Veteran, Bud Sabetay enjoys landmark year
Robert “ Bud” Sabetay, of Akron, Ohio, was directly involved in landing on the beaches of Normandy as part of the 90th Division. As the 80th anniversary of D-Day was remembered, so was the celebration of Bud’s 99th birthday.
The 80th anniversary of “D-Day” was celebrated in various ways earlier this summer. One of the living veterans from that event recently had his own reason to celebrate: He turned 99 years old.
Robert “ Bud” Sabetay, of Akron, Ohio, was directly involved in landing on the beaches of Normandy as part of the 90th Division. My first introduction to Bud Sabetay was a result of attending the spring 2019 MAPS Show near the Akron-Canton Airport. Attending with my wife, Judith, I anxiously explored the many tables of military collectibles at this large Ohio military show. With me being immersed in all the military items, Judith wandered off for her own exploration. Later I noticed her talking to handsome veteran at a neighboring table, with his WWII Ike jacket and service medals. He was promoting a published book detailing his exploits during WWII. Judith learned that Bud Sabetay was 94 years old on this first meeting and was wondering what the secret was to his youthful complexion. Bud told my wife that he did 100 pushups to start each day. After being introduced, I, too, was impressed by the publication of his book titled Memoirs of an American Jewish Soldier.
The 163-page memoir takes the reader from the heartland of America to the frontline of the Third Reich. After surviving the initial landing, Sabetay and the 90th Division moved fast into Germany. Months later he and his unit reached the outskirts of Mainz and started to search homes. In one house he found a 120 camera. Later, he was walking along a main thoroughfare through the center of town when he came to an empty major intersection piled high with dirt and debris. There in the middle of everything was a yellow roll of film. Fortunately, the film fit the camera he had found, allowing him to take some personal photos from the period.
After our initial meeting in 2019, each year we would visit the MAPS spring and fall shows and renew our friendship with Sabetay. I wrote an article Military Trader in June 2023 titled “When the 90th Hit Normandy”. The story was based on a typed diary of a 90th Division company clerk and a childhood neighbor, Robert Goron. It seemed ironic that after meeting Sabetay I would again be writing about another member of the 90th Division well known in the Akron-Canton area.
Sabetay’s dream was to go into the Army Air Corps, but he was torn between enlisting in the U.S. Armed Forces and being drafted. The decision was made for him when he was drafted into the Army after graduating from Buchtel High School in 1943. By early June of 1944, Sabetay and his unit were on the way across the North Atlantic on the H.M.S. Tamara, a British ship. They arrived in Liverpool, and after a short stay the unit moved to the Eastern seaboard of England, where the unit and equipment were loaded on a landing ship tank (LST). Sabetay said he never forget the sound of the bow door closing as they headed into the English Channel.
Sabetay’s book details the time period from landing to his exploits and 83 days of service during “The Battle of the Bulge”. Except for a piece of shrapnel in his left forefinger, he survived unscathed and was discharged on Dec. 2, 1945. For years he says he didn’t talk about his combat days, but as he got older he opened about his experiences and decided to write his book at the age of 88.
Sabetay was a valued and appreciated veteran of the World War II, Korean, Vietnam Wars Roundtable in the Akron area. In 2021 he was awarded the French Legion of Honor by the French government for his service during WWII. The major stipulation was he was not permitted to wear the honor on his uniform until it was awarded by a high-ranking French officer. Thanks in part to is local American Legion post, Sabetay was given an opportunity to attend a special WWII commemoration site in France, where he would in fact be officially awarded the medal.
The trip was provided the Best Defense Foundation, which annually sends veterans to the D-Day Service at Normandy at no cost to them. So at the age of 97, Sabetay found himself again at Normandy in 2022, where a French officer officially pinned the Legion of Honor on his uniform.
An Instagram message in early 2024 asked that many of his friends and local veterans send best wishes on the occasion of his 99th birthday.
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David Burrows is a retired educator and life long military collector. He started collecting as a teenager. David was a physics teacher for 37 years with the Pittsburgh Public schools. He is a frequent contributor to Military Trader as well as the OMSA Journal. His other passion with British cars has resulted in many feature stories both in US publications as well as international publications over the last 30 years.
