Vito DeSimone

## *About Vito...*

*Vito DeSimone was born in Algonquin, Liberty City on December 12th, 1920. His father, John DeSimone , was an FBI agent and his mother, Ruth DeSimone, was a talented pianist who gave piano lessons while raising her family. An FBI transfer brought the family to Queens Village, Liberty City in 1953. Soon Vito had a brother, Michael DeSimone, and a sister, Carolyn DeSimone.*

## Vito DeSimone

### Hometown

Algonquin, Liberty City, State of Liberty

### Occupation

Chief of Police - LSPD

*Vito spent much of his young life in Algonquin and this is where his love of the police department began. As he grew he would spend many hours at a local 41st Precinct. He had a scanner in his bedroom and would respond to local police calls on his bicycle. He watched the police officers intently and absorbed the ways of the LCPD. It’s 0believed that Vito was influenced to join the military by some of the veteran police officers, he spent time with. At 21 years of age, Vito Join the Army.*

*Vito DeSimone became a highly respected and decorated 7th Cavalry Sergeant, Three battalions, the 1st, 2nd and 5th, served during the Vietnam War as the 3rd Brigade of the 1st Cavalry Division.* The 1st Cavalry Division next fought in the Vietnam War. No longer a conventional infantry unit, the division had become an air assault division as the *1st Cavalry Division (Airmobile)*, commonly referred to as the 1st Air Cavalry Division.

The use of helicopters on such large scale as troop carriers, cargo lift ships, medevacs, and as aerial rocket artillery, was never before implemented, but by doing so it freed the infantry from the tyranny of terrain to attack the enemy at the time and place of its choosing *3rd Brigade often referred to itself as the "Garryowen Brigade". These troopers were armed with the new M16 rifle, M1911A1 Pistols, and the M79 grenade launcher. The use of Bell UH-1 Iroquois "Huey" helicopters transformed the 1st Cavalry into an "Air-mobile" unit. The 2nd Battalion of the 7th Cavalry fought in one of the first American engagements of the Vietnam War, the Battle of Ia Drang. The Battle of Ia Drang was the first major battle between the United States Army and the People's Army of Vietnam (PAVN), as part of the Pleiku Campaign conducted early in the Vietnam War, at the eastern foot of the Chu Pong Massif in the central highlands of Vietnam, in 1965. It is notable for being the first large-scale helicopter air assault and also the first use of Boeing B-52 Stratofortress strategic bombers in a tactical support role. Ia Drang set the blueprint for the Vietnam War with the Americans relying on air mobility, artillery fire and close air support, while the PAVN neutralized that firepower by quickly engaging American forces at very close range. Ia Drang comprised two main engagements, centered on two helicopter landing zones (LZs), the first known as LZ X-Ray, followed by LZ Albany, farther north in the Ia Drang Valley.*

One Week came by when Pierre Bonnard III was shot in the stomach. Vito needed a new co-pilot, straight out of the air cavalry training program Lieutenant Dan assigned Pierre Bonnard III to "Raw Dog" which was the nickname of that helicopter that *Vito DeSimone became known as, Vito really didn't care how wet or dry it was, he would put troops away they needed to go. Over their bonding of Vito and Bonnard, Bonnard would talk about the shrimp fishing business and recites every dish one can make with shrimp. Bonnard would said “You can barbecue it, boil it, broil it, bake it, and saute it. There’s shrimp kebabs, shrimp Creole, shrimp gumbo. Pan-fried, deep-fried, stir-fried. There’s pineapple shrimp, lemon shrimp, coconut shrimp, pepper shrimp, shrimp soup, shrimp stew, shrimp salad, shrimp and potatoes" every single flight the two took together.*

The first major operation that Vito DeSimone was to help relieve the Siege of Plei Me near Pleiku and the pursuit of the withdrawing People's Army of Vietnam (PAVN) which culminated in the Battle of Ia Drang, described in the book We Were Soldiers Once...And Young, was also the basis of the film We Were Soldiers. Because of that battle the division earned the Presidential Unit Citation (US), the first unit to receive such in the war. In 1966, the division attempted to root the communist Viet Cong (VC) and PAVN out of Bình Định Province with Operation Masher, Operation Crazy Horse and Operation Thayer. 1967 was then spent conducting Operation Pershing, a large scale search and destroy operation of PAVN/VC base areas in II Corps in which 5,400 PAVN/VC soldiers were killed and 2,000 captured. In Operation Jeb Stuart, January 1968, the division moved north to Camp Evans, north of Hue and on to Landing Zones Sharon and Betty, south of Quang Tri City, all in the I Corps Tactical Zone.

Coming from the war, *Vito DeSimone he was shot during a flight luckily nothing life-threatening he was shot in the jaw. Which is why he was later discharged because no-one could understand him between that helicopter and his speech. Returning to Liberty City after his tour in Vietnam. Proud of his service to his country, but also haunted* *by the repeated sounds of Fortunate Son.* *By his memories of combat, Vito struggled to find his way. Vito DeSimone easily find a job with the Liberty City Police Department.* *He spent a number of years on police patrol when an opening in the Los Santos Police Department came available and he qualified to transfer to the West Coast.*

## *During last year...*

*Vito DeSimone spends most days over the last year at the police station negotiating new budgets He spends most of his time in his office giving interviews to new polce cadets.*