BALTIMORE — A local World War II Purple Heart recipient received the COVID-19 vaccine on Monday
Murray Simon, 95, is the first veteran at the Loch Raven VA Medical Center’s Community Living Center to get the vaccine.
Simon says he has felt no side effects, and wants his fellow veterans to join him in getting vaccinated.
“The vaccine seems the best option to thwart the spread of the virus and to reduce the number of deaths," said Simon.
During World War II, Simon spent 30 months on the European front then six more years in the Army Reserve.
“During the war, I started as a machine gunner, and then was asked to become a radio operator. That meant in the beginning I was shooting at others, and then as a radio man, they were shooting at me!”
After his time in the Army, Simon became a middle school social studies teacher. He would go onto earn his PhD and become the Dean at an area community college.
