How Civilians Uncovered A Missing WWII Soldier After 65 Years
In June 1994, an American tourist was visiting the Normandy region in France. Knocking on all doors in the town of Sanj Mandel, he asked the local civilians a rather surprising question. Have you seen or heard anything about my uncle, Sergeant John Simonetti? Uncle John was presumably killed here in the summer of 1944, but his body was never accounted for.
With the answer being no in each conversation, the American tourist handed out his business card in case anyone would ever come across Sergeant Simonetti. He and his brother had promised his family to never stop looking. The man’s trip to Normandy was unfruitful, and so he returned home. What he did not realize that he walked within a,000 ft of his uncle, and that his trip would eventually bear fruit.
No one for The name on the dog tag read
John Simonetti. But was this indeed his body? And why did the US Army investigations conclude in 1954 that after 10 years of searching, further investigation in the town would be fruitless? Let’s see if we can reconstruct what happened to Sergeant Simonetti. John served in the US Second Infantry Division and landed in Normandy shortly after D-Day.
He received the Bronze Star Medal posthumisly for exceptionally meritorious achievements in performance of outstanding service against the enemy in Normandy from June 7 to June 14, 1944. On June 16, 1944, his unit was tasked with taking Sanger Mandel. John was in the first platoon of G Company of the 9th Infantry Regiment. After arriving at the crossroad northeast of town, they were supposed to move 300 yards further south and take an unconfirmed road in western direction to the center of the village.
On the right side was a third platoon heading in western direction directly at the crossroads. And further in the back was second platoon moving in western direction above the crossroads. During the course of the day, the first platoon using tanks to cross the feuds and hedros advanced within a few yards of the church, but was unable to cross the road running north from and through the town because the enemy was located on the high ground across the river and fired down on G Company over the open ground from the west, south, and
southeast. The furthest advance was the houses on the road running west to the church. The second and third platoon got as far as the road junction north of town all day. Sergeant Simonetti’s platoon fought for the town. The mayor wanted to show us some of the bullet impacts still visible at the former church location and cemetery of the town.
Wow. >> In 1947, John’s platoon leader stated that he witnessed how Jon died of a neck wound inflicted by enemy small arms fire. His unit was forced to retreat and was unable to evacuate his body. The enemy was observed near Sergeant Simeonetti’s remains, but they were not encountered during patrolling in the days immediately following his death.
His former company commander stated in 1954 that he had seen Sergeant Simonetti’s body being evacuated by medical personnel to the aid station and that the grace registration had declared him KIA. However, investigations by the army revealed that no such records existed. In addition, 117 bodies of soldiers had been found in the general vicinity, but none of them came directly from St.
Jerel. The investigation determined that based solely on the possibility that his remains are among the unknowns, further action would not be justified. In short, they would only examine further if they had a body coming directly from St. Ger Mandel. This was now possible with the body found in town. And the fastest road to identifying the body was through a DNA test with a living relative.
And as you may know, word spreads fast in the village. Staff sergeant division. for contact, New York. That’s crazy.
After 65 years, the US Army was finally able to positively identify John Simonetti’s body. The young sergeant would finally be able to go home. A monument was erected at the site where he was found. Forever This is symbolic.
Miracle. The battle for St. Ger Mandel started on June 16, 1944. Because of fierce German resistance, it wouldn’t be liberated until July 27. There seems to be some confusion as to where Jon exactly was killed. John’s platoon leader stated in 1947 that John was killed 190 yards west of the church.
However, the coordinates he provided refer to the location where the body was found in 2009. The company commander stated in 1954 that John was killed north of a small creek about a little less than a mile northwest of the village. As a result, the town of San Mandel placed another monument dedicated to John west of the town on the other side of the L River.
Our map animation relied on the detailed account given in the afteraction report by the same platoon sergeant within a month of the actual event. We think that the afteraction report therefore is a more reliable source and actually made it very clear that John’s unit never reached the other side of the L river.