Simonson is a veteran of the 42nd Rainbow Infantry Division, a premier unit of the Army National Guard known for its rainbow logo. Simonson is also the national chairman of the division's memorial foundation, which has about 1,300 members, and he serves as scholarship chairman, secretary and treasurer for the California section of the division.

As a result of serving in this unit during World War II, Simonson was part of the dedication of a new National WWII Memorial in Washington, D.C., on May 29. The memorial honors the 16 million people who served in the U.S. armed forces during World War II, the more than 400,000 who died and the millions who supported the war effort on the homefront. In a Memorial Day parade, Simonson and members of his division were featured on a float depicting citizen soldiers from WWI, WWII and Iraq.

"I rode in the parade as I looked in combat," Simonson said.

But when he's not dressed in combat boots, a steel helmet, a field jacket and pants paired with a mess kit for holiday festivities, local community members know Simonson as a retired educator and gardening enthusiast. Simonson was a longtime Los Gatos High School teacher and administrator. He worked at the high school for 47 years—20 as the principal—without a sick day. Simonson said his experiences in warfare changed his focus in life and made him want to become an educator. Men were truly separated from the boys on the battlefield, he said.

Simonson described the Rainbow Division as a unit that came into existence during WWI. Prior to the division's formation, troops being prepared to be sent overseas were divided "regionally in character," meaning that when a division was organized, the young soldiers all came from the same area. Simonson said it had traditionally been like that since the Civil War, but the Rainbow Division changed everything.

"The 42nd Rainbow Division was formed out of National Guard units from 26 states and the District of Columbia," said Simonson.

Gen. Douglas MacArthur, who was instrumental in forming the division, wanted the unit to stretch like a rainbow from one end of America to the other, hence the division's title and emblem. The Rainbow Division's service officially ended in May 1919, but the group was reconstituted in 1943 during WWII. The re-formed division was made up of men from every state in the union. And the number of men who came from each state was dependent upon the population of that state, Simonson said.

When the Rainbow Division was reactivated, it was composed of intellectually exceptional men. Patti Hughes, Simonson's longtime friend and business partner, said he was one of those extremely bright, college-bound men. She explained that the Army had started a specialized training program for gifted young men to be sent to college, as part of the instruction of future Army leaders, officers and doctors.

But during WWII, men were lost during conflict faster than anticipated, so the colleges being attended by the smart, young men were closed down and the scholars were sent to war—under the identity of the Rainbow Division. Simonson was attending the University of Kansas at the time, studying electrical engineering, with no plans to fight in the war until he was drafted.

"The Rainbow Division still exists today as National Guard," Simonson said.

Prior to the Memorial Day weekend events, Simonson flew to Dallas and joined up with a friend, the 6-foot 5-inch Willie Shurtleff, who he had shared a foxhole with during WWII. During the war, Simonson recalled having to accommodate his buddy's height when digging the holes, telling Shurtleff, "I'm tired of digging an extra foot and a half, so go dig your own hole."

Simonson, who is going on 80 years old, is still young in terms of age and physical ability, compared to others still living from his division. And since Shurtleff disliked flying in airplanes, Simonson and his friend drove from Dallas to D.C.

When they arrived in the nation's capital, the members of the Rainbow Division were called to meet with Senator Joe Lieberman and his wife, Hadassah.

"Senator Lieberman wanted to thank the Rainbow Division because his wife's mother was incarcerated in Dachau [a Nazi concentration camp] when we liberated it," Simonson said. "He wanted to thank the men who were there."

There were approximately 30,000 registered deaths in Dachau—thousands who were not registered were also mass murdered there. But in April of 1945, a Rainbow Division platoon, including Simonson, rescued prisoners from the camp.

"We didn't know until the day before we got there that there was a prisoner camp there," Simonson recalled.

Simonson added he still remains close with five members of the platoon.

"Each of us knows that the other stood fast when it was really hard to do," he said.

Simonson likened the Liebermans to the Reagans.

"Senator Lieberman has a level of true class, civility, honesty and true courtliness," Hughes said. "They didn't have to take the time to do this. But they took time out to say, 'Thank you, men.' "

Simonson was appreciative of the heartfelt recognition from the Liebermans, but added modestly, "We weren't heroes. We were just the unit that was close at hand."