Family praises MIA airman

HEUVELTON — The past was very much alive Saturday at a remembrance ceremony at the Heuvelton Amvets for airman Robert E. "Skeeter" Simmons, missing in action during the Vietnam War but never forgotten by his family and friends.

"I understand from talking to the family this is in no way an acknowledgment of his death," speaker Jeremiah D. "Pete" Havens said. "Today, let all of us honor their wishes and celebrate Skeeter's life."

Mr. Simmons was a staff sergeant in the Air Force when he was shot down with 13 other men over Laos on March 29, 1972.

A joint U.S.-Laotian team found a tooth belonging to Mr. Simmons at the crash site in 1986. At the time, Mr. Simmons's mother, Rita M. Simmons, Otselic, decided the tooth wasn't sufficient evidence for her to believe her son died at the scene.

A ring belonging to Mr. Simmons also was found in 1986, but it wasn't mentioned until more recent discoveries.

Joint teams revisited the location between 2005 and 2006, digging the site up twice and discovering more remains, including three other teeth linked to Mr. Simmons. DNA testing determined that all four teeth were his.

The family could have buried the teeth at Arlington National Cemetery near Washington, D.C., with the remains of other members of his crew, but decided to place them in a family plot in Purmont Cemetery where they already had erected a stone for Mr. Simmons.

A uniform, the ring, the teeth and other personal effects will be buried at 11 a.m. today. The ceremony will include a fly-over by the Air Force.

The teeth need to be close to those who have faith that Mr. Simmons is still alive and may return to them one day, Mr. Havens said. He is the state veterans counselor for St. Lawrence County and went to school with Mr. Simmons.

Mr. Havens wore a Missing in Action bracelet engraved with Mr. Simmons's name and the date he went missing.

"I always hoped I'd be able to hand this back to Skeeter," he said. "I'll hold on to this awhile longer until we know the true fate."

Mrs. Simmons sat with members of her family, who included Mr. Simmons's nephew and namesake, Robert Simmons, commander of the Amvets; her daughter, Cherie Stevens, Hamilton, and her grandson, Jason L. Pittsley, a gunnery sergeant in the Marine Corps.

More than 50 people, including state Sen. Darrel J. Aubertine, D-Cape Vincent, and members of the Patriot Guard Riders, honored Mr. Simmons.

The day of remembrance wasn't a special event just for his family, the younger Mr. Simmons said.

"It's for all the veterans and their families," he said. "Families shouldn't go through this 40 years later. It's not right."

Air Force Senior Master Sgt. Daniel S. Reville presented Mrs. Simmons with a shadow box of her son's medals.

Mrs. Simmons gazed for a long time at a separate Purple Heart before closing the case.

"This is a reflection of the service your son, Robert, gave to his country," Senior Master Sgt. Reville said. "I am proud to be a brother of your son, Robert."

Mrs. Stevens read a letter written by Thomas Combes, the crew chief for Mr. Simmons's gunship on the night he went missing and possibly the last person to see him alive. Mr. Combes was friends with another member of the crew and originally wrote the letter for the burial of his remains.

Mr. Combes wrote the crew was in a good frame of mind that night and faced its job with professionalism and honor.

"I will never forget the evening of March 28, 1972, as the blue bus carrying the flight crew for tonight's mission arrives. Onto the still hot tarmac they descend from the open doorway carrying their combat gear and weighted down by survival vests and weapons. They remind me of the astronauts that we have been seeing in the news," he wrote. "As they draw closer I can see I have drawn a good crew tonight."

As the plane left, one of his friends playfully gave him the finger.

"That's the last I ever saw of my crew and my airplane," he wrote. "Hours later the maintenance line truck pulled alongside the flight line snack bar and the driver informed me my aircraft had been shot down."

Other pilots reported that the plane was hit by three Sam missiles and that they heard numerous locator beepers.

"But no survivors were located that night," he wrote. "Sgt. Rhett and myself were asked to walk over to Wing headquarters and lower the flag to half-staff."