Arthur D. Simons

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Colonel Arthur D. "Bull" Simons (28 June 1918 - 21 May 1979) was an American military officer, best known for leading Operation Ivory Coast, an attempted rescue of American prisoners of war from the Vietcong prison at Son Tay.

Simons was commissioned in 1941 and commanded a field artillery battery from 1942-44 before becoming a company commander and battalion executive officer in the 6th Ranger Battalion. He participated in several hazardous landings with the Rangers in the Pacific. After World War II, Major Simons left the Army for five years. He returned to serve as an infantry instructor and Ranger trainer in the Amphibious and Jungle Training camp. Other assignments included tours with the Military Assistance Advisory Group, Turkey and XVIII Airborne Corps before joining the 77th Special Forces Group in 1958. In 1960 he served as Deputy Commander/Chief of Staff of the U.S. Army Special Warfare Center. He commanded the White Star Mobile Training Team in Laos from 1961 to 1962 and was the first commander of the 8th Special Forces Group, Panama from 1962 to 1964. From Panama, he was assigned to the Military Assistance Command, Vietnam, Studies and Observation Group, which conducted numerous behind-the-line missions in Southeast Asia.

Simons led Operation Ivory Coast in 1970 and then retired.

In 1979 Simons was contacted by the Chairman of Electronic Data Systems, Inc, which had two employees imprisoned in Iran. In February 1979, with funding from Ross Perot, Col. Simons and a small group of US ex special forces members in addition to Ross Perot himself organized a mob in Tehran which stormed Gazre prison. The two Americans, along with 11,000 Iranian prisoners, were freed. Col. Simons and his party fled from the Iranian military 450 miles to Turkey, and were later returned to the United States. Col. Simons died of heart complications three months later. In 1986 a televsion miniseries retelling the rescue of the EDS employees from Iran was released called "On Wings of Eagles". The role of Simons was played by Burt Lancaster.[1]

In 1980, Mr. Perot and the co-founders of the scholarship initiative for the children of the casualties from the Iranian hostage rescue attempt felt it only appropriate that the fund be named in Col. Simons' memory.