Cdr Ted Simmons, DSO, DSC

[Babbling Brooks]

I searched Simmons' name and couldn't find anything, so you have my apologies if this has been posted about previously...

Cdr Simmons won the DSO and DSC for his actions in sinking two different submarines in WWII.  He's a genuine Canadian naval war hero.  Unfortunately, his medals are going up for auction on Nov 18th in England (a half-sister is putting them up), and his kids are trying to raise money to buy them and donate them to the CFB Esquimalt Naval & Military Museum:

In September of 1941, HMC Ships Moose Jaw and Chambly sank a German U-boat that was attacking a convoy off the coast of Greenland. Lt. Ted Simmons led a boarding party over to the stricken sub and attempted to seize cipher equipment and code books before the boat sank. He was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross for that action. A year later, while in command of HMCS Port Arthur, Simmons sank the Italian submarine Tritone, for which he was awarded the Distinguished Service Order. In 1989, Simmons died and was buried at sea from HMCS Huron - a true Canadian naval hero, typically unsung and practically unknown outside the small Canadian military family circle.

Next week, Cdr Ted Simmons' medals will be auctioned off in the UK leaving the procurement of a significant piece of Canada's military history - and its protection for posterity here at home - entirely a matter of chance. Apart from minor coverage in local, Victoria media, there is an almost total lack of awareness about this situation in the rest of the Canadian media. To that end, I am asking for your help.

You can read more about the effort here.  You can donate here.

With the auction coming up so quickly, there's not much time to get this done - we need to spread the word and chip in quickly.

 

[ENGINEERS WIFE]

Son loses bid to repatriate father's naval medals
Updated Thu. Nov. 27 2008 2:48 PM ET

Stefania Moretti, CTV.ca News

The son of a man whose wartime exploits on the high seas inspired a major motion picture is "disappointed" after failing to repatriate his father's naval medals.

John Simmons was hoping to purchase Lt.-Cmdr. Edward Theodore "Ted" Simmons' collection of precious naval medals, photos and dispatch records from an auction house in the U.K. He planned to donate the memorabilia back to the CFB Esquimalt Naval and Military Museum in B.C., near where his father's naval career began.

But the Wallis and Wallis auction house in Sussex, England, sold the items to an English military collector for more than $15,000 on Wednesday.

"I'm disappointed not to have won my father's medals," Simmons told CTV.ca in a telephone interview from Grand Valley, Ont. on Wednesday.

His father was the first Canadian to win a double honour for sinking enemy submarines during the Second World War.

In 1942, Simmons received the Distinguished Service Cross (DSC) for his "bravery and enterprise" in the sinking of a German U-501 sub.

A short time later, he received a Distinguished Service Order (DSO) for his "courage and resourcefulness" in leading HMCS Port Arthur in a successful offensive against a lurking Italian submarine, the Tritone, off the coast of Algeria.

Simmons' dramatic exploits were so widely known at the time, they became the subject of the 1943 film "Corvette K-225," directed by Howard Hawks and starring Randolph Scott.

Simmons' son established a website earlier this month in hopes of eliciting enough donations to buy the memorabilia, which was valued by Wallis and Wallis at more than $40,000.

Simmons' half-sister in England gained ownership over the collection when their father died in 1988. She recently put the items up for sale through the auction house.

By the time auction day finally rolled around on Nov. 18, Simmons raised roughly $14,000 through the "kindness of Canadians."

Although Wallis and Wallis received no other bids for the items, Simmons wasn't able to make an offer via telephone because the auction house set the basement price at $27,500, then quickly raised it to more than $30,000.

"That was way out of my league," Simmons said, adding that he gave up.

But later that same night, Simmons' phone rang again. It was the auction house calling to inform him the seller was willing to negotiate a deal for the medals. Once Simmons and the other party settled on a price, he would have a week to send over the money.

Simmons estimated he could have come up with as much as $22,000 in just a few short days.

"I could've raised it," he said, adding he had a couple of "heavy hitters" from the West Coast who had pledged $1,000 each.

A string of emails and several phone conversations later, the auction house unexpectedly told Simmons they received another offer from a local collector. The medals could still be his if he paid more than $17,000 and transferred the money "immediately," they said.

"It would have been doable in a week," Simmons said. "But not in one day."

Simmons said he "tried his best" and believes the medals could have been on the first ship back to Canada if there had been "goodwill from all sides."

"The people involved could've made it happen but it came down to the bottom line."

CTV.ca contacted Wallis and Wallis auction house on Thursday, but representatives from the auction house declined comment.

"It's over as far as I'm concerned," Simmons said. But he promised to donate all the funds raised back to the museum just the same to use in any way they see fit.

On the upside, Simmons said, the website is around for good. He plans to turn the Internet domain named after his father into a Canadian Naval history page. He already has plans to meet with another Second World War DSO recipient and eventually feature his story on the website alongside his father's.

"I've made friends through this process," Simmons said.


http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20081127/Simmons_medals_081127/20081127?hub=TopStories


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------