Fill out this form to email this article to a friend
Silas Simmons
By CURTIS KRUEGER
Published December 7, 2005
 |
 |
|
[Times photo: John Pendygraft]
|
|
|
|
|
SILAS SIMMONS, 110, is retired from a department store career, and lives in St. Petersburg. At the time of Pearl Harbor, he was a 46-year-old "gang boss" at an arsenal in New Jersey. He directed his gang of eight workers as they loaded and unloaded ammunition that came in by train and left by ship.
I was at work when I heard about Pearl Harbor ... we heard it on loudspeakers.
I can't tell you how I felt. All these men were on there who lost their lives. ... Some of them were never brought up.
It was a sad day, sad day for a lot of people. They said "We're at war now. We can't believe it."
(I felt) angry, but what could you do? Sad day, what could you do?
Our work in the arsenal) was the most important job at that time. You're doing something for your country. Protecting the boys who went over there to risk their lives for us. So we had to do something.
It's something to think about for the rest of my life, which I hope will never happen again.
[Last modified December 6, 2005, 12:14:16]
Share your thoughts on this story
[an error occurred while processing this directive]
|
News
Fifty years ago, they were screwed-up kids sent to the Florida School for Boys to be straightened out. But now they are screwed-up men, scarred by the whippings they endured. Read the story and see a video and portrait gallery.
Print
Email story
Comment
Email editor
