- Date Of Birth: May 24, 1921
- Date Of Death: September 2, 2013
- State: Maryland
Chester W. Nycum, 92, Husband, Father, Grandfather, and WWII Army Parachute Infantry Veteran.
Chester was born on May 24, 1921 in Braddock, Pennsylvania. At age 18 he left his humble farming life to join the Army Quartermaster Corp and was stationed at Ft. Meade. There he met a the beautiful young Margaret Schultz from Severn. They quickly fell in love and were married in August of 1940. The two remained loving life partners for the next 68 years.
When the United States entered WWII in 1941, Chester requested a transfer to the newly formed Army parachute regiment. Given the high risk involved, married men were not allowed without a waver from their wife, which Margaret reluctantly signed.
Chester Nycum, was assigned as lead scout in G company of the Army’s 503rd’s Regimental Combat Team. Always his Thompson sub machine-gun at his side, Chester and the rest of the 503rd leapfrogged their way across the Pacific Theater. Their multiple combat jumps and amphibious landings put them in some of the most intense combat of the entire war. Due to their battle tested experience and proven success, General MacArthur selected the 503rd to retake the island of Corregidor in 1945. For this mission, reconnaissance had prepared the unit for fewer than 1,000 Japanese defenders; instead the team of only 2,000 paratroopers landed on the island and defeated more than 6,000 Japanese. Chester was badly wounded in the final days on Corregidor by an underground ammunition dump detonation. He spent the following month on the USS Comfort, recovering from his wounds but as soon as he was ready, he quickly rejoined his regiment for one final battle on the Island of Negros.
Following WWII, Chester found a rewarding career with the Westinghouse Company. He spent the next 30 years there overseeing electronic testing, evaluating radar systems, and collaborating on various other classified military projects which all proved invaluable during the years of the Cold War.
Chester Nycum painlessly entered into eternal peace on September 2 at the Baltimore Washington Medical Center.
