Walter Simoni was born in Pennsylvania on March 18, 1916 (possibly at Johnstown, Cambria County, Pennsylvania). He was the oldest of at least eight children, and the only son of Simonite 'Sam' Simoni (28 May 1894 – Nov 1978) and Marinetta 'Mary' Simoni (10 Jun 1893 – Jan 1982). Apparently his father's birth name was Simone Di Simoni, and his mother's birth name was Marinetta Simoni (no direct relationship). His father was born at Patrica, Provincia di Frosinone, Lazio, Italy, and immigrated to America about 1910. His mother was born in Italy and immigrated to America about 1912. By early 1915 his parents, then single, lived at Seward, Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, and his father was a coal miner. His parents married at Johnstown, Cambria County, Pennsylvania on May 29, 1915. By 1917 his parents lived in the small coal mining town of Herminie No. 2 in Hempfield Township, Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, where his father was a laborer for the Ocean Coal Company at Herminie Mine No. 2. In 1920 the family lived at 233 Herminie Strawpump Road in Herminie No. 2; they lived there until at least April 1935. By 1940 the family lived at Wireton, Crescent Township, Allegheny County, Pennsylvania—on the Ohio River northwest of Pittsburgh—and his father was a boiler fireman in a pipe mill.
Walter Simoni completed four years of high school and worked as a skilled meat cutter in a retail grocery store. He was single, without dependents, when he enlisted in the U.S. Army Air Corps at Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania on November 28, 1941. He was 5 feet 8 inches tall, weighed 156 pounds, had brown eyes and black hair, and wore size 8D shoes. He completed Army Air Forces flight engineer and aerial gunnery training. He did part of his training at Sheppard Field near Wichita Falls, Texas. By December 1943 he was assigned as flight engineer on the heavy bomber crew of Lt Edward J. Brodsky in the 838th Bomb Squadron of the 487th Bomb Group. The Brodsky crew completed B-24 crew training with the 487th Bomb Group at Alamogordo Army Air Base, New Mexico, and deployed with the Group to England in March–April 1944. The crew flew B-24H 42-52581 via the southern Atlantic ferry route—a journey of about 10,000 miles—and arrived in England by mid-April 1944. The 487th Bomb Group was based at Army Air Forces Station 137 near the village of Lavenham, Suffolk, England, and was part of the 8th U.S. Army Air Force in Europe.
On May 11, 1944 T/Sgt Simoni flew as waist gunner on then Captain Edward J. Brodsky's lead crew in B-24H 42-52763, in the deputy lead position of the 838th Bomb Squadron. The target for this mission was the railroad marshalling yards at Chaumont, France. However, a navigation error resulted in the Squadron flying over accurate German flak guns at Chateaudun, France. Brodsky's plane was hit by flak in the number 3 engine, which caught fire. The aircraft peeled off to the right. After losing number 4 engine it dove down, and Capt Brodsky successfully crash landed the aircraft on farmland belonging to a Mr. Hubert Bourjois near the village of Gaubert, commune of Guillonville, France, about fifteen miles east of Chateaudun. One crew member, Lt Lee G. Johnson, bailed out safely before the landing. Capt Brodsky and his copilot, Capt John W. Roberts, escaped from the aircraft on the ground, but were unable to suppress a wing fire. Six crew members, including T/Sgt Simoni, were trapped in the aircraft and died when the fire spread and the fuel tanks exploded, engulfing the aircraft in flames.
On May 16, 1944, five of the dead, including T/Sgt Simoni, were buried as unknowns at the Saint Cheron Communal Cemetery in Chartres, Eure et Loir, France, and were not identified until after the war. The remains of S/Sgt Lipskas were never found. S/Sgt Tollett was thrown from the plane during the landing, and suffered a severe head injury; he died at a German Air Force Hospital in Orleans, France on May 12, 1944, and was buried at the Memorial Cemetery in Orleans, France. After the war, a search failed to identify his remains. Lipskas and Tollett are still listed as missing in action.
The remains of T/Sgt Simoni were returned to the United States in 1949 aboard the ship USAT Haiti Victory. The ship embarked at Cherbourg, France on April 26, 1949, and arrived at the Port of New York on May 4, 1949. The remains were then transported by train from Jersey City, New Jersey to Aliquippa, Pennsylvania, accompanied by military escort T/Sgt Edward J. Rapp, U.S. Air Force. A funeral service was held on June 6, 1949, with military honors provided by VFW Post 3577 of Aliquippa, Pennsylvania. T/Sgt Simoni's remains were then transported to Arlington National Cemetery, Arlington, Virginia, where they were interred on June 7, 1949.
B-24H 42-52763 crew:
• Brodsky, Edward J – Capt – Pilot – POW
• Roberts, John W – Capt – Copilot – POW
• Weiss, Lester – 1/Lt – Navigator – KIA
• Johnson, Lee G – 2/Lt – Navigator – POW
• Pearce, Thomas W – 1/Lt – Bombardier – KIA
• Simoni, Walter – T/Sgt – Engineer – KIA
• Nance, Clifford P – T/Sgt – Radio Operator – KIA
• Tollett, Elton – S/Sgt – Ball Turret Gunner – MIA
• Lipskas, Bronis D – S/Sgt – Tail Gunner – MIA
• Murphy, William J – S/Sgt – Top Turret Gunner – KIA
Source of information: Paul M. Webber, www.findagrave.com