Earl Simmons

Earl Simmons was born in Savannah, Georgia, on 3 September 1913. He was the oldest son of William “Maddie” Simmons and Lucinda “Lou” Smith, and spent his first years in Alifia, Florida, living near the phosphate mines that employed his father.

After Maddie and Lou divorced in the 1920s, father and children moved to South Carolina to live on a farm in Bluffton. Maddie re-married to a younger woman, Rachel Miller, and brought her young children into the family. Earl grew into a smart young man; he “made a brilliant record in high school” and graduated with honors.

However, all was not peaceful on the farm. Maddie ran afoul of Prohibition laws and spent some time in jail. While he was away, Earl and Rachel were in charge of the farm. The two had a violent disagreement, and on 5 June 1933, 19-year-old Earl killed his 28-year-old stepmother with a shotgun blast to the head.

Although Earl was initially defiant – “I killed her and I don’t regret it,” he said, “she caused it” – he later recanted, saying it was “a family affair” and that he recalled nothing about the murder. He was acquitted by a jury in late June, but his home life was irreparably shattered. A few months later, he left Beaufort for good and joined the Marine Corps.

Earl enlisted in the Marine Corps on 6 October 1933. He would spend the next seven years in uniform, mostly at the modest rank of private. Simmons served in Shanghai with the 4th Marines and at several posts in the United States: his farming background shows in duty assignments as “post gardener” and “carpenter” at the Charleston Navy Yard.

In November 1939, Simmons was convicted of being drunk on duty, reduced to private, and transferred from Charleston to Key West. He regained his PFC stripe only to lose it for abusing a senior officer, again under the influence. Finally, on 6 November 1940, he left his guard post without authorization. This was the final infraction; the next month, Earl Simmons was kicked out of the Corps with a bad conduct discharge.

Now a civilian, Simmons went back to Savannah to search for work, and was living there in December 1941. A personal tragedy closed out the year; on 17 December, Maddie Simmons died in a building fire back in Bluffton.

Simmons applied for reenlistment shorlty after the attack on Pearl Harbor. His BCD was waived with surprising speed, and on 2 January 1942 he was once again in Marine Corps uniform. The very next day, he was assigned to Company C, First Battalion, 7th Marines; later that month, he was promoted to PFC.

Simmons fought with C/1/7 on Guadalcanal; for his performance in action, he was promoted to corporal and then to sergeant. He spent much of 1943 encamped in Australia, during which time he reportedly married one Miss Olga Meade.

In October, Simmons joined his battalion in shipping out for Papua New Guinea. They arrived at Cape Sudest on 9 October, staging for the upcoming invasion of New Britain.

Sergeant Simmons fell sick on 25 October 1943 and was taken to the 10th Evacuation Hospital. He was diagnosed with Tsutsugamushi fever (scrub typhus) caused by a chigger bite. Simmons died in his hospital cot at 2105 hours on 27 October 1943. The next morning, he was buried in Grave #78 of the armed forces cemetery in Soputa.

In May of 1945, Simmons’ remains were exhumed and reburied in Grave 3115, Finschhafen Cemetery #2. From here, they should have been returned to his surviving family for final burial. In 1948 Olga (then living in Lakeland, Florida) requested an overseas burial for her late husband.

However, for reasons unknown, this burial was never accomplished and Earl Simmons was declared non-recoverable. The reasons for this unusual turn of events are not currently known.

CENOTAPHS

Manila American Cemetery and Memorial