Sylvester Bartolo

Born in Texas in 1935

United States Air Force

Korean War-Era Veteran

Sylvester Bartolo was only three-years-old when his family left his native Texas in 1938 and moved to Ledyard, Iowa. They were looking to find work in the sugar beet fields in the Lakota area. During World War II years Bartolo was attending school. In 1957, two years after he graduated high school, Bartolo and three of his buddies decided to enlist in the United States Air Force.

Following basic training, Bartolo was stationed at Seymour Johnson AFB in Goldsboro, North Carolina, and then spent his full four-year stint at that base. “I worked in administration and on the flight line,” Bartolo said. “I did monthly reports and collected information from all the hangers.”

The U.S. had just finished its involvement in the Korean War conflict. Bartolo served during peacetime. “We hadn’t heard a lot about Vietnam yet,” Bartolo remembered.

Bartolo said he adjusted pretty good to life in the military. “I had a good time in the Air Force,” he admitted. “I really didn’t miss home that much.” Bartolo was honorably discharged from the Air Force in July 1961 as a E-3 rank.

He returned home to Iowa, got married and went to work at a variety of jobs, including farming and working cows. “In 1981, I finally got on with the Iowa Department of Transportation,” Bartolo recalled. He retired in 2000 after 18 years on the job.