Guy Simonds

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Guy Simonds bigraphy, stories - Canadian general

Guy Simonds : biography

April 23, 1903 – May 15, 1974

Lieutenant General Guy Granville Simonds, (April 23, 1903 – May 15, 1974) was a Canadian Army officer who commanded the II Canadian Corps during World War II. He served as acting commander of the First Canadian Army, leading the Allied forces to victory in the Battle of the Scheldt in 1944. In 1951 he was appointed Chief of the General Staff, the most senior member of the Canadian Army.

Notes

Post war Army

Simonds was "undoubtedly deeply hurt" when he was overlooked and Charles Foulkes was chosen instead as CGS in August 1945.C.P. Stacey as quoted in Dancocks p207

From 1946-1949 he was Chief Instructor at the Imperial Defence College, "a signal honour for a Canadian".Stephen Harris (2000) The Canadian Encyclopedia Toronto McClelland & Stewart Inc p2167 ISBN 0-7710-2099-6 He returned to Canada in 1949 to take a role as Commandant of the Royal Military College of Canada. In 1951 he was appointed Chief of the General Staff.

Retirement and later years

After retiring from the army, he worked for Halifax Insurance Company, and Toronto Brick and Associates. He was active with Royal Life Saving Society of Canada, the Gurkha Appeal, the Canadian Corps of Commissionaires and was chairman of the National Ballet of Canada.Graham pp275-276

He criticized the government for seeking closer ties with the US, and opposed the reliance on nuclear weapons, advocating strong conventional forces. Simonds proposed the use of aerial supply to reduce the vulnerability of army divisional supply chains. Dubious of air-power advocates, he foresaw the increasing use of missiles. He believed in the "integration" of defence headquarters, but opposed the Hellyer "unification" of the armed forces.Graham pp260-267

A street is named after him in Antwerp ("Generaal Simondslaan").Graham p277http://maps.google.ca/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=simonds+antwerp+belgium&sll=49.891235,-97.15369&sspn=54.915809,107.138672&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=Generaal+Simondslaan,+2030+Antwerpen,+Vlaams+Gewest,+Belgium&t=h&z=17 Link to Google Map Simonds was honorary colonel of the Royal Regiment of Canada at the time of the regiment’s 100th anniversary in October 1962.Graham p278 He was offered an honorary degree from RMC which he declined, as he had opposed the degree program, fearing the long tenure of civilian instructors would unduly influence the curriculum.Graham p278, p275 On October 29, 1971 he was made a Companion of the Order of Canada.Graham p279

Diagnosed with lung cancer, he died in Toronto on May 15, 1974. He was buried in Toronto’s Mount Pleasant Cemetery after a service at Grace Church-on-the-Hill.

Family Background

Guy was born in Bury St Edmunds, England on April 23, 1903.

Simonds came from a military family: his great-grandfather had been in the Honourable East India Company, and his grandfather had been a major general. The Simonds family was related to Ivor Maxse and Lord Milner. On his maternal side, his grandfather William Easton was a wealthy Virginian horse breeder, who had moved to England, renting Ixworth Abbey. Eleanor "Nellie" Easton, his mother, was one of five daughters, of which four married army officers.Graham p9-15

His father Cecil, a major, resigned from the army in fall 1911 (when Guy was 9) and moved his family to British Columbia, working as a surveyor for a railway. Cecil’s expectations of having his own survey company were frustrated by the requirement to pass local professional examinations. Re-joining the army at the start of World War I, Cecil was wounded in 1918, and demobilized in 1919 with the rank of colonel. The family spent the war in a rented house in Victoria. Guy’s mother sold family possessions to make ends meet. Guy had to quit school for two years at age fourteen to help support the family. Graham speculates that the period of fatherlessness made him a "loner" and self-reliant.Graham p15