Jewish War Veterans Past Commander medal and ribbon issued to a US soldier

Sidney Milton Cooley was born on December 21, 1913, in Springfield, Massachusetts, to a Jewish couple, Moses Louis and Sadie F. Cooley. Moses was born on March 24, 1873, in Kletsk, Belarus, to Jacob and Rivka Bearg Koolesh (later Cooley). He had two brothers and a sister. His family immigrated to the United States around 1900. Sadie was born on July 1, 1885, in Russia, to Itzik and Ruth Bearg Brodnitzky (later Broad). She had three sisters and three brothers. Her family immigrated to the United States around 1903. On October 27, 1908, Moses married Sadie in Springfield. Moses was a merchant and ran a dry goods store. Sidney had three older brothers. Philip (1909-1910) and Michael (1912), who both died young, and Edward (1911 -1998). On January 21, 1932, Sidney’s 58 year old father, Moses, died. Sidney graduated from high school and attended college. He worked as a manager in a tire shop, a piano player, and an orchestra conductor. In 1940, he earned a law degree from Northeastern University and was admitted to the bar. He and his brother Edward, also a lawyer, opened their own law practice, Cooley & Cooley. His mother married a family friend, Max Schreck (1883-1963.) Soon after the December 7, 1941, attack on Pearl Harbor, the United States entered World War II. On June 8, 1942, Sidney was drafted into the US Army and sent to Officer Candidate School at Camp Lee in Virginia. On April 30, 1943, he was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant and in June, he was assigned to the 63rd Infantry Division, nicknamed Blood and Fire. His Division spent more than a year training in Mississippi. On January 1, 1945, Sidney’s Division was deployed to Marseilles, France. The Division moved north to Sarreguemines and crossed the Saar River into Germany on February 17. The 63rd advanced across the Siegfried Line and through many cities, including Worms and Mannheim. By April, the Division was in Landsberg am Lech. Sidney was promoted and assigned to General Louis Hibb’s staff as a division transportation officer. On May 7, 1945, Germany surrendered. Many of Sidney’s fellow soldiers returned to the US, but because of his law degree, he was held back and reassigned to the occupational forces in the American Zone. He was promoted to Captain and transferred to the Third Army. Sidney was selected to serve as deputy military governor in Bayreuth, where he assisted with the de-Nazification program and the rebuilding of the region. In this capacity, 33 year old Sidney served as prosecutor for the U.S. military government in occupied Germany, as well as a judge, hearing approximately 1,800 cases involving civilian violations of military government. Sidney’s presence in Bayreuth attracted many Holocaust survivors, who were told about him by an itinerant rabbi. Many of these displaced persons flocked to Bayreuth in order to be under the protection of a Jewish American government official that spoke Yiddish and was sympathetic to their situation. Sidney spent much of his time finding housing for these displaced concentration camp survivors and helped them receive valuable training and much needed supplies. Sidney settled 300 displaced people into the commandeered former estate of Julius Streicher, the editor of the Nazi newspaper Der Sturmer. He helped turn the estate into a school to train the residents in agrarian work in preparation for their planned immigration to Palestine. This training program was so successful that it was repeated throughout the American zone. Sidney was present for the first post-war, Jewish wedding and the birth of the first Jewish child in Bayreuth. Before returning to the US in 1946, many of the survivors in Bayreuth presented Sidney with a citation “thanking him for all he did to give them hope and help them return to life." Sidney returned to the US. On June 27, 1946, he married Anne Violet “Pudsie” Sachse (1921-2012) in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. In September, Sidney was honorably discharged as a Major. He received many medals and awards for his service, including a Bronze Star and Meritorious Service Unit Plaque. Sidney and Pudsie settled in Springfield and had three children, 2 sons and a daughter. Sidney returned to practicing law with his brother, Edward, at their own law firm. In 1960, he was appointed special justice in Franklin District Court in Greenfield. In 1973, he was appointed presiding justice for the Hampden District Court in Westfield. On April 17, 1978, Sidney’s 92 year old mother, Sadie, died. Sidney and his wife, Pudsie, were active members of many community organizations and their temple. Sidney was also an active member of his chapter of the Jewish War Veterans of the United States of America. In 1983, Sidney retired from the bench and returned to his law firm. In 2013, he retired. Sidney, aged 100, died on January 7, 2014, in Springfield.

The medal was donated to the Hatikvah Holocaust Education Center in Springfield, MA, by Judge Sidney Cooley. It was transferred to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 2011, following the closure of the Hatikvah Holocaust Education Center in 2010.

United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Collection, Gift of the Hatikvah Holocaust Education Center

Funding Note: The cataloging of this artifact has been supported by a grant from the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany.