Sidney was born in 1921 in Hackney to Charles Fritz and Russian born Bessie née Stavisky. Charles served in the Royal Army Medical Corps in WW1 and was listed as a millinery manufacturer. The family surname was changed from Fritz to Ford.

Sidney was the youngest of four children, Sadie, John and Leonard and their mother Bessie died when she was only twenty eight in 1922. Sidney was engaged to Valerie Gee and after his death she married his older brother John.

Sidney was the wireless operator/air gunner in Lancaster ED522 which departed from RAF Wickenby on a night operation to Dusseldorf. The aircraft crashed in Dusseldorf killing all the crew.

Pilot Sgt Robert Highet
Nav, Sgt William Andrew Gillanders
Sgt Sidney Lazarus Ford
A/B Sgt Kenneth John Tagg
F/E Sgt John Edgar Constable
A/G Sgt Leslie Robert Evans
Sgt Alan William Lee