CPL Jack Robinson Simms was the 8th of 11 children of Conner Foster and Minnie Alice (Kitts) Simms. The family lived in Fort Chiswell, Virginia, and Jack's father worked in a mine. Conner died at the age of 43 in November 1922 from stomach cancer. His mother, Minnie, had a stroke in March 1929 and died at the age of 44. Jack and his siblings were sent to live with various parents. Jack lived with Uncle Emory and Aunt Betty Waddle, undoubtedly helping his uncle on the farm. At the age of 20, he had moved to Roanoke, Virginia, and it was there that he met Francis Geraldine Woods. The couple married in Fincastle, Virginia, on January 26, 1937. They lived at 1404 Renwood Boulevard in Roanoke, Virginia, where Jack worked in a furniture factory and increased his income by joining the National Guard,
CPL Simms was federated with Company D and the rest of the 116th Infantry on February 3, 1941. The unit was sent to Fort Meade, Maryland. The unit would train there and near Fort Bragg, North Carolina, at the Carolina maneuvers before going to Camp Blanding, Florida, and then England in September 1942. Training continued in England with much of the effort devoted to the preparation of the planned amphibious landing part of the liberation effort of occupied France. It was in this effort that CPL Simms was killed in action on June 6, 1944 and was repatriated in 1949.
His younger brother, William Grant Simms, was also a member of the 116th D Company in the National Guard from 1939 and when he was federalized on February 3, 1941, but was reassigned and not a member of the unit during his time in combat in Europe. It would end the war as 1LT. His son Jack Ronald Simms served as a sailor in the U.S. Navy. Maternal grandfather Andrew Jackson Kitts served as a PVT in the 8th F Company of the Virginia Cavalry and in the 45th Virginia Infantry during the Civil War.
CPL Simms was federated with Company D and the rest of the 116th Infantry on February 3, 1941. The unit was sent to Fort Meade, Maryland. The unit would train there and near Fort Bragg, North Carolina, at the Carolina maneuvers before going to Camp Blanding, Florida, and then England in September 1942. Training continued in England with much of the effort devoted to the preparation of the planned amphibious landing part of the liberation effort of occupied France. It was in this effort that CPL Simms was killed in action on June 6, 1944 and was repatriated in 1949.
His younger brother, William Grant Simms, was also a member of the 116th D Company in the National Guard from 1939 and when he was federalized on February 3, 1941, but was reassigned and not a member of the unit during his time in combat in Europe. It would end the war as 1LT. His son Jack Ronald Simms served as a sailor in the U.S. Navy. Maternal grandfather Andrew Jackson Kitts served as a PVT in the 8th F Company of the Virginia Cavalry and in the 45th Virginia Infantry during the Civil War.
CPL Jack Robinson Simms was the 8th of 11 children of Conner Foster and Minnie Alice (Kitts) Simms. The family lived in Fort Chiswell, Virginia, and Jack's father worked in a mine. Conner died at the age of 43 in November 1922 from stomach cancer. His mother, Minnie, had a stroke in March 1929 and died at the age of 44. Jack and his siblings were sent to live with various parents. Jack lived with Uncle Emory and Aunt Betty Waddle, undoubtedly helping his uncle on the farm. At the age of 20, he had moved to Roanoke, Virginia, and it was there that he met Francis Geraldine Woods. The couple married in Fincastle, Virginia, on January 26, 1937. They lived at 1404 Renwood Boulevard in Roanoke, Virginia, where Jack worked in a furniture factory and increased his income by joining the National Guard,
CPL Simms was federated with Company D and the rest of the 116th Infantry on February 3, 1941. The unit was sent to Fort Meade, Maryland. The unit would train there and near Fort Bragg, North Carolina, at the Carolina maneuvers before going to Camp Blanding, Florida, and then England in September 1942. Training continued in England with much of the effort devoted to the preparation of the planned amphibious landing part of the liberation effort of occupied France. It was in this effort that CPL Simms was killed in action on June 6, 1944 and was repatriated in 1949.
His younger brother, William Grant Simms, was also a member of the 116th D Company in the National Guard from 1939 and when he was federalized on February 3, 1941, but was reassigned and not a member of the unit during his time in combat in Europe. It would end the war as 1LT. His son Jack Ronald Simms served as a sailor in the U.S. Navy. Maternal grandfather Andrew Jackson Kitts served as a PVT in the 8th F Company of the Virginia Cavalry and in the 45th Virginia Infantry during the Civil War.
CPL Simms was federated with Company D and the rest of the 116th Infantry on February 3, 1941. The unit was sent to Fort Meade, Maryland. The unit would train there and near Fort Bragg, North Carolina, at the Carolina maneuvers before going to Camp Blanding, Florida, and then England in September 1942. Training continued in England with much of the effort devoted to the preparation of the planned amphibious landing part of the liberation effort of occupied France. It was in this effort that CPL Simms was killed in action on June 6, 1944 and was repatriated in 1949.
His younger brother, William Grant Simms, was also a member of the 116th D Company in the National Guard from 1939 and when he was federalized on February 3, 1941, but was reassigned and not a member of the unit during his time in combat in Europe. It would end the war as 1LT. His son Jack Ronald Simms served as a sailor in the U.S. Navy. Maternal grandfather Andrew Jackson Kitts served as a PVT in the 8th F Company of the Virginia Cavalry and in the 45th Virginia Infantry during the Civil War.
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CPL, 116 INF, 29 INF DIV WORLD WAR II
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