PVT Alexander Sike

PVT Alexander Sike was born 15 May 1917 in Utica, New York. He was the oldest of the 3 sons born to Joseph and Anna (Fylip) Sike. Both parents were natives of Poland. His father worked as a spinner in a cotton mill and the family lived in a rented home at 512 Patter Street and then 520 Whitesboro Avenue in Utica. Alexander was working for the New York Central Rail Road by 1940. He married Flora B. Gadziala sometime after April 1940 and their first child, a daughter, was born in December of that year. They would have a son born in 1943.

It may have been because of his railroad work that Alexander was not drafted until January 1944. After his basic military training he was sent to the European theater arriving in England in late August and in France in early September. PVT Sike was transferred from the replacement depot to F Company 116th Infantry on 10 Sep 1944. The regiment was moving to attack German forces defending Brest, France and PVT Sike was killed in action in that fighting on 18 Sep 1944.

PVT Sike rests forever in the Brittany American Cemetery.