Major General Bryant Edward Moore (June 6, 1894 – February 24, 1951) was a

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the primary Land warfare, land service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is designated as the Army of the United States in the United States Constitution.Article II, section 2, clause 1 of th ...

officer An officer is a person who has a position of authority in a hierarchical organization. The term derives from Old French ''oficier'' "officer, official" (early 14c., Modern French ''officier''), from Medieval Latin ''officiarius'' "an officer," fro ...

who commanded the 8th Infantry Division during and after

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, and the IX Corps in the

Korean War The Korean War (25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953) was an armed conflict on the Korean Peninsula fought between North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea; DPRK) and South Korea (Republic of Korea; ROK) and their allies. North Korea was s ...

Biography

Early life and military career

Moore was born in

Ellsworth, Maine Ellsworth is a city in and the county seat of Hancock County, Maine, United States. The 2020 United States census, 2020 Census determined it had a population of 8,399. Named after Founding Fathers of the United States, United States Foundi ...

, on June 6, 1894, to Nettie Haley Moore and Edward Grafton Moore. He had three siblings: John Leroy Moore, Margaret Moore Coolidge and James Moore. His father ran and then later owned Moore's Pharmacy on the corner of Water Street and Main Street in Ellsworth. The family home was on State Street, located on the hill across from the First Congregational Church. He graduated from Ellsworth High School and was educated at the Sorbonne in

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France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

, and at the

United States Military Academy The United States Military Academy (USMA), commonly known as West Point, is a United States service academies, United States service academy in West Point, New York that educates cadets for service as Officer_(armed_forces)#United_States, comm ...

(USMA) at

West Point, New York West Point is the oldest continuously occupied military post in the United States. Located on the Hudson River in New York (state), New York, General George Washington stationed his headquarters in West Point in the summer and fall of 1779 durin ...

, where he graduated in August 1917. Moore was fluent in French and served as an instructor in the Department of Modern Languages at the

(USMA) at

, from 1925 to 1929. He graduated from the Infantry School Commanding Officers' Course in 1930 and the

Command and General Staff School The United States Army Command and General Staff College (CGSC or, obsolete, USACGSC) at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, is a graduate school for United States Army and sister service officers, interagency representatives, and international military ...

in 1939.

World War II

In the early days of

, Colonel Moore commanded the 164th Infantry Regiment on Guadalcanal. After promotion to the

general officer A general officer is an Officer (armed forces), officer of high rank in the army, armies, and in some nations' air force, air and space forces, marines or naval infantry. In some usages, the term "general officer" refers to a rank above colone ...

rank of brigadier general, he later fought with the 104th Infantry Division as the assistant division commander (ADC). The 104th was commanded by Major General Terry Allen. He was later promoted again and commanded the 8th Infantry Division in Europe. Under his command, the division liberated the

Neuengamme concentration camp Neuengamme was a network of Nazi concentration camps in northern Germany that consisted of the main camp, Neuengamme, and List of subcamps of Neuengamme, more than 85 satellite camps. Established in 1938 near the village of Neuengamme, Hamburg, N ...

. In late 1945 he commanded the 88th Infantry Division in

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

until it was inactivated in 1947.

Postwar

In the immediate post-war period, he commanded the occupation of Yugoslavia, holding

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, successfully keeping out Tito's troops. His wartime promotion to major general was made permanent on January 27, 1949. From 1949 until 1951, Moore was superintendent of the United States Military Academy at West Point. During the

, under General

Matthew Ridgway Matthew Bunker Ridgway (3 March 1895 – 26 July 1993) was a senior officer in the United States Army, who served as Supreme Allied Commander Europe (1952–1953) and the 19th Chief of Staff of the United States Army (1953–1955). Although he ...

, one of his classmates from the West Point class of 1917, he led the IX Corps in Operations

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, Killer and Ripper. It was during these operations that Moore's helicopter crashed into the Han River near

Yeoju Yeoju (; ) is a Administrative divisions of South Korea, city in Gyeonggi Province, South Korea. Yeoju was a county but was raised to the status of a city in September 2013. Together with the neighboring city of Icheon, it is known as a major ce ...

. He died a few hours later from an apparent heart attack after having gotten help for the surviving pilot and crew, on February 24, 1951. The account of his service to America was entered into the United States Congressional Record by

Maine Maine ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the United States, and the northeasternmost state in the Contiguous United States. It borders New Hampshire to the west, the Gulf of Maine to the southeast, and the Provinces and ...

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Margaret Chase Smith. Moore was promoted to the rank of four-star general posthumously. He was buried in the cemetery of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point on the

Hudson River The Hudson River, historically the North River, is a river that flows from north to south largely through eastern New York (state), New York state. It originates in the Adirondack Mountains at Henderson Lake (New York), Henderson Lake in the ...

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, his body being one of the first to be repatriated to American soil during a war. Bryant Moore married the former Margaret "Peggy" King, also from Ellsworth, and they had two daughters, Margaret and Barbara. Moore was well known for his diplomatic abilities as well as being fluent in French and an expert in military strategy and military science.NARA-AAD records

References

External links