Post Of The Day - Roy Marshall Simmons (1915-1989)

Imagine if you will a former Oil City resident and OCHS graduate who like, Steve McQueen's character in the 1966 film "The Sand Pebbles," served in the U. S. Navy on board a gunboat patrolling the Yangtze River in China during the period between the World Wars. In fact Richard McKenna, author of the book on which the film was based, also served on similar gunboat (or possibly the same as his ship is not identified) at approximately the same time (mid-1930s), though he set the time of his novel 10 years earlier.

Two years after he left the navy, the vessel on which he had served was attacked and sunk by Japanese bombers - four years before Pearl Harbor.

Movie trailer below:

Roy Marshall Simmons (1915-1989) was the son of Drury Marshall (1892-1964) and Lillie Frances Carey (1890-1944) Simmons. Per the 1920 U. S. Census, the family resided in an unspecified part of Caddo Parish Ward 2 (general Oil City area), and by 1930 was living west of town on Ferry Lake Road.

Roy was mentioned in the newspaper in October 1931 scoring Oil City's lone touchdown in an 8-2 win over Benton High. The following year he and future wife Valeska Nelson were listed among a group of OC students having unusual/funny nicknames in the Shreveport Times "Stroller" column.

Times 10-Jun-1932, Page 1

He enlisted in the U. S. Navy on 23-Sep-1932 and served until 03-Mar-1936. For two years he was a crew member of the U. S. S. Panay, one of seven gunboats that were part of the Yangtze Patrol, an near 100 year-old operation on the river in China to protect American citizens, property, and business interests.

U. S. S. Panay

Times 14-Dec-1937, Page 1

In December 1937, four years before Pearl Harbor, the Panay  was attacked and sunk by Japanese bombers, along with three Standard Oil tankers. Below is a newsreel about the incident. Japan, which had invaded the Chinese state of Nanking earlier that year, claimed it was accidental and apologized, however other evidence suggests it was done intentionally to ultimately drive the U. S out of China. 

When the Times reported the incident, they also published an article where Roy (then out of the navy and living in Cotton Valley, LA) recounted his time on the vessel.

Times 14-Dec-1937, Page 1

Times 14-Dec-1937, Page 12

After leaving the service, he married Valeska in June 1936. Both were Oil City residents at the time. Though the aforementioned 1937 article notes time in Cotton Valley, the 1940 Census lists him back in Caddo Parish Ward 2 with Valeska, and daughters Patsy and Midgie, but notes he was a resident of China in 1935. Daughters Sue and Royce Ann would come later.

Valeska passed away in 1985 and Roy in 1989. Per his obituary, he had been a Vivian resident for the last 45 years of his life, and once owned Simmons Oil Field Construction Company.

Obituary: Times 19-Feb-1989, Page 26A

Interment: Vivian (LA) Cemetery


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