Home at last – Corvallis WWII POW finally laid to rest

 

By Michael Howell

A young Army Corporal by the name of George Simmons, from Corvallis, was taken prisoner by the Japanese following the battle of Corrigedor in 1942. He survived the brutal death march to Cabanatuan Prisoner of War Camp located on Luzon in the Philippines. But conditions were squalid and unsanitary at the camp. The daily death rate was high from malnutrition and disease.

Survivor and author Abie Abraham, in his book about the death march titled, “Oh God, Where Are You?” which describes the brutal ordeal, he mentions a conversation he had with young Corporal George Simmons as men moaned and died all around them. He says George told him that his small hometown of Hamilton “lay on the Bitter Sweet River in the great state of Montana” and quotes George saying, “It’s the most friendly town, with so many sweet, lovable people, that, if I ever get back home, I’ll never leave it.”

At the time Simmons was at the camp the Japanese were allowing the prisoners to dig one grave a day and bury everyone who died that day in one common grave. The prisoners kept meticulous records of the deaths and burials, giving each grave a number. So we know that Corporal Simmons died of amoebic dysentery on November 19, 1942 and was buried along with 13 other men in Grave #717.

More than a year passed before George’s father, Homer, in Corvallis, got word from the Army that his son had died. The bodies in Grave #717 were disinterred and four were identified by dental records. The 10 that could not be identified were re-interred in the U.S. Army Air Forces Manila #2 Cemetery.

Efforts to identify the 10 “unknown soldiers” from Grave #717 were suspended in 1960. But thanks to the persistence of survivors, like George’s first cousin Alfred Simmons and his wife Wilma (to name just a few), and thanks to the incredible developments in DNA analysis, the remains of Corporal Simmons and three others were finally identified.

Although George Simmons didn’t live to see his own homecoming, his remains finally did make it back to Corvallis and, after 74 years, he now lies buried next to his mother and father in the Corvallis Cemetery.

His 90-year-old first cousin Alfred accepted the flag that had draped the coffin. He also accepted, on George’s behalf, a long list of military honors including the Bronze Star and the Purple Heart delivered by General Jim Ireland. Alfred and Wilma also accepted a Quilt of Valor presented by David Ohnstad and made by his sister. Alfred also placed the last of 25 roses, one for each year of George Simmons’ short life, on top of the casket.

There is no question what this homecoming meant to the Simmons family, many of whom were in attendance, but the response from the community as a whole was also astounding. People lined the streets in towns all along the way from Missoula to Hamilton as the remains of Corporal George Simmons were escorted by a long motorcade into the valley last Thursday. A couple hundred people showed up for the funeral ceremony.

“I was impressed by the community’s response,” said Alfred Simmons after the ceremony. “It restores my faith in the people of this country.”