Edward Pikus

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CITATIONS

PROFILE

Edward Pikus, (February 17, 1922 – January 26, 1945) Captain, United States Army

Edward Pikus was the youngest of four sons of Ruben and Bessie Gross Pikus. His parents were immigrants from Russia who married in the United States in 1903. They gained their citizenship in 1908 in Philadelphia.

Ruben began working in Dover in 1909 joining his brother-in-law, Louis Gross, in the junk business. Edward was born February 17, 1911, in Philadelphia and the Pikus family moved to Dover later that year. The family lived downtown at 123 North Kirkwood Street.

Edward Pikus grew up in a very religious home. When he and his brothers were young, the family went back to Philadelphia for religious services, staying with relatives. Sometime in the mid 1910s, the Pikuses and a few other families in Dover joined together to purchase a Torah for the community. It was kept in the Pikus’s parlor. The family kept kosher and Ruben davened every morning and evening. All of the boys had Bar Mitzvahs.

Edward attended Dover public schools, regularly making the Honor Roll. In 1927, his senior year, Ed was a member of Dover High’s first interscholastic debating team. He was a right end on the high school football team and also played baseball. He was one of 28 graduates in the Dover High School Class of 1927.

Pikus attended the University of Delaware where he majored in Chemical Engineering. He was a member of the Jewish fraternity Sigma Tau Phi. In 1930, he joined the board of The Review on the business staff. At least half of the members of the board were Jewish.

While still in college, Ed joined the National Guard and was associated with the Newark Armory. He was probably influenced by his older brother Harry who was a UD grad and an officer in the National Guard. Pikus received his bachelor’s degree from the University in 1933. That year, he played second base and was the captain of the varsity baseball team. That summer, he captained the local baseball team, the Dover Chicks.

PIkus’ first job was with Sinclair Refining Company at Marcus Hook. He moved there in 1934, living at 650 Post Road opposite the refinery. In 1938, he married Leona Kogen in Philadelphia and they lived at 2059 North 2nd Street. A son, Stanton Mark, was born in 1940.

Pikus had continued in the National Guard and by 1941 was on full-time duty with the Headquarters Company, 111th Infantry, in Philadelphia. That year he was a 2nd Lieutenant and trained at Edgewood Arsenal in Maryand to become a gas officer. In 1943, he spent some time at Darrell’s Island, Bermuda, at an air station taken over by the Royal Air Force.

Pikus was a Captain in the Army when he was wounded in action near the German border in France on January 8, 1945. He died on January 26. His body was repatriated in 1948 and he was laid to rest at the Mount Sharon Cemetery in Springfield, Pennsylvania.[1]

In 1947, his name had been placed on a plaque of alumni war dead at the University of Delaware in front of Mitchell Hall.[2] Another plaque recognizing 27 Jews who died in the war was dedicated at Temple Beth Emeth that year. Ed Pikus was the only one on the plaque not from Wilmington. In September of 1949, the Dover Post of the Veterans of Foreign War dedicated a bronze plaque to the 44 Dover residents who died in the war. It is located prominently at the intersection of State and Loockerman Streets. Ed Pikus is the only Jew on the plaque, resulting in a Star of David at the top opposite a Christian cross.

Compiled by Charles Salkin, April 2021

Sources

Newspapers.com
Ancestry.com
FindAGrave.com
Notes from telephone interview with Lou Pikus, January 7, 1990, by Charles Salkin.
Photograph of WWII Memorial, Charles Salkin, Dover, April 12, 2021.