Lt.-Cmdr."Ted" Simmons's medals for sale

Kyt · Oct 29, 2008

Hero's medals go on the block

t's not Christmas yet, but the Naval and Military Museum at the Canadian Forces Base in Esquimalt is hoping for a gift in the form of the repatriation of Canadian war hero Lt.-Cmdr. Edward Theodore "Ted" Simmons's medals and Second World War memorabilia from an auction house in Great Britain.

The museum cannot bid for the items which are valued between $30,000 and $40,000 that will be auctioned Nov. 18 on behalf of the estate, so they're hoping for their own Santa Claus to step forward and do so.

"It would be sad to see them go somewhere other than Canada," said Claire Sugrue, a spokeswoman for the museum. The museum is funded in part by the Department of National Defence and operates under a policy that prohibits it from spending public funds to acquire artifacts.

In 1939, Simmons was a 30-year-old interior decorator at Standard Furniture in Victoria when he signed on with the Royal Canadian Naval Volunteer Reserve. Six years later, he was a heavily decorated officer and lieutenant commander in charge of a fleet of vessels.

Jan Drent, a retired naval commodore who writes on naval history, disagrees with purchasing war memorabilia, which he feels should be donated to museums or handed down through families, but notes that Simmons is an important historical figure in Canadian naval history.

"He personifies the achievements of civilians who joined the navy and formed the bulk of its strength in officers and men," Drent said, adding that Simmons was instrumental in one of Canada's first successful battles against a German U-boat.

According to museum records, Simmons, who was born in Vernon, distinguished himself early in his service when he man found himself in the Battle of the Atlantic in September 1941.

At the time, he was the second-in-command of HMCS Chambly.

On Sept. 10, the Chambly rushed to rescue merchant ships that were surrounded by German U-boats off Greenland's coast.

During the ensuing battle, Simmons leapt atop a sinking submarine in hopes of capturing a German cipher machine or code book.

"This Victoria resident had the right moxie, the right stuff," Drent said.

"The significance of these artifacts being auctioned off is that they are a visual link to a Canadian who rose to the challenge of war."

After the war, Simmons found employment at Distillers Corporation Canada where he eventually rose to lead the company as its president.

In 1965, he retired to England.

He died there in 1989, and was cremated and buried at sea off HMCS Huron.

On Nov.18, Simmons' war-time memorabilia will be auctioned at the Wallis and Wallis auction house in East Sussex, England.

Those objects include seven medals which include the Atlantic Star, the Africa Star, the Distinguished Service Order, and 20 Naval Message sheets, some marked "Secret from Admiralty" detailing Nazi U-boat surrenders

Sugrue said. "Just to see them come back to Canada would be something of a victory.
Click to expand...

Kyt · Nov 10, 2008

Lookout Newspaper | November 10, 2008, Vol 53, No 45 | Decorated sailor’s medals on the block

On a cold Sept. 10 night in 1941, Lt Edward Theodore (Ted) Simmons led a boarding party from HMCS Chambly to board the German U-501 in the swift waters of the Denmark Strait south of Angmagsalik, Greenland.

A mix of depth charges and ramming from Canadian corvettes Chambly and HMCS Moosejaw were to blame for the submarine’s demise.

In search of code books or a German cipher machine and brandishing a flashlight, Simmons jumped onto the ladder and down the hatch into the quickly sinking submarine. He had to hastily turn back empty-handed when he realized the danger was too great.

Simmons was credited with the first Canadian U-boat kill of the Second World War, and was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross for his brave actions that fateful night. The citation that accompanied the honour said Simmons “barely escaped through the hatch above as the sub made its last plunge.”

On Saturday, Simmons’ medal is going up for auction in Lewes, England.

Seven medals in total, including his Distinguished Service Cross and the Distinguished Service Order, will be part of the lot, which will also include 16 black and white photographs, a commissioning document, a folio of typed original naval message sheets marked “V-E Day Signals HMCS Beacon Hill 8th May 1945,” and a movie poster for Corvette K-225- based on the experiences of HMCS Port Arthur under the command of Simmons.

Clare Sugrue, administrative assistant with the CFB Esquimalt Naval and Military Museum, says she would like to see the historic material come back to Canada, specifically to Victoria, where LCdr Simmons once lived and worked.

His son, John Simmons, has set up a website to solicit donations from Canadians in hopes of repatriating the medals.

“We feel these items should be returned and exhibited at the CFB Esquimalt Naval and Military Museum, which has kindly offered to display them in the event that we win the bid,” says John. “To lose something of this value that is part of the fabric of Canada’s military history would indeed be a tragedy.”

Simmons was born in Vernon, BC, in 1910, and eventually moved to Victoria where he worked as a social servant in the Department of Education before landing a job at Standard Furniture. He was considered a good furniture salesman, and was training to become an interior decorator when he decided to join the Royal Canadian Naval Volunteer Reserves (RCNVR) in 1939. He was posted to training facility HMCS Stone Frigate in Kingston, ON, after completing his initial training.

He would soon become the Executive Officer on the newly-commissioned Corvette K-116 HMCS Chambly in December 1940, which joined an escort force assigned to accompany ships from Newfoundland, where it was based, across the Atlantic.

Nine months later, he would have one of the Commonwealth’s highest honours, the Distinguished Service Cross and the rank of Lieutenant-Commander.

It wouldn’t be long before Simmons made another mark in the history books. He was the commanding officer of Corvette K-233 HMCS Port Arthur. The ship was on escort duty in the Mediterranean Sea when a signal was picked up indicating a submarine, the Italian Tritone, was nearby. Within minutes a ring of depth charges were laid around the sub and it was forced to surface, only to be finished off by the guns of destroyer HMS Antelope in broad daylight in the North African coast. It would be Tritone’s first and last operational deployment.

In this engagement, Simmons was awarded the Distinguished Service Order for courage, gallantry and skill in action with submarines.

A movie, Corvette K-225, starring Randolph Scott, follows the Port Arthur across the Atlantic, and commemorates his achievements.

Simmons would also take command of “Victoria’s Ship,” HMCS Beacon Hill, in April 1944. Beacon Hill was also on escort duty in the Irish Sea and English Channel.

CPO1 (Ret) Walter Dallin was the coxswain on board Beacon Hill and remembers Simmons as a “fine man and a fine captain.”

He was one of two RCNVR officers to command escort groups, and by the end of the war, 79 convoys had been escorted by him and his ships. He retired in 1945.

After almost six years of service, Simmons went on to have a long career with the Distillers Corporation of Canada, eventually becoming the president of the company.

He retired to England in 1965.

After Simmons died in England in 1988, his ashes were brought back to CFB Esquimalt by his wife, and he was laid to rest in the Pacific Ocean following a service on board HMCS Huron in May 1989. CPO1 Dallin was in attendance at the funeral.

“That’s the last I saw of him until I read about his medals up for auction in the newspaper,” Dallin says.

Simmons’ military memorabilia will be up for auction Saturday, Nov. 18, lot #501.
Click to expand...

he awards of Commander Edward Theodore (Ted) Simmons, R.C.N.V.R. "the first Canadian to win a double honour for killing subs" and subject of the motion picture "Corvette K-225" directed by Howard Hawks and starring Randolph Scott.

WALLIS &AMP; WALLIS

Seven: D.S.O., George VI, GRI type, reverse dated 1943, D.S.C. George VI, reverse engraved 1942, 1939-45 star, Atlantic star with France and Germany clasp, Africa star with North Africa 1942-43 clasp, Canadian Voluntary Service medal 1939-45 with clasp, Canadian War Medal, mounted as worn, Very Fine, (some contact marking, top brooch pin removed from DSO during mounting), together with miniature group as above.
Click to expand...

Kyt · Dec 10, 2008

Such a shame

The whole saga, and the part played by the seller and the auction house, seems very unfair. Especially as the final selling price was lower than both the seller and auction house was suggesting to Mr Simmons.

CTV.ca | Son loses bid to repatriate father's naval medals

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.
Click to expand...

liverpool annie · Dec 10, 2008

This is heartbreaking isn't it ?? ...... I feel embarrassed for the auction house to be honest !! and the half sister .....

it doesn't matter about the family dynamics .... the medals were very important to him ..... sounds to me like a vengence thing .... and the auction house went along with it ! .... I hope the buyer comes up trumps !! ( though he was piggy in the middle - poor thing !! )

What a shame !

Antipodean Andy · Dec 10, 2008

A sad state of affairs.

Log in or Sign up

Lt.-Cmdr."Ted" Simmons's medals for sale

Kyt Άρης

Kyt Άρης

Kyt Άρης

liverpool annie New Member

Antipodean Andy New Member

Share This Page

Log in or Sign up

Lt.-Cmdr."Ted" Simmons's medals for sale

Thread Tools

Kyt Άρης

Kyt Άρης

Kyt Άρης

liverpool annie New Member

Antipodean Andy New Member

Share This Page

Useful Searches