'Command team' rooted in faith

By Sarah Wiese
For The Catholic Week
Hundreds of young soldiers, decorated veterans and military supporters gathered in Columbus, Ga., on May 11 for the rededication and naming of Fort Moore Maneuver Center for Excellence (formerly Fort Benning) in honor of Lt. Gen. Hal Moore and wife Julie, one of the Army’s most influential couples and parishioners of St. Michael the Archangel Parish in Auburn until their passings.
Gen. Moore, a Korean and Vietnam War veteran, is best known for commanding 1st Battalion, 7th Cavalry Regiment, in the Battle of Ia Drang Valley in 1965. This was one of the first major engagements of the Vietnam War and one of the first air assault campaigns. Often on the ground sharing the risks with his troops, Gen. Moore earned numerous awards and made lasting impressions on those throughout the military.
Julie is most noted for her leadership supporting Army wives and families responding to the flood of casualty notices after the Ia Drang Valley battle, leading to total reform of the Pentagon death notification policy.
As a unique “command team,” Gen. and Julie Moore are nationally recognized as “an extraordinary combination of courage, fighting spirit and devotion to the welfare of those who serve this Nation and their families.”
More intimately, the Moores were known to rely on the teachings and foundation of Jesus Christ through the Catholic faith as a source of strength and guidance as they raised a family and supported their nation.
Growing up a daily Mass-attending Catholic in Bardstown, Ky., Gen. Moore carried his faith with him throughout his life. He championed and advanced the understanding of God-given human dignity of his soldiers throughout his service, leading from the front in combat and developing needed personnel and policy reforms from the office.
In a 2008 interview with National Catholic Register, Moore shared how his Catholic faith carried him through the hardships of his life:
“(Catholicism) has been a source of comfort and inspiration to me. In battle, and at other tough times, I called on God to help me, to protect me and my men and to help me accomplish my mission. (My faith) played a major role in getting me through two wars without being killed or gravely wounded.”
After his retirement, Lt. Gen. Moore returned as a parishioner to St. Michael the Archangel Parish, where he continued his daily Mass attendance. Fr. Frank Sofie, pastor of St. Michael from 2000 to 2005, remembers Moore coming to Mass early, kneeling down to pray for the men that died in war.
“He was a true witness of the importance of the Eucharist in one’s spiritual life,” Sofie said. “It’s something that he carried with him through his whole life: devotion to Mass.”
Later, Moore’s prayer list increased to include his wife’s cancer diagnosis. Fr. Sofie remembers that, despite her diagnosis, Julie’s joyful spirit often comforted those who came to do the comforting, something she often did as a Red Cross Volunteer, in her work with the Officers Wive’s Clubs, in the many individual visits she made to homes when fatality notices were delivered, and at the local funerals of every soldier lost in combat in her husband’s command, except for one.
The one she missed was that of Sergeant Jack Gell, the first funeral at Fort Benning for a 1st Battalion casualty. She was so saddened by her own absence and lack of notification that she, according to Moore’s book “We Were Soldiers Once … And Young,” “called Survivors Assistance and told them in no uncertain terms that they must inform her of every 1st Battalion death notification and of every funeral for a 1st Battalion soldier at the post cemetery.”
She never missed one again.
Fr. Sofie quite understands why Lt. Gen. Moore and Julie Moore would be one of the Army’s most influential and beloved couples.
“I remember the last line of my homily for Julie’s funeral. ‘Sir, you may be a General, but your wife was a queen.’ The strength of their marriage, their commitment to each other, all grounded in faith in Christ. It was a beautiful thing to be able to witness their love for each other.”
Together, the Army couple were influential on and off the base. The installation rededication honors a lifetime of “America’s highest standards of command and compassion.”
“Compassion, respect, duty, and most of all love for their fellow human beings …That was Hal and Julie Moore,” said former U.S. Marine Corps Corporal Richard "Bud" Allen, an Ia Drang veteran.
“I have the utmost respect for both of them, not just because of their military record, which is incredible, but because of their faith commitment,” Fr. Sofie says. “They were outstanding Christians and Catholics. We can learn much from their devotion to the Eucharist and to Mass.”
Lt. Gen. Moore died in 2017 at the age of  94 and Julie Moore died in 2004 at the age of 75. Both are buried in the Fort Moore Cemetery. They lie next to Sgt. Jack Gell and their beloved troopers who were killed in action at Landing Zone Xray in Vietnam in 1965.
Their son David and wife Teresa live in Auburn and are members and ministry leaders at St. Michael Parish.
— For more information about the Moores and the justification for rededicating the base, visit www.fortmoore.com.