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Remember...Simon Trevie Workman
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On February 27, 1915, Simon Trevie Workman was born in Kanawha County, West Virginia. He was the son of James Lawrence Workman and Anna Rachael Clark. Simon had six brothers:James Rolland, Otis Udine, Brady Dale, and Franklin Leroy; two whose names are unknown to the writers; and three sisters:Rosalie Imogene, Freda Bethleen, and Juanita Clara. Simon Workman's only recorded education is attendance at grammar school when he was a younger child. Before the war, he worked for Raymond City Coal and Transportation Corporation. His life in West Virginia was much different than what it is today due to the lack of amenities that are now available. Due to the fact that rural electrification in West Virginia only happened around 1935, Simon more than likely grew up without electricity.
On October 24, 1938, Simon married Crystal E. Parkins in Lawrence County, Ohio. Two years later they had a baby boy named Jackson Lee Workman. Jackson Workman lived a prosperous life of work and family. Jackson passed away on October 25, 2017, of health issues that had troubled him for many months prior. After Jackson's birth in 1940, Simon remained in West Virginia until his enlistment into the U.S. Army in September of 1943. Simon enlisted in the city of Huntington, West Virginia. He was assigned to the 23rd Infantry Regiment.
The 23rd Infantry Regiment was under the 2nd Infantry Division, which was an active unit from 1812 through 1945. During World War II they were originally stationed at Camp Travis, Texas where it had been for the past 23 years. On November 20, 1942, the 2nd Infantry Division was moved to Camp McCoy, Wisconsin, where they partook in the first large-scale winter training program. They practiced snow maneuvers and tactics for deep snow travel in cold weather with temperatures reaching -45o Fahrenheit. On September 27, 1943, the 2nd Infantry Division departed Camp McCoy heading to New York where they proceeded on October 8, 1943, to Northern Ireland. Once the 2nd Infantry Division arrived on October 20th, they immediately began more training in preparation for the invasion of France. On June 8, 1944, the 23rd Infantry Regiment was assigned to Omaha Beach with the first invasion forces where they spent the next 10 months maneuvering around Germany and leading the offensive. The 23rd Infantry Regiment were known for being intense, skilled fighters, therefore being put on the front lines. But by this time Simon Trevie Workman had met his death.
| Private Workman was killed in Normandy, France, on June 16, 1944, just 10 days after the greatest invasion of the European continent. The 23rd Infantry Regiment was attached to the 1st Infantry Division during this time. Private Workman was initially buried in a military cemetery in France while the war was still continuing. After the war ended, his remains were brought back to the United States, where he was laid to rest in Showen Cemetery located in Bancroft, Putnam County, West Virginia. On June 16, 2015 (exactly 71 years after his death), Pvt. Workman's remains were once again relocated, this time to Haven of Rest Memory Gardens near Red House, West Virginia. Private Simon Trevie Workman was awarded the Purple Heart (an award given to the next of kin for wounds received in action) that day. The now late Jackson Workman told the Charleston Daily Mail that the day of reburial was emotional, and though it is decades later, he still misses his father. On that day, Private Simon Workman was spoken highly of, people recollected his love for the outdoors and how kind of a man he was. Pvt. Simon Trevie Workman may have died at the hands of an enemy, but he died an American hero to his friends, his family, his loved ones, and his beautiful country. According to the obituary for Jackson Workman, his father's name lives on in the name of a great-grandchild, Trevie Stanford Casto. |  Headstone for Pvt. Simon Trevie Workman, now interred in the Haven of Rest Cemetery, Putnam County, West Virginia. Courtesy Ruby Angela Winter Vickers |
Alexander Ward and Garret Estep, George Washington High School, JROTC
December 2017
West Virginia Archives and History welcomes any additional information that can be provided about these veterans, including photographs, family names, letters and other relevant personal history.
