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To the core, he was of the Corps
Thursday, May 10, 2007
A noted Marine died the other day. Brig. Gen. Edwin H. Simmons, 85, died May 5 at home in Alexandria, Va.
Some people considered Simmons the memory of the Marine Corps. He wrote "The United States Marines: A History" in 1974 and it has been reprinted and updated several times. He wrote several books, including a novel in 2001 called "Dog Company Six." He was the director emeritus of Marine Corps History and Museums. He served in the Corps for 53 years 36 in uniform, 17 as a civilian. He served on Guam during World War II. He was part of the Inchon landing and the Chosin Reservoir campaign in Korea. He did two tours of duty in Vietnam.
He was a Marine's Marine.
But he wasn't always a general or a Marine.
Back when he was little Eddie Simmons in Paulsboro, in fact, his mom wanted to make sure he had the right kind of friends, the kind that might make him tougher.
"His mom, Nettie, came to me and said, I don't want him to grow up being a sissy,'" recalled Bob Cassel, who lived across the street from Eddie Simmons on Billings Avenue.
"Back in the '20s and '30s, it was all fields in Billingsport down around 4th," he said.
Bob is 92, which means he was seven years older than Eddie Simmons. Was he that rough-and-tumble a guy, that Nettie Simmons would choose him to help toughen up her son?
"We played ball on the dirt street," he said. Not only were the streets unpaved, but the boys used silver maple trees to mark the bases.
"I was the only one who would play catcher. We didn't have masks, so I'd get hit in the face," said Bob, who now lives in Mantua Township.
"I took him under my wing. We introduced him to everything in the neighborhood."
Bob started to recall some of the things they did as kids, but soon realized he was reciting a list of activities that would be considered dangerous by today's standards.
"Oh, I wouldn't want kids to do that," said Bob.
Bob's sister asked Eddie once what he was going to be when he grew up. Eddie answered, "I'm going to be a policeman."
"Oh, no," said Bob's sister. "I don't want to marry a policeman."
Bob's dad moved out of a duplex in Paulsboro to a whole house in Woodbury for the same rent of $28 a month when Bob was about 14. The boys went their separate ways.
Years later, Bob discovered Simmons was living about a mile from his daughter in Virginia.
"We'd visit (my daughter) and he'd say, Come over,'" said Bob. Wasn't the important general too busy to visit?
No. He even insisted they come visit him the night before Thanksgiving.
"He wanted to talk old times," he said.
Bob said he feels some small sense of pride when he considers what kind of man old Eddie Simmons became.
"He helped MacArthur on the Inchon landings. He started the Marine Museum," said Bob. "He looked up to me because I was an older kid."