This episode features an interview with LTC (R) Steve Moore, West Point Class of 1975, and COL (R) David Moore, West Point Class of 1984, where they honor the remembrance of their parents, LTG Hal Moore, West Point Class of 1945, and Julia Compton Moore, and announce the rededication of Fort Benning to Fort Moore.
This episode features an interview with LTC (R) Steve Moore, West Point Class of 1975, and COL (R) David Moore, West Point Class of 1984, where they honor the remembrance of their parents, LTG Hal Moore, West Point Class of 1945, and Julia Compton Moore, and announce the rededication of Fort Benning to Fort Moore.
LTC (R) Steve Moore is the second child of LTG Hal and Julie Moore. Upon retirement from the Army, Steve ran his own software business. He then was recruited by IBM and, after 15 years, he split off to form his own consulting practice focused on project management and troubled project recovery. In 2015, Steve shut down the consulting practice to follow his heart, fish, and writes about the great outdoors.
COL (R) David Moore is the fifth child of LTG Hal and Julie Moore. Upon graduation from West Point, David commissioned as a Second Lieutenant in the infantry. After retiring, having completed 27 years of active federal service, he established “Command Decisions, LLC,” a project management consulting and leadership coaching business. He earned a Master of Industrial Engineering at North Carolina State University and is a graduate of the US Army War College.
Please enjoy this interview between LTG (R) Steve Moore, Class of ’75, COL (R) David Moore, Class of ’84, and, your host, LTC (R) Dave Siry, Class of ’94, Director of the West Point Center for Oral History and instructor in the Department of History as they relive stories of the great Moore command team.
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Key Quotes
“He would always say the troops come first. That was a family saying. He meant that when he talked to us, as his children, you came first. But, also when you were in your units of assignment, the troops came first. The thing we like to hear now is the Simon Sinek: Leaders Eat Last, but that's intuitive for all of us in the military. And, the troops come first. Good, hard disciplined training, and, of course, what he internalized from West Point was never lie, cheat, or steal. And, never lie to your troops. Never cheat your troops. They should come first and they should be served.” - COL (R) David Moore
“I think when you look at the Army values, it all goes back to: take care of your troops. If you implement the Army values in your life and in your command philosophy, you're going to take care of your troops.” - LTC (R) Steve Moore
“What I knew of Mom is that she was always engaged in the community. When we were at Fort Ord, she was always engaged. We lived at the Presidio of Monterey, but she was often out at Fort Ord recognizing the value of her contribution, not as a duty, but as a love, as a desire to make that community better and to compliment that in ways that Dad could not achieve success. And, like Steve said, setting up Army community centers, advocating for daycare centers and those sorts of things. She realized that she could provide the opportunity to create momentum and, as you know, the wives’ discussion finds its way to the general officer, in a different way than the command channel. And so, by her being out there and having that connection with the community, she gave my dad a different way to connect and be part of the community in a way that his command status could not provide. So, it was a very complimentary relationship, but again, it was very much based on the mutual love of what they were doing and the mutual love of the Army and making those communities better.” - COL (R) David Moore
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Episode Timestamps
(02:54) The Moore family origins and background
(10:31) Developing a command team
(18:07) Hal Moore’s advice on leadership in the Army
(20:08) Julia Compton Moore’s love for families
(26:22) Moore’s take on the accuracy of the movie
(31:45) Exemplifying the Army core values
(40:18) Relationship with the Columbus, Georgia, Fort Benning area
(48:39) Rededicating Fort Benning to Fort Moore
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Links
LTC (R) Steve Moore’s LinkedIn
COL (R) David Moore’s LinkedIn
West Point Association of Graduates
Narrator: Hello and welcome to the WPAOG Podcast. This episode features an interview with Steve Moore, West Point Class of 1975, and David Moore, West Point Class of 1984, where they honor the remembrance of their parents, Lieutenant General Hal Moore, West Point Class of 1945, and Julia Compton Moore and announce the rededication of Fort Benning to Fort Moore.
Retired Lieutenant Colonel Steve Moore is the second child of Lieutenant General Hal and Julia Moore. Upon retirement from the Army, Steve ran his own software business. He then was recruited by IBM, and after 15 years he split off to form his own consulting practice focused on project management and troubled project recovery. In 2015, Steve shut down the consulting practice to follow his heart, fishing, and writes about the great outdoors.
Retired Colonel David Moore is the fifth child of Lieutenant General Hal and Julie Moore. Upon graduating from West Point, David commissioned as a second lieutenant in the infantry. After retiring, having completed 27 years of active federal service, he established Command Decisions LLC, a project management, consulting and leadership coaching business. He earned a Master of Industrial Engineering at North Carolina State University and is a graduate of the US Army War College.
Now, please enjoy this interview between Steve Moore, Class of 75, David Moore, Class of 84, and your host, Retired Lieutenant Colonel Dave Siry, Class of 1994, Director of the West Point Center for Oral History and instructor in the Department of History, as they relive stories of the great Moore command team.
[00:01:49] LTC (R) Dave Siry: Good morning. We are here today to discuss the rededication of Fort Benning, Georgia to Fort Moore in honor of Lieutenant General retired how Moore and his wife Julie Moore. I'm joined by two of Hal and Julie's sons, Steve and David Hal Moore. Graduated from West Point in 1945 and served in a wide variety of airborne assignments, starting with the one 87th Airborne Infantry Regiment in Japan in 1945, followed by the 82nd Airborne Division. Later, he commanded a battalion in the 11th Air Assault Division, which re flagged to the first Battalion seventh Calvary in the first Calvary Division. Famous for the Yara Valley Battle in November of 1965 in Vietnam. He later commanded the Seventh Infantry Division. He served combat tours in Korea and Vietnam. Taught infantry tactics at West Point and earned a Master's degree in International relations at George Washington University. Stephen Moore graduated from West Point in 1975, and David graduated from West Point in 1984. Gentlemen, good morning. If you could please tell me a little bit about your parents' background and how Hal and Julie met.
[00:03:00] LTC (R) Steve Moore: There's a good story in that Dad was assigned at Fort Bragg, and he was initially in the 82nd Airborne, but found that duty to be too boring. So he transferred to the Field Forces Board where he could become a parachute tester and. At Ford Bragg, at that time, there were thousands of lieutenants and captains who were unattached after coming back from occupation duty in either Japan or Germany. And of course there were. Numerous young women around who were very interested in these handsome young officers. Well, my dad was at the officers club pool one day, and my mother saw him, thought he looked like an interesting individual, and walked up and introduced herself. She said, hi, I'm Julie Compton. Dad looked up and said, so what? And from that, the relationship blossomed. They, uh, Got to know each other. My mother decided that my dad was the one, and she chased him till he caught her.
[00:04:09] LTC (R) Dave Siry: Now your mother comes from an Army family herself. Tell me about her army background.
[00:04:15] COL (R) David Moore: Oh, she was born in Fort Sill, had, uh, multiple assignments throughout my grandfather's career as a cavalryman and then an artillery officer.
Notably, they're in, um, the Philippines. In the 1930s and then multiple times in and about the Washington DC area, performative years in high school and junior college were in the Washington DC area. Had an assignment in Aberdeen, Maryland as well. Uh, when my father worked on various boards and things of that sort.
[00:04:47] LTC (R) Steve Moore: Colonel Compton, the eventual Colonel Compton, had a fairly interesting career. In addition to being deployed to World War I. At the very end of the conflict, uh, he commented about being in a battery position someplace in France, in a newspaper article I read. But that was the old army. And you only got promoted when someone died.
My, uh, mother used to say when someone passed away or retired, Well, that's a file. That's a file. So your, your file moved one notch ahead and you got a little bit closer to promotion. And I believe my grandfather was a captain for something like 15 or 16 years. He had a couple interesting assignments though beyond the assignment in the Philippines.
He was one of General Marshall's aids on a trip to Brazil and he worked in the war department and did. A lot of travel to, uh, north Africa in World War ii. Commanded a field artillery group for a while and then was d actually deployed with the 15th Army to, uh, Europe in January of 1945 where his troop ship was torpedoed and sunk off the coast of France.
And thankfully, he and the captain were able to evacuate. All but a couple of the soldiers to a French frigate, and I think there was another American ship nearby before the ship sunk, and I've actually got a picture of the ship with the nose up. Going under, and that was his entrance into World War ii.
Uh, he was the artillery officer for the 15th Army and extensively traveled around to the various artillery units in the 15th Army as they participated in the reduction of the Roar pocket. After that, of course, he was reassigned. To Leavenworth and then to Fort Bragg where he ran the test board that include the parachute testing operation that my father was involved in.
[00:07:01] COL (R) David Moore: And you can tell Steve is the family archivist.
[00:07:05] LTC (R) Steve Moore: And your grandfather
[00:07:06] LTC (R) Dave Siry: and father worked in the same sort of function then with the parachute testing. Yes,
[00:07:11] LTC (R) Steve Moore: exactly. It's interesting. Maybe you could say he married the boss's daughter.
[00:07:18] LTC (R) Dave Siry: Tell me a little bit about the Moore family, and there's an age gap between the two of you, so you both have a slightly different perspective based on when you were born and what you experienced growing
[00:07:29] LTC (R) Steve Moore: up. Yeah. We like to tease Dave and my, uh, Two younger sisters that, that they never were company grade kids.
My older brother, older by a year, and I were born when dad was a captain, and of course Dave was born when dad was lieutenant Colonel, and his formative years were when dad was a full colonel and general officer. We saw different parts of the army. As we were growing up,
[00:07:56] COL (R) David Moore: I would say that maybe one of the most significant differences between our experiences, not only was that, uh, was time, uh, my perception is that, uh, dad had more time available to the family in his younger years and as the demands of being a general officer, uh, war on him and my mother, uh, they had a lot of demands on their time as a senior officer and, and.
I didn't really realize it until many years later that when my parents were spending time with us, what a, uh, what a gift it was based upon their competing demands at the time, being a, you know, a 1, 2, 3 star, uh, general. And, uh, you know, back then there was a lot of parties they went to that were more mandatory obligatory.
You don't really see that much anymore, but they had a lot on their plate all the time. And so I would say that while I, I did enjoy some of the trappings of, of general Oscar housing and things of that sort, I believe Steve and Greg enjoyed more of the, uh, availability of their personal attention. You know,
[00:09:04] LTC (R) Steve Moore: that's, that's really true.
Dave and I may may as well mention one of dad's troop commands that really isn't in his biography, and that's when he was the. Cubmaster of our Cub Scout pack in Norway, and he would organize ski trips for the en entire pack, uh, to include an Olympics for two years. Running that hard to believe now included ski jumping.
So you have these, you know, eight, nine year old kids going off homemade ski jumps that thankfully no had killed themselves. But that was a troop command that dad enjoyed and Greg and I were able to take advantage. Of a lot of the time he had on that assignment. So you're exactly
[00:09:49] LTC (R) Dave Siry: right. And was that assignment 1960 to 1963 timeframe?
Yes.
[00:09:54] LTC (R) Steve Moore: He was on a NATO assignment in Norway. I guess that would count it as a joint time and current vernacular. And I think one of his major duties then was to plan for the defense of Northern Europe
[00:10:07] COL (R) David Moore: on the mom's side. You know, Mon was uh, a den mother, a Girl Scout leader as well. So my sister Julie, and then, you know, they got the value of that.
And Cece and myself, you know, we had other things that Greg and Steve didn't have, but again, it was, uh, when mom and dad did give us time, it was valuable and, uh, we didn't realize how valuable that was until many years later. Yes, sir.
[00:10:32] LTC (R) Dave Siry: Your parents developed a tremendous command team. Tell me how their efforts serve both the soldiers and the family members.
[00:10:41] COL (R) David Moore: This command team was formed through my mother's experiences during the Korean War and recognizing what it was like to be alone and afraid, essentially, when my dad went off to Korea, Steve and Greg were, I think, both under two years old at the time, and she moved back to Auburn, Alabama and lived with my grandparents and having no word and no unit cohesion and no real connection with my father.
Besides letters and an occasional telegram, really understanding what it was like to not have those connections with a broader organization and not having, she mentioned the support or at least knowing of other. Military wives in the Auburn area, but it was pretty much just a, whoever happened to be there.
So I think based upon those formative years and understanding what it was like to be disconnected and in an uncertain environment, really formed her perspective on how to approach her command participation when my father did have that opportunity at Fort Benning and to bring that family together and understand that.
And I would even say even at that point, When the casualties came home from the Iran Valley, such a massive amount in a short period of time, she was surprised, number one, to see on the news. Sergeant Jack Gal's funeral at Fort Benning and her being completely unaware of that, which shocked her. Uh, and she took action.
But the second piece that I remember her telling me, you know, it talks about, you know, she wasn't trained. There was no training. There's just you, you assume the role based upon your husband's command position. But she called home to her father, uh, Colonel. Then retired Louis Compton and was in tears. My grandfather, given the history that Steve had just mentioned, said, Julie, you are a Compton and Comptons are thoroughbreds.
You know what to do. And basically he hung up on her and she then by her love of not only her own family, but by extending the love that my father had for her, soldiers knew what to do and she got out there. And she had to follow behind the cabs and find out where they went and pick up the pieces after these letters were provided.
So the formative years. Were based upon the lack of contact and really understanding what a command team should be was gelled during those hard times. During November 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, during the Ira Valley conflict, when 72 troopers came home and she
[00:13:29] LTC (R) Steve Moore: had to.
[00:13:30] COL (R) David Moore: Form a support and create support for these wives who had just lost their husbands.
So I think it was very much as unlike today, without a family readiness group, without family readiness training, she was groomed for this, as I would say throughout her life, through being an army brat to, uh, parents who were very disciplinarian type. Uh, focused, uh, towards understanding the army life towards having an awareness of army life towards growing up and experiencing what it's like to have a husband deployed and not have that information flow
[00:14:06] LTC (R) Steve Moore: to then being
[00:14:07] COL (R) David Moore: in a position where you had a leadership expectation based upon being married to someone who was a leader and fulfilling that expectation from then on out and realizing.
That she could have value, she could contribute, and she could make soldiers' lives better. And from there, you I think saw the love that they jointly had together for the soldiers, for the family, and for their
[00:14:32] LTC (R) Steve Moore: army. You stated that very well, Dave. The one thing I would point out that's hard for us to understand as we sit here in 2023, Was the lack of communication that existed back then in Korea.
It was just letters. There really was no TV to speak of and, uh, newspapers. Well, by the time dad got to Korea, it was in the trench warfare part of the war. 52 to 53, and the war wasn't really covered broadly, or if it was, it was at a very high level. So there was really no information flowing back and forth, and as isolated as she was, the only perspective she had is what dad would tell her.
And he wrote her maybe every other day or something. I think there's 117 letters he wrote her from Korea. Another example is that. In terms of, they mentioned telegrams is they had something called an I think expeditionary force message where the soldier was given a list and you could check. A couple of 200 choices.
You know, Merry Christmas, happy birthday, things like that. And he sent her one of those over Christmas and it arrived in the mailbox and mom was absolutely terrified to open it. And she made her father do it cuz she thought it was bad news and that started. The issue with telegrams for her, her hate, for the impersonal nature of a telegram arriving even in this case, it was innocuous.
Dad made a joke that he opened. He didn't check the box for. Sea warrior or something like that, but mom never opened a telegram after that, even if it was a birth. A congratulations on a birth of one of her children. And take that up to the Audre and the Vietnam period. Well, now you add TV to the mix and there was extensive coverage of what was going on in 65 66.
Because it was a new war and we had the benefit or maybe the, the pain of actually seeing our father covered on TV on numerous occasions, and I think that brought the war even closer to her. Now, I can't even imagine what families went through over the last 20 years when you had the ability to do voice calls and, and.
Uh, zoom calls and things like that where the possibility of seeing your loved one on a screen like we are right now was constantly available. And then what would happen if a scheduled call didn't occur? I just can't imagine the worry that that would cause. So maybe more communication is worse and less, but either way, the family is.
In peril without that ability for those who are left behind to come together, reinforce, uh, the challenge of being separated. It's just beyond my imagination to understand how families can go through five or six deployments over the last 20 years. It's just amazing what the Army has done with the family readiness groups and things like that.
To counteract some of that isolation. Yes,
[00:18:09] LTC (R) Dave Siry: sir. You mentioned, um, seeing your father on TV in news coverage during the Vietnam War, and it's easy to see from some of that news coverage, how much your father loved soldiers. But on a personal level, what did your father tell you both about leading soldiers?
[00:18:26] LTC (R) Steve Moore: I asked him, uh, for advice after I was commissioned.
I said, dad, you know, I'm about to go be a second lieutenant in the seventh division. Hope to get assigned to a firing battery. What advice would you give me? And I expected to be sat down and have a several hour discussion along the lines of what's in his book of how more on leadership that's available now.
He looked at me and basically just said one thing, keep your mouth shut and listened to your NCOs. And off I went to my first assignment with that. As the overarching guidance, but it was good guidance. Did you
[00:19:03] LTC (R) Dave Siry: periodically chat with him about leadership issues or maybe problems you were having or ask his advice on different things?
Oh, I'll,
[00:19:12] LTC (R) Steve Moore: I'll go first on that cause I'll tell you no. I guess the assumption was that growing up in the family, we got all that by osmosis. I don't recall ever speaking to dad. About a leadership issue. Now, maybe that was because that was back in the days of long distance phone bills being assigned to Germany for three years, where an international call was even more expensive.
But no, nothing. I never talked to him about anything about what I was doing in the Army.
[00:19:46] COL (R) David Moore: Let me add to that. First of all, Steve
[00:19:48] LTC (R) Steve Moore: had said, keep your mouth shut and listen to your NCOs.
[00:19:52] COL (R) David Moore: The thing he added to that for me,
[00:19:55] LTC (R) Steve Moore: Was, uh, something that Sar, major Plumley always would say, there's two things I hate in this Army.
Green Second Lieutenants and wet toilet paper. And that
was
[00:20:05] COL (R) David Moore: very much, you know, keep your mouth shut.
[00:20:07] LTC (R) Steve Moore: Listen to your NCOs. He always said, you know, it's better to be seen and not heard as a second lieutenant that you want to be seen by your actions. They don't wanna hear a lot of talk outta you. You're, you are designed by your training and by your echelon and by your mission for action.
I really internalized that and not so much the idea of being seen, but having action and having a positive influence on my soldiers. And he would always say the troops come first. That was a family saying. He meant that when he talked to us as his children, you came first, but also when you were in your units of assignment, the troops came first.
The thing we like to hear now is the assignment. Sinek leaders eat last, but you know, that's intuitive for all of us in the military. And the troops come first. Good hard discipline, training. And of course, uh, what he internalized from West Point was never lie, cheat or steal, and never lie to your troops.
Never cheat your troops. They should come first and they should be served.
[00:21:10] LTC (R) Dave Siry: Now we know how much your mother loved volunteering and taking care of families. Can you share a, a story or two about your mother's love for families?
[00:21:19] LTC (R) Steve Moore: She became a Red Cross volunteer while at Fort Bragg in 1951 and stuck with that as her primary.
Volunteer effort for the rest of her career until they moved to Crested Butte, Colorado. Uh, so even as a general officer's wife, she was a Red Cross volunteer assisting at blood drives and things like that, and that spun into the care over. How the army would take care of families, so daycare centers the officers and NCO wives clubs, and her engagement with those ramped up right along with dad's seniority because as dad rose in rank, She then could have a broader scope of action and do more to help in those particular areas.
The family was her focus and it even continued after retirement. Mom and dad's phone number was never unlisted, and troopers would call all the time, and of course they would want to call and talk to dad. Mom was the designated phone answerer it seems because dad really couldn't hear too well after. All the wild explosions and once mom got on the phone with a lot of, a lot of these troopers, they didn't want to talk to dad.
She was just fine. She would love them on the phone and, and reassure them and solve the problem and periodically pass 'em to dad. That was just how she interacted and how she was. That's wonderful. I also think that,
[00:22:58] COL (R) David Moore: uh, this is a
[00:22:59] LTC (R) Steve Moore: perspective piece cuz Steve obviously being nine years older than me, saw mom in a very different way.
I did, I saw mom at the senior levels where Steve saw mom with the opportunity to really have more direct contact and you know, this idea of her being a den leader and things of that sort. What I knew of Mom is that she was always engaged in the community. When we were at Fort or, uh, she was always engaged.
We lived at the Presidio Monterey, but she was often out at Fort or recognizing the value of her contribution. Not as a duty, but as a love, a desire to make that community better and to compliment that in ways that that could not. Achieve success. And like Steve said, setting up Army community centers, advocating for daycare centers and those sorts of things.
She realized that she could provide the opportunity to create momentum, and as you know, the wives discussion finds its way to the general officer in a different way than the command channel. And so by her being out there and having that connection with the community, She gave my dad a different way to connect and be part of the community in a way that his command status could not provide.
So it was a very complimentary relationship, but again, it was very much based on the mutual love of what they were doing and the mutual love of the army and making those communities better. And I think that is the greatest example of why we like to call mom and dad. A command team because they were working together to make sure that everything was as good as it could be for the soldiers, the families, and the communities that they were involved with
[00:24:56] COL (R) David Moore: we're carrying
[00:24:57] LTC (R) Steve Moore: on their command team legacy in our own way through this rededication and through attending IRA
[00:25:03] COL (R) David Moore: and other,
uh,
[00:25:05] LTC (R) Steve Moore: reunions to allow them to continue to share that brotherhood.
One of the stories that I'll share is, It was provided to me many, many months ago. But there was a woman who, uh, at Fort or back in the seventies was not getting the quality care as we would say that she was hoping for out of the Army medical system. And when she did get the care, the doctor was very gruff and inattentive.
Dismissive and not. Attending to her request. And so finally after working the military medical system and trying to work this doctor without result, she hinted that, well, you know, I play Majong with Julie Moore every Thursday, and would you like this to come up in conversation? This inability to receive this medical care, uh, that is by, right.
You know, we should get,
[00:26:01] COL (R) David Moore: but I can bring it up with Julie
[00:26:03] LTC (R) Steve Moore: Moore and just mention my experience with the Ford or medical community and the
[00:26:08] COL (R) David Moore: very next day she got all the care she wanted.
[00:26:11] LTC (R) Steve Moore: Uh,
[00:26:12] COL (R) David Moore: so, you know, just
[00:26:13] LTC (R) Steve Moore: having the power of mom out there and knowing that mom was part of the community can create good things even without her intervention.
[00:26:23] LTC (R) Dave Siry: Well, that's wonderful. Now, many people may only be familiar with Hal and Julie Moore from either the book or the movie. We were Soldiers Once and Young. Are there aspects of your parents' experiences related to the Adra Valley Battle that the book and movie explained really well or don't address fully?
[00:26:43] LTC (R) Steve Moore: There are two real glaring inaccuracies in the movie. And in fact, those and a few others were a subject of constant debate back and forth between the director, Randy Wallace and mom and dad, and Randy finally had to counsel mom and dad and say, you know, we're not making a documentary. So they had to accept.
Those inaccuracies. So the, the most glaring one, of course, was that mom did not personally deliver the telegrams. Um, instead, as Dave mentioned earlier, she would find out who was notified and get out there as quickly as she could after the telegram. The other piece of that that just almost made my mom's head explode was where the notifications in the movie.
Were filmed, they were all filmed on Austin Loop where we actually lived before we were kicked off post, when the division deployed. And those were. Beautiful quarters and when the telegrams came in, this was the segregated south in the sixties, and mom did not go to beautiful houses to council and help the wives.
Instead, it was to trailer parks and one room bungalows and. Run down apartments and things like that. And it was mostly, uh, minority wives who were, were there and she wanted Randy to show more of that, to show the agony and the situation of the families of those troopers. But for some reason, uh, that didn't happen.
And then I guess from a military perspective, the biggest fallacy. In the movie was the whole charge on the third day into what could have been an ambush without the helicopter showing up. Instead, on the third day of the battle, dad did have his troopers fixed bayonets, and they moved out from the perimeter.
Basically in my understanding, to clear the battlefield of enemy, uh, find any, uh, Americans who were still outside the perimeter and were either wounded or or killed in action so they could make sure everyone was accounted for. Before they left the, uh, the battlefield. What I cautioned people on is, is what Steve had mentioned, that Randy Wallace, the director, had said, you know how this is Hollywood, not the history channel.
My dad accepted that. And when people asked him how did he like the movie? He said that he loved the way it honored his soldiers. And so that was his core desire, uh, was to honor the sacrifice and commitment of his soldiers. And so when we talk differences, I do wanna highlight that the movie got that right and that's really in the end what my dad really cared about.
[00:29:43] LTC (R) Dave Siry: Oh, that's wonderful. Now, you mentioned that during the Vietnam era, army families could not remain in housing on post and also for your mother during the Korean War era, and they had to move off base during those times. Where did your mother choose to live while your father was serving in Vietnam?
[00:29:59] LTC (R) Steve Moore: I was 13 at the time, so I have a better remembrance of this than Dave.
Who is, I think five, four. Four, okay. Count those years. I, I
[00:30:08] COL (R) David Moore: went where I was told as long as there was dirt, mud that I
[00:30:12] LTC (R) Steve Moore: could play with. I was happy when the division deployed, the army gave all the families who are living on post. 30 days to vacate the quarters. And according to what I've read, there were 4 38 families who decided to remain in the Columbus area.
So that immediately put a huge demand on rental properties out. In Columbus, and I think that is one of the reasons why some of the families of the lower ranking and Vistage lower ranking NCOs were forced into some of the substandard housing. That was basically all that was available. Now, from our perspective, mom was able to rent a three bedroom.
Home, well, three bedroom home with five kids. You know, the math doesn't add up. And so my brother and I were in a small room on bunk beds and mom had a room, the second smallest room, and Dave, Cece and Julie were all in the what could be considered the primary bedroom. And there was no room in there for three beds.
So mom would put together an Army cot. Every night in future infantry, airborne Ranger, Dave at four years old would sleep on that every night and the cot would be disassembled during the daytime. So housing was scarce tough. But army wives are tough and they make do.
[00:31:46] LTC (R) Dave Siry: That's wonderful. Now, how do you think your parents exemplify the Army core values of loyalty, duty, respect, selfless service, honor, integrity, and personal courage?
I
[00:31:59] COL (R) David Moore: would at least first offer a
[00:32:01] LTC (R) Steve Moore: summarized approach,
[00:32:03] COL (R) David Moore: which is based on the values they brought to
[00:32:05] LTC (R) Steve Moore: the army, the values that they. Lived as a child, the values that were instilled upon them by their parents. Strong religious foundation, strong belief in faith in God, a strong value foundation of how to act, how to treat people.
How to conduct yourself. That's how they began. That's what they brought to the game, so to speak. And then as my dad would internalize West Point, he absolutely internalized the Army or the West Point value of never lie, cheat, or steal, nor tolerate those who do he strongly believed in duty on our country.
You mentioned he was a, uh, 45 graduate. He was a three year 45 graduate. You know, so he had to buckle down even harder because they didn't compromise the standard. He had to perform four years of academic study in three. And so the adversity that they grew up with from World War II through the depression years and the values, you know, that's what they brought to the game.
And then how they were. Subsequently trained at West Point, how they came together in faith and love in God as a couple, that's where you see the Army Value Foundation grow. So, however you, you slice the seven Army values, you can trace it all back to their, their foundational aspects of who they were, how they came together, how they chose to love each other, how they chose to raise us in faith, family, God respect, and basically those values that you see in the army.
Are the values that they found important in raising us and conducting themselves every day? You know, I think when you look at the Army values, it all goes back to take care of your troops. If you implement the Army values in your life and in your command philosophy, You're gonna take care of your troops.
And a couple examples of that, of first, and you know, we do have dad's letters back from Vietnam and just so like in Korea, he probably wrote Mom every three or four days as much as he could. And in many of those letters, given what I said earlier about the TV coverage, he complains bitterly about how the media focus on him.
Rather than the actions of his truths to go back to the movie. A great example of that is at the end of the movie when Mel Gibson is talking to Barry Pepper about. The aftermath of the battle and Mel Gibson tells Barry Pepper. Joe, you've gotta go tell this story. That was dad in Vietnam and there's probably 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 letters where he complains about having too much attention on him.
Rather than the focus being on the troops,
[00:35:08] COL (R) David Moore: I would say that one, you know, you talk about, am I having an effect? Am I having value? One of the letters that I
[00:35:15] LTC (R) Steve Moore: remember, I believe it was his, it was Christmas or Birthday, Steve, where he said that, uh, some of the NCOs came by and visited him, and he just felt really touched by that.
And the idea that these NCOs felt at ease enough. To then come at the time impromptu come visit the brigade commander and wish him well.
[00:35:38] COL (R) David Moore: That was
[00:35:39] LTC (R) Steve Moore: his validation of the love that he had for them coming back to him and validated that, you know, his leadership through his love of his soldiers was of value, I guess.
Uh, a couple more examples for the Vietnam War. Dad wrote in one of the letters, Sam, that he was touched, that one of the cooks. Came up to him and gave him a Saint Christopher medal. To protect him across the war. And to go with what Dave said, it shows how close dad was to his soldiers and how his soldiers valued him.
The other thing, and uh, Colonel Nadal, who was a company commander then, uh, told me that, As Plaku was getting built out, they would make, I guess, Quonset huts or something like that for the troops to sleep in, and Dad refused to move into a Quonset hut, remained in his tent until every one of his troops was housed.
In that better situation. The other thing was that dad was always at the front. Colonel Na would comment that dad was out there where he could get the sense of what was going on in the battle. And even some of the newspaper coverage talked about dad being right up with a lead platoon in a movement to contact or whatever.
And in fact, the bronze star for Bower he received, in addition to the D S E as a full colonel, was for going out and rescuing a wounded soldier under fire. How many brigade commanders are that close to the action? His sergeant majors recognize this in one of dad's. Most treasured awards was a designation as an honorary rifle platoon sergeant by the sergeant's major of the third brigade.
Dad absolutely loved his troops. He would share all their risks to ensure that they were properly employed and no wives would be. Unnecessarily wasted. And I think that was a lesson he learned back during the Korean War when he saw the disaster of Triangle Hill and bitterly complained in many letters back to Mom, how the commanding general of the seventh division at the time was just wasting men against a objective that was surrounded on all sides.
By Chinese positions that had no tactical value. Dad treasured the lives and the wellbeing of his troops, and that I think, is embracing all those army values, duty, respect, honor, et cetera.
[00:38:29] LTC (R) Dave Siry: Your father also had a commitment to fair and equal treatment for all of his soldiers.
[00:38:36] LTC (R) Steve Moore: Oh, absolutely. And as a division commander, he was frocked and sent up to the seventh division, which was, uh, racked by race riots at the time, and was able to basically make that connection with all the troops and ensure that everyone knew that they could rise as high as they possibly could.
And you know, there's a lot of talk about. Race and things like that, uh, today, and mom and dad grew up in a colorblind set of families. My grandfather wrote in a letter to my mom in 1977 that his great grandfather was run out of Louisiana because he would not accept slavery. Dad grew up in a committed Catholic family that absolutely rejected.
Any discrimination on the basis of skin color. In fact, at West Point in 1945, as June week was was coming up, there was a black cadet in his company and some of the other Firsties were planning on excluding that black cadet and his family from the graduation week activities. And Dad stood up, strongly objected, said he would not participate, and basically, Brow beat everybody else into realizing that that was a horrible, horrible decision that they were about to make.
And as a result of that, the Black family, the Black Cadet, was able to enjoy all the graduation week activities along with the rest of the company. Dad was absolutely committed that everyone in the Army only has one color, and that was green.
[00:40:19] LTC (R) Dave Siry: Your parents had a lifelong relationship with the Columbus, Georgia, Fort Benning, Fort Moore area.
Tell me a little bit about that.
[00:40:28] LTC (R) Steve Moore: Well, like many of us who were commissioned the infantry, our military life begins at Fort Benning. Even when I was commissioned and even before that at West Point, I attended Airborne School, I was called Fort Benning, Fort Beginning Dad after graduation, attended the Infantry Basic course there.
And began his relationship. He was shipped to, uh, the Pacific and actually received his airborne certification in the Pacific with the 11th Airborne, if I got that right, Steve. But often, as you know, based on your branch, you continue to return to a basic. Infantry installation, any installation? Steve being Fort Sill, although he saw the light and came over to Fort Benning for his advanced course training.
But dad returned to Fort Benning for infantry officer advanced course. He returned for an assignment, a command assignment, and even upon retirement, uh, spent many, many years providing Iran battle and leadership. Seminars to infantry officer, basic courses, advanced courses, NCO courses. So he became quite a fixture at Fort Benning based upon his retirement in Auburn, Alabama.
They'd spent half that time in Auburn, 45 minutes from Fort Benning, uh, as well as Colorado. But the times that he was in Alabama, he freely gave of his time to the infantry training center. I remember when I went to infantry basic training. In 1984, after my graduation, he and many other veterans came over and talked about the battle, and they didn't really just talk about the battle, but they talked about leadership, and that's what was really strong about Dad is that as much as possible he would bring in.
The NCOs, the officers that he could find into the conversation. So it wasn't just dad, but it was other officers. It was other NCOs, and he would highlight them and talk about what great soldiers they were and give them the opportunity to talk to us and much like, you know, should be seen and not heard.
He gave the NCOs the opportunity to get up and say, here's what I expect of you as an infantry lieutenant. Here's what I wanted you, here's how you should act. So he created shared value in those many, many years of contributing back. One of the greatest compliments that one of my classmates gave me was that he said, you know, an infantry ruck space and weight is valuable.
But I always carried the book. We were soldiers once and young. I had
[00:43:11] COL (R) David Moore: it dog-eared, I had it
[00:43:12] LTC (R) Steve Moore: underlined, and when I needed some leadership insight, I'd pull that book out and I'd read pieces of that to help me as a battalion commander. And so dad gave, and mom then subsequently gave much of their time to the Columbus, to the Benning community, and so much so that my dad's last wish was to be buried among his troopers at the Post cemetery and by the, uh, fortuitous grace of Mrs.
Jack gal offering a graveside next to her deceased husband killed in the Ira Jack gal, Sergeant Jack gal. Uh, my mother, sadly, in 2004 prematurely, was buried there, followed by my father in 2017. And so his last wish was to be buried among his troopers. So his military career began at Fort Benning, uh, sustained at Fort Benning, contributed back to Fort Penning, and finally eternally laid to rest at Fort Penny.
[00:44:13] LTC (R) Dave Siry: That's wonderful. Your father, in addition to being a, a tremendous leader and role model, also had a, uh, wonderful sense of humor. Could you share a story or two that, uh, that highlights that?
[00:44:26] LTC (R) Steve Moore: When mom and dad were married, of course it was a social event at Fort Bragg and there were, were the appropriate entries in the social pages of the local paper with the, uh, obligatory picture of the bride and groom coming out of the the church.
Well, dad saw that and he wrote up a totally different perspective on the wedding from his. Perspective as the groom. And he, he talked about what he was gonna wear, what he was wearing, quartermaster, white t-shirt, quartermaster black shoes, golden lapel, pins of cross rifles and things like this. And he sent it to the newspaper and it was published.
And all he wrote about mom was, uh, Julie Compton attended the ceremony. She wore shoes and uh, it was just hilarious when you read this thing. I think I put it up on Facebook on dad's page years ago, but that was 1945. And his sense of humor was endless. In fact, I guess the other thing he told me about, uh, the army, he smiled when he said this.
He said, if he can't take a joke, don't join the army. In other words, you've gotta be able to see the humor. Of service in addition to the serious aspects of it. And he earned the name of Captain Fun. My sister actually anointed him with this because of the way he would behave with his grandchildren. We would visit when my son was like two years old.
He would high build toys around the house for my son to find and uh, was always looking to make sure everyone. Was comfortable, had a good time, and could always see the fun and the humor in everything.
[00:46:13] COL (R) David Moore: I would highlight
[00:46:14] LTC (R) Steve Moore: one thing that, how that humor is manifested. My sister, Julie had a dog and my dad actually wrote a poem, an Ode to Dotty dog.
Yeah, so just think
[00:46:28] COL (R) David Moore: about.
[00:46:29] LTC (R) Steve Moore: What it takes to sit down and say, I'm gonna write a poem about your dog. You know, just, yeah. The way he would communicate his humor was surprising. I think that's what made it that much more special. And I'll give you another example. We had a birthday party in Norway, shared birthday for my brother, Greg and I, cuz we were.
Born a year apart, but only a week apart in terms of the days. And you know, when you think of a birthday party, you think of the normal kind of things, pin the tail on the donkey, you know, stuff like that, that parents do to create a, a fun event for their kids. Well, dad had a different take on this. He realized that everyone who was coming to this birthday party was a nine or 10 year old boy.
And so, uh, two of the games that I remember, One was he had a spitting contest to see who could spit the farthest and the, uh, the winner of that. The, the prize was a probably 15 inch macro, I mean a real fish, and I've got a picture of the winner of that contest holding this fish with the rest of us surrounding him on the steps.
Another game that we played was everybody body go find a rock in the driveway, and we lined him up on the porch. And you had to push the rock across the finish line with your nose and you know, nine, 10 year old boys. We love that. That's a great example of. Dad's sense of humor and sense of fun.
[00:47:58] LTC (R) Dave Siry: Just this morning I read the, uh, article your dad wrote about his wedding and, and, uh, he spends a whole page describing what he wore.
It was wonderful.
[00:48:08] LTC (R) Steve Moore: Yeah. One of
[00:48:08] COL (R) David Moore: the things real briefly
[00:48:09] LTC (R) Steve Moore: that my, uh, my daughter, when we were visiting Colorado, she asked for some ice cream. So he went to the, uh, the freezer and got the whole quart piece. And basically came down and plopped it in front of her and gave her a spoon and she
[00:48:24] COL (R) David Moore: was like, what do I do?
[00:48:27] LTC (R) Steve Moore: Yeah. Cause he liked to put us in unfamiliar kind surprise situations you some ice boom. She remembers that. To this day. Seeing that whole thing ice cream
[00:48:38] COL (R) David Moore: for at
[00:48:40] LTC (R) Dave Siry: when the fort is rededicated to, to Fort Moore. Your parents' names will be etched in stone, but they were real people. And, uh, we've talked about a bunch of stories so far, but what can you share with me that illustrates who your parents were on a personal level?
[00:48:57] LTC (R) Steve Moore: I think the one that just jumps to mind, uh, to me as a result of the discussions I've had with. My brothers and sisters was the way my parents would always show love to each other. And it was in the little ways, in a touch on the shoulder and things like that. And my, my sister remembered that, uh, sometimes at at home when she was living with them.
For a couple years with her, her two daughters, uh, they would start singing an Anne Murray song of I think, could I Have This Dance and, and Dance Together in the Kitchen. They were totally engaged and with each other and, and I think I'll quote Dave in one of his earlier interviews, their relationship was the relationship every married couple would want.
Uh, they were. Just one with each other. And in fact, when. When mom died, it just destroyed dad and you could see the change in him from 2004 to 2017 when he passed away. They were so close together and so much one person that when one of them was subtracted, it was noticeable.
[00:50:15] LTC (R) Dave Siry: Before I get to the last question where I ask you if there's anything that I've missed, there was one story that we talked about at one point.
Tell me a little bit about the over 21 couch.
[00:50:26] LTC (R) Steve Moore: That's a, a great example of the challenge of being in a military family. I was
[00:50:32] COL (R) David Moore: never allowed on it.
[00:50:36] LTC (R) Steve Moore: I never sat on it either. I only sat on
[00:50:38] COL (R) David Moore: it when my parents were gone
[00:50:42] LTC (R) Steve Moore: just to say I did. So we had a living room in, uh, Washington and one of the Washington assignments. And of course we had a family room downstairs where everybody hung out. So the living room was kind of its own pristine environment. My mom bought a beautiful white couch to be the centerpiece of this living room, and she told all of us kids, You have to be over 21 to sit on that couch.
She did not want anything spilled on it. She didn't want dirt to get on it, all that kind of stuff. Well, a year later, it's now time to move and that couch has been moved from the living room where it was probably covered with dust cuz it was never used out to the yard, waiting to be loaded onto the moving van and a neighborhood dog promptly walked up.
And lifted its leg on this treasured couch. And to me that encapsulates the entire story of what it means to be a military family and have to move every year or two. You know, we moved 28 times across their 32 year career, and I know mom remembers that dog. Lifting its leg better than any other move that she had to, to live
[00:52:00] LTC (R) Dave Siry: through.
That's fabulous. Are there any stories or any, anything that you want me to know that I haven't asked?
[00:52:06] LTC (R) Steve Moore: There's a lot of family sayings. You know, dad had his four rules that are,
[00:52:11] COL (R) David Moore: are very well known, but we have a
[00:52:13] LTC (R) Steve Moore: lot of other family sayings and I think one of the. Things that dad would always say is, I spent his final years with him in 2010.
You know, he succumbed to dementia and I retired and moved down there as a great gift. It was a blessing for me to do this, but he would always remember, teach a kid to fish and they'll never go wrong. You know, that was one of the things he always said, teach a kid to fish and I'll never go wrong. So fishing has always been a part of our family life.
Just one of those things that was embedded in his upbringing. He was out in the Kentucky woods a lot, loved to fish, taught us the outdoors. And I think that saying is a good summary of an attitude of, of both of them. My mom,
[00:52:59] COL (R) David Moore: uh, you know, couldn't get married unless
[00:53:00] LTC (R) Steve Moore: she loved fishing and she became a fisherman, an outdoors woman, Cross country ski. I think just that one saying, teach a kid to fish and they'll never go wrong. Present them the outdoors. Be with them in the outdoors. Present them those opportunities and you'll raise them right in life.
[00:53:18] LTC (R) Dave Siry: Well, gentlemen, this has been absolutely wonderful talking with you today, hearing the stories about both of your parents. We can look forward to the, uh, rededication of Fort Moore.
[00:53:30] LTC (R) Steve Moore: Thank you for having us.
[00:53:33] Narrator: This has been a production of the WPAOG Broadcast Network. Please take a moment to rate and review the show and join us each week for a new episode. Thank you for listening.