Victor A. Simi
Biography: Victor Alfred Simi Jr. was born on January 14, 1919, in San Francisco, California. He was the son of Victor A. Simi and Florence B. Caruso. His enlistment record indicates he completed two years of high school and was employed in the semiskilled mechanics and repairmen of motor vehicles field. In the summer of 1941, he married the former Larue L. Cook who was born in San Francisco also. She was the daughter of Charles Cook and Florence Angelini. They had two children, Sharon A., born in 1942 and Kenneth R. in 1944.
Service Time: Victor entered the Army on November 6, 1941, in San Francisco. We don’t have any information about his earliest time in the Army, which was likely to have been his basic training, but on January 15, 1942, he was assigned to, and joined, Company B of the 607th Tank Destroyer Battalion. The unit was located at Sunnyvale, California on that date. He was promoted to Private First Class on May 14 of that same year. He trained at several locations including Camp San Luis Obispo, Hunter Liggett Military Reservation and the Desert Training Center, all in California, along with Camp Hood, Texas and Camp Cooke, CA. By October 20th, Victor was a Technician Grade 5 and he was promoted to Corporal on March 5, 1943. While they originally trained with M10 self-propelled tank destroyers, the unit was converted to a towed battalion, utilizing the M5 3” anti-tank gun, on December 15, 1943.
Arriving at Liverpool, England, on April 21, 1944, they continued training. Company B landed at Utah Beach, Normandy, France on June 23rd and the 607th supported the advance on Cherbourg, fighting along the Seves River in July. They joined the drive to Le Mans and envelopment of the Falaise Pocket in August, advancing to the Moselle River in September and supporting operations against Metz through late November. The unit converted to a self-propelled battalion equipped with M36 tank destroyers in time for the final assault on Metz. Continuing the drive eastward toward the Saar River, they participated in the attack on Saarlautern, Germany. The photo to the left shows Victor and Larue.
On December 5th, the 3rd Platoon of Company B was supporting the 1st Battalion, 379th Infantry Regiment, 95th Infantry Division in their assault on Fraulautern, just NNE of Saarlautern, firing into houses, pillboxes and firing machine guns into light strong points. At 1130 in the morning, Co. B reported one tank destroyer had been knocked out and burned. It is believed that Corporal Simi was killed in this action.
Victor was originally buried in the military cemetery at Limey-Toul, France. In 1949, he was disinterred and reburied in the Golden Gate National Cemetery, San Bruno, CA. We would like to thank Corporal Simi for making the ultimate sacrifice for his country.
Thank you also to his granddaughter, Karla, along with her father and aunt, for providing information used in this tribute. Thank you also to FindaGrave contributor Kevin Quattrin for use of the grave marker photo.