Student preserves great-grandfather’s D-Day legacy

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    WAYNESVILLE, North Carolina (WLOS) — The storming of the Normandy beaches in France on June 6, 1944, to bring down Nazism and stop the killing of Jews across Western Europe, brought tens of thousands of American soldiers to the continent.

Cash Simmons, 15, a 9th-grader at TC Roberson High School, has developed a deep passion for the history around D-Day that began with finding a box in his grandparent’s closet. The box was filled with his great-grandfather William (Bill) Stephens’ medals honoring his bravery, along with his military uniform.

Stephens was born and raised in Waynesville and took part in the Normandy invasions of France on D-Day.

“It feels very special to know what he did for these,” said Simmons of his great-grandfather’s awards. “And that it’s not just a piece of medal and cloth.”

Simmons first learned the story of what almost happened to Stephens’ military artifacts several years ago.

“Bill’s family was going through all his stuff after he died, and it was on the curb,” he said.

Simmons said his grandfather told his relatives he wanted to keep his father’s military belongings, including his purple heart and bronze star for his actions in France, Belgium, and Germany. He acted as a platoon leader from June 6, 1944 to May 8, 1945. Stephens also received France’s highest military honor, the Croix De Guerre. His group, the 24th Calvary Reconnaissance Squadron, went in two hours in advance of the thousands of American and Allied troops that stormed the Normandy shores. They landed on Isle St. Marcouf as an advance team. The island was unoccupied but filled with booby traps and mines.

“They were there to make sure it was free of any Germans hiding out,” Simmons said.

He said his great-grandfather then went on to liberate many small towns in northern France from Hitler’s reign.

Simmons and his family have framed Stephens’ medals in a huge shadowbox that includes a German Labor Party flag that he brought back from his tour in France liberating small towns.

Simmons has become a collector and preserver of stories of heroes in the U.S. military. While their names may not be famous, in Simmons’ bedroom, they come alive with their dedication to service and the United States.

“It makes me feel like I’m saving history and preserving it, which gives me a good feeling.”

His deep knowledge of his great-grandfather’s 24th Calvary Reconnaissance Squadron caught the attention of writer and researcher Mike Hind, who lives in Normandy. Hind is writing a book about Simmons’ great-grandfather’s unit.

“It was thanks to Cash and the material he’s collected,” Hind said. “That we’ve now got the clearest possible picture of who it was that landed on these islands before the actual D-Day landings began.”

Cash Simmons knows his interest in U.S. history and military history is unique but he feels called to do it with a deep interest in what U.S. servicemen were doing.

“This guy died for his country,” said Simmons as he held a purple heart medal of one of the servicemen he’s researched. “He gave the ultimate sacrifice for a good cause: Freedom.”

It was the largest amphibian invasion in military history that included 7,000 ships and 195,000 naval personnel from eight allied countries, including the U.S. More than 10,000 Allied forces were killed in the storming of Normandy. Historians say the Normandy invasion into France gave the Allied countries a foothold in Nazi-occupied France and would prove a turning point in the war with Adolf Hitler.

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