An Air Force officer who helped plan and execute the Sơn Tây raid wrote of Simons: "He was not out to make a name for himself; he was there to do his duty.

The unit was dispatched to Australia, but immediately diverted to New Guinea in the early stages of World War II, and Simons thrived in the harsh jungle environment.

He led a team of engineers and Navy personnel tasked to de-mine the Leyte channel before the invasion of the island began in earnest.

Simons was recalled to active duty in 1951 to serve as an infantry instructor and Ranger trainer in the Amphibious and Jungle Training camp at Eglin Air Force Base, Florida.

From Panama, he was assigned to the Military Assistance Command, Vietnam – Studies and Observations Group (MACV-SOG), which conducted numerous behind-the-line missions in Southeast Asia.

For his outstanding leadership, Simons was decorated by President Richard Nixon with the Distinguished Service Cross at the White House on November 25, 1970.

Simon's large physical stature and great strength — even in his fifties, he did 250 push-ups every day — made him a formidable challenge to remove from the pit, and the name "Bull" stuck.

In late 1978, Simons was contacted by Texas businessman Ross Perot, who requested his direction and leadership to help free two employees of Electronic Data Systems who had been arrested shortly before the Iranian Revolution.

Ross Perot and others founded a scholarship initiative for the children of the casualties from the Iranian hostage rescue attempt, and named the fund in honor of Colonel Simons' memory.

In April 2010, the Arthur D. "Bull" Simons Center for Interagency Cooperation[5] was opened as a result of a donation by Ross Perot to the Command and General Staff College Foundation, Inc.[6] Colonel Simons' great contributions to the army and the Special Forces community are honored with a 12-foot-tall (3.7 m) statue that stands in front of the John F. Kennedy Special Warfare Center and School at Fort Bragg, North Carolina.

With complete disregard for his own personal safety, Colonel Simons voluntarily participated as a member of a Joint Task Force with the humanitarian mission of rescuing United States military personnel held as prisoners of war at the Son Tay Prison Compound approximately twenty nautical miles from Hanoi, the capital of North Vietnam.

The success of the operation was the direct result of Colonel Simons' calm and competent leadership in an extremely hazardous situation.