. A Signal Corps photo and a story about Sidney appear in March 28, 1944 edition of the Herald News of Passaic, NJ. In the photo Pvt Levenson has a Thompson sub-machine gun straddling his lap as he holds up three fingers to signify the number of Japanese soldiers he killed on a recent patrol.

The veteran First Marine Division was committed to battle again on Sept 15, 1944 at Peleliu, Palau. The goal of this operation was to seize the strategic air-strip on the island. Though ultimately successful, the victory at Peleliu was costly - American casualties were 2336 dead and 8450 wounded. One of the Marines who was killed in action was PFC Sidney H. Levenson on September 17, 1944.

The Levenson family was devastated when news of Sidney’s death reached them in early December. Nellie Levenson was so distraught, she was briefly hospitalized with shock. Sidney is buried at the Manila American Cemetery in the Philippines. In 1953, the South Bergen Jewish War Veterans Post changed their name to the Sidney H. Levenson Jewish War Veterans Post, to honor him.

During the War, several local newspapers referred to Sidney as “Rutherford’s best known Marine”. That moniker is long forgotten. Robert Leckie - another Rutherford man - took over that role when his book – Helmet for my Pillow was published in 1957. Leckie was also in the First Marine Division and his experiences paralleled those of PFC Sidney Levenson.

Levenson was one of over 3000 men from Rutherford (1940 Population of 15,466) who served during the war, and one of 95 who lost their lives.

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

Sidney H Levenson