Obit watch: August 4, 2022.

Private First Class Robert E. Simanek (USMC – ret.). Alt link.

Private Simanek received the Medal of Honor for actions during the Korean War. From his Medal of Honor citation:

For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty while serving with Company F, in action against enemy aggressor forces. While accompanying a patrol en route to occupy a combat outpost forward of friendly lines, Private First Class Simanek exhibited a high degree of courage and a resolute spirit of self-sacrifice in protecting the lives of his fellow marines. With his unit ambushed by an intense concentration of enemy mortar and small-arms fire, and suffering heavy casualties, he was forced to seek cover with the remaining members of the patrol in a nearby trench line. Determined to save his comrades when a hostile grenade was hurled into their midst, he unhesitatingly threw himself on the deadly missile absorbing the shattering violence of the exploding charge in his body and shielding his fellow marines from serious injury or death. Gravely wounded as a result of his heroic action, Private First Class Simanek, by his daring initiative and great personal valor in the face of almost certain death, served to inspire all who observed him and upheld the highest traditions of the U.S. Naval Service.

I kind of liked this quote:

“I had been to the outpost before and thought of it as a somewhat vacation because no action had ever been there all the time I’d been on that particular part of the line,” Mr. Simanek recalled in an interview with the government website Department of Defense News in 2020. “So I took an old Reader’s Digest and a can of precious beer in my big back pocket and thought I was really going to have a relaxing situation. It didn’t turn out that way.”

He was 92. His death (according to the NYT) leaves two surviving MoH recipients from the Korean War: Hiroshi Miyamura, who is 96, and Ralph Puckett Jr., who is 95.

Rep. Jackie Walorski (R-Indiana) was killed in a car accident yesterday. Two of her aides, district director Zachery Potts and communications director Emma Thomson, were also killed.

Lawrence sent over an obit for British actor John Steiner, who died in a car accident on Sunday. Credits include “Caligula”, “Deported Women of the SS Special Section”, and “The .44 Specialist”.

Richard Tait, co-inventor of “Cranium”. He was 58, and died of COVID complications.

Dallas Edeburn, deputy with the Ramsey County Sheriff’s Office in Minnesota. He was found dead in his car after his shift. In March of 2021, he was in a serious accident when his patrol car was hit by a stolen car fleeing from the police. Other officers pulled him from his burning car, and he sustained pretty serious injuries. It isn’t clear if his death is related to the previous incident.

Johnny Famechon, former featherweight champion of the world.

The Australian boxer’s most memorable world title victory was his decision win against Cuban Jose Legra for the WBC title at London’s Albert Hall in 1969. Famechon boxed professionally for more than 20 years and had a record of 56 wins (20 by knockout), five losses and six draws.

4 Responses to “Obit watch: August 4, 2022.”

  1. pigpen51 says:

    When I see obits of Medal of Honor awardees, especially those of the Korean war, it always sets me back a bit. I knew of 2 men who served in Korea. One was an MP, who was placed on a machine gun, for a time, when the Chinese first came down, and saw extensive action, then was allowed to go back to his original job, as he told me, “kicking GI’s out of brothels and bars.”
    And my uncle, who was a lifer in the Army, who was in both Korea and Vietnam. A communications specialist, he saw action in Korea at the same time as my friend, when the Chinese invaded, trying to drive the US out of the area. I remember my uncle telling about fighting the Chinese, with his M1 carbine, shooting one guy, and seeing the quilted vest he was wearing puff up with dust where he was hitting him, and the guy kept on coming. He was getting a bit worried, he said, before the guy finally fell over. I recall him saying that it was around 100 yards when he first started to shoot the Chinese soldier.
    He also went to Vietnam, and while he did not have any firefights, he told us that the average life expectancy was around 5-7 minutes where he was at, as a communications guy. He would string communications wire from CP’s up to forward posts.
    He died from cancer, due to exposure to Agent Orange, and other defoliants they used in Vietnam. My aunt, who is still alive, gets more money from his pension, due to the diagnosis of Agent Orange.
    One other friend of mine was a LRRP member in Vietnam. He and his team, some 8 men in total, were riding in an armored personal carrier, when they hit a tank land mine. He was blown almost 50 feet in the air away from the APC, with his leg being blown off among other injuries. Everyone else in the APC including the driver and his assistant, were killed.
    I just turned 62 this past June. So I missed Vietnam by about 5 years. From my reading, and talking to people who were in the actual fighting in both wars, I actually cannot see how they weren’t scared every second of their tours. My ex brother in law was in Vietnam, in an area where the fighting was terrible. Yet after his tour was over, he could have come home, and spent another year in the Army, or spend 6 months more in Vietnam and them be out of the Army completely. He chose to stay in Vietnam and get out of the Army, because he hated the Army so much, and didn’t want to have to pick up cigarette butts and have to shine his boots every day, for officers who had not seen Vietnam, and likely would never see it.

  2. Mike-SMO says:

    Semper Fi. Always. M

  3. Will says:

    The actor Michael Caine spent a year in the Korean War in the British Army. Fought off massed attacks. Some years later, he was in the movie “Zulu”. I think that might have brought back some memories. Nothing like reliving bad times!

  4. Will says:

    Caine remarked that when his troop’s replacements marched in a year later, and one year younger, he and his looked and felt 10 years older.