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Posted on Mon, Dec. 15, 2003

Friends pay tribute to a WWII soldier, 90
Sid Saloman survived D-Day in his 30s and rowed competitively in his 80s. Now, he's fighting cancer.
By Leslie A. Pappas
Inquirer Staff Writer

At age 30, he survived D-Day, one of the bloodiest battles of World War II.

In his 80s, he vied with rowing teams on the Schuylkill, winning races with men less than a quarter of his age.

Over the weekend, it was clear that Sid Salomon, at age 90, is fighting his last battle.

Diagnosed with cancer in his prostate, liver, and stomach, the decorated war veteran arrived by single-engine plane in Doylestown Saturday, to a hastily arranged tribute his friends and neighbors called a "Final Welcome Home."

"He's an iron-clad guy. Very stoic," said Monty Reinhart, who knew Salomon through swimming at the Central Bucks Family YMCA. "You're glad he was on your side when we were in the war."

Salomon, who volunteered to serve in the military after Pearl Harbor, lead a platoon of 37 Army Rangers on Omaha Beach at Normandy on June 6, 1944. He was one of nine men in the platoon to survive the battle. All but two were wounded, including Salomon.

His firsthand accounts of D-Day provided much of the inspiration for the battle scenes in Steven Spielberg's film Saving Private Ryan.

His accounts also appear in Beyond Valor: World War II's Ranger and Airborne Veterans Reveal the Heart of Combat, by historian Patrick K. O'Donnell and D-Day, a best-seller by historian Steven Ambrose.

His wartime heroics, as well as his energy and vigor that lasted up until a few months ago, have earned him a larger-than-life reputation among his Doylestown neighbors.

"They call him The Iron Man," said Salomon's neighbor and friend Russ Schulz.

About 22 people gathered at the Doylestown Airport to meet Salomon when the Beachcraft Bonanza touched down. Friends had arranged the flight through Angel Flight East, a charity that provides free flights to people too ill to fly on a regular commercial jet.

A four-man color guard in black-and-white uniforms stood at the wing of the 6-seat plane, saluting as six friends pulled a feeble Salomon from the cabin to a blue armchair on the ground.

"I would rather have Sid see the color guard alive today than at his funeral," said Schulz, a retired Willow Grove Naval Air Station commanding officer who arranged the honorary salute. "It adds a ray of sunshine to the day."

Salomon, who was first diagnosed with prostate cancer about a year and a half ago, had flown to New Hampshire to visit his daughter for Thanksgiving. His health suddenly deteriorated when he arrived, making him too sick to fly back on a commercial airliner.

"As soon as I got to my daughter's I just collapsed," Salomon said. "I didn't think I'd ever get home."

Salomon said the turnout surprised him.

"It was just overwhelming to see so many friends and neighbors."

Salomon wanted to return to Doylestown, where he has lived since he retired from a sales job at American Can Company, said his daughter, Jill Mosse. He was born in Newark, N.J., and lived in Westfield, N.J., until moving to Doylestown.

Moose said her father wants to be remembered for two things: his rowing, a lifetime activity that earned him numerous trophies, and his role as a Ranger in the battle at Normandy.

"That was a turning point in his life," she said.

Salomon was 30 years old when he landed on the beaches on D-Day. He was 1st lieutenant for C Company, U.S. 2d Ranger Battalion. Although D Company's assault on Pointe du Hoc became famous, C Company was the first U.S. unit to reach high ground.

Using toeholds, fingernails, and bayonets, Salomon's group climbed the cliffs at Pointe-et-Raz-de-la-Percee, on the right flank of Omaha Beach, after crossing the beach with 68 pounds of weapons and equipment.

Although most were wounded, the group seized control of mortar emplacements at the top of the cliffs.

"Some of the wounded were crawling as best they could, some with a look of despair and bewilderment on their tortured and pain-racked faces," Salomon said later in published reports.

"Until you see violent death, your life is pretty much protected."

Barb Gunn, one of Salomon's neighbors, said living next door to Salomon is "like living next to a real life G.I. Joe."

Neighborhood children flock to his house to interview him about the war for school projects. And even in his 80s, he was strong and fit.

"Our husbands would be riding lawn mowers and Sid would be there on his push-behind because he needed the exercise," she said.

But more important than his awards and wartime stories, said friend Warren Wilbur, he is "modest, quiet, and dearly loved by his neighbors and friends."

Wilbur, who up until about three months ago had swum with him every day at the Y, said Salomon was active until just a few months ago.

As late as October, he said, Salomon was still in rowing competitions at Boathouse Row, even winning a race against an 8-oar shell of teenagers. The average age of Salomon's team was 79.

"Oh my dear man," Wilber said softly as Salomon was helped into a wheelchair Saturday as he left the airport. "He's gone down so far.

"He knows he's dying," Wilbur said. "He said to me, 'it's time.' "

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Damn! What an inspirational story. Hope he is able to continue to live his life to the fullest until he is called for the Final Formation. Just reading of men such as this and the things they faced makes all my worries seem so small.

He truely Led the Way!!