SIMON, Jean

On 29 May 1951, Jean was called up for compulsory military service. Within the IInd Battalion, he received basic training and was trained in the use of mortars and light artillery. On 4 February 1952, he enlisted for a one-year period and joined the second contingent.

On 26 September 1952, the day Sergent Robert Mores was killed, Jim was manning a bunker together with Jean Drauden and Marcel Feinen at an outpost near Chokko-Ri. During a heavy mortar attack, led by Chinese troops, their bunker collapsed and buried Drauden and Feinen. Even though Jim was slightly injured, he managed to get out of the rubble by himself. The other two soldiers needed to be pulled out by a Luxembourgish section, rushing to their aid from the surrounding bunkers.

Upon his return from Korea, Jim was discharged from active military service in 1957, which allowed him to return to his former civilian job as a provider in the ARBED steelworks. At a later stage in life, Jim made a living as a travel agent before he succumbed to a long and dire illness, at the age of 69.