Vernon R. Simmons, Tech. Sgt. (1944)
FRIEND, FULTON, KINNEY, MOORHEAD, SIMMONS
Posted By: Treva Patterson
Date: 6/11/2007 at 16:45:42
The Winterset Madisonian
Winterset, Iowa
Wednesday, June 21, 1944
Page 1, Column 1FATALLY INJURED IN PLANE ACCIDENT
Flyer Died June 8, Just Two Days After Invasion Opened
What is thought to be the first Madison county death casualty of the invasion of France was reported here last Thursday when Mr. and Mrs. Clark A. Simmons of near Winterset received a telegram bringing word that their son, Tech. Sgt. Vernon R. Simmons of the army air force had died in a hospital in England on June 8.
Simmons' death occurred just two days after the invasion opened. He was serving as a radio technician-gunner aboard a Marauder medium bomber. These planes were used heavily in supporting invasion troops on the ground and it is thought quite probable that his fatal injuries occurred during an invasion flight.
However, no positive details are available. The telegram, which came from the adjutant-general's office in Washington, D. C. merely stated that he had died in a hospital in England on June 8 and that a letter would follow.
The letter came this Tuesday and stated that the flyer had died in Friston,England as the result of injuries sustained in an airplane accident.
Sergeant Simmons was a native of this community and spent most of his life here. Born here Sept. 23, 1920, he was 23 years old at the time of his death. He attended the Winterset high school, graduating with the class of 1938. Three years later he left here, going to Waterloo, where he entered the employ of the Rath Packing company.
He entered military service from Waterloo serving his radio training at the army air base at Sioux Falls, S. Dak., and his gunnery at the Tyndal Field Flexible Gunnery school in Florida. He received his wings at McDill Field, Tampa, Fla.
He went overseas, arriving in England on Oct. 16, 1943 and had been on active duty with the 9th Army Air Force since then. At the last report received, he had completed 49 combat missions over enemy territory by May 31. He had been decorated with the air medal and oak leaf cluster.
Sergeant Simmons was married at Lakeland, Fla., on July 10, 1943, to Miss Elizabeth Kinney of Waterloo. Last Wednesday, just a day before word was received of his death, a son was born to them at Waterloo, where his wife is making her home with her grandmother.
In addition to his wife and baby son in Waterloo and his parents in Winterset, he is survived by a brother, Charles Simmons of Portland, Ore., and three sisters, Mrs. Helen Fulton of Liberty Center, Mrs. June Friend of Park Ridge, Ill., and Mrs. Rose Moorhead of Winterset.
A requiem mass was offered this Monday morning from St. Joseph's Catholic church in his honor, with the pastor, the Rev. J. J. Judge reading the mass.
Gravesite
Madison Obituaries maintained by Linda Griffith Smith.
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