Wayne Sisk
| Wayne A. Sisk Sr. | |
|---|---|
| Nickname(s) | Skinny |
| Born |
March 4, 1922 Herndon, West Virginia, United States |
| Died |
July 13, 1999 (aged 77) Charleston, West Virginia, United States |
| Allegiance |
 United States |
| Service/branch | United States Army |
| Years of service | 1942-1945 |
| Rank |
 Sergeant |
| Unit |
 Easy Company, 2nd Battalion, 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division |
| Battles/wars | |
| Awards | |
| Relations |
-Henry Lee Sisk (father) -Nettie Monk Sisk (mother) -Louise Sisk (wife) -Sharon Sisk Branson (daughter) -Delcie Sisk Young (daughter) |
Sergeant Wayne "Skinny" Sisk (4 March 1922 – 13 July 1999)[1] was a non-commissioned officer with Easy Company, 2nd Battalion, 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, in the 101st Airborne Division of the United States Army during World War II. He was one of the original 140 Toccoa men of Easy Company. Sisk was portrayed in the HBO miniseries Band of Brothers by Philip Barantini.
Youth
Sisk was born on 4 March 1922 in Herndon, West Virginia.[1]
Military service
Sisk enlisted and volunteered for paratroopers and was sent to Toccoa, Georgia for training, then assigned to Easy Company. Sisk, along with Frank Perconte, Herman Hanson and Carwood Lipton, were the four first soldiers in Easy Company.[2]
Sisk made his first combat jump into Normandy on D-Day, on Private Walter "Smokey" Gordon's plane. He brought laughter and broke the tension on the plane by calling out "Does anybody here want to buy a good watch?"[3] Sisk also fought with his unit in Operation Market Garden and the Battle of the Bulge, the latter where he sustained shrapnel wounds to a leg during shelling by German forces. Sisk's wounds were treated and he eventually reunited with his unit.
While on occupation duty in Kaprun, Captain Ronald Speirs ordered First Sergeant Lynch to take Sisk, Don Moone and Joseph Liebgott to find and to kill a Nazi officer hiding in a farm nearby. The Nazi was found and shot twice by Liebgott, but was not killed. After Moone refused to shoot, Sisk shot the Nazi dead.[4]
Sisk was said to be the 'most foul-mouthed, hard-drinking, hard-living reprobate ever to enlist in Easy Company'.[5]
Later years
Sisk lived in Raleigh and Wyoming counties all his life.[1] After the war, he became a building contractor in brick and stone masonry. He suffered from flashbacks of the war and developed a drinking problem. His drinking problem was solved after having a conversation with his four-year-old niece.[6]
During the war, Sisk promised God that if he survived the war, he would become a reverend.[5] In 1949, he was ordained to become a Baptist minister. Sisk was a member of the Beckley Conference of Freewill Baptists and the West Virginia State Association of Freewill Baptists and attended the Skelton Freewill Baptist Church.[1]
References
Bibliography
- Ambrose, Stephen E. (1992). Band of Brothers: Easy Company, 506th Regiment, 101st Airborne from Normandy to Hitler's Eagle's Nest. Simon & Schuster. ISBN 978-0-7434-6411-6.
- Brotherton, Marcus (2010). A Company of Heroes: Personal Memories about the Real Band of Brothers and the Legacy They Left Us. Berkley Caliber. ISBN 978-0-425-23420-4.
- Brotherton, Marcus (2011). Shifty's War: The Authorized Biography of Sergeant Darrell 'Shifty' Powers, the Legendary Sharpshooter from the Band of Brothers. Berkley Caliber. ISBN 978-0-425-24097-7.