Harold G. Moore

West Point, 1945

Be Thou At Peace

Posted by Sam Burney '64 on February 19, 2017:

As a young officer serving during the VN era, I was familiar with the legend that was Hal Moore long before I came to know the man. In those days, he was a hero to many of us...the kind of man we admired, the sort of commander we hoped to serve under, and the type of courageous leader we strived to be. His rise from the rank of LTC to BG in a few short years gave evidence Army leadership held him in the same high esteem we junior officers did. He was admired by all. I retired from the Army in 1984 and moved to Auburn AL. In early 1991, my son, Rick (at that time a First Classman at West Point who was working on a term paper for History of the Military Art) called home to ask if General Moore lived in Auburn. I said "No, if he did I am sure I would have heard of it." Rick said he was doing background research for a paper about the battle at LZ X-Ray, and a magazine article indicated the General had a home in Auburn. I pulled out the phone book, looked up his name, and was shocked to learn he did, indeed, live here. I gave Rick the phone number, and he called the General to ask if he could stop by to talk about the battle when he was home on leave. General Moore graciously invited Rick to come by for a chat whenever the opportunity arose. It was typical Hal Moore...always generous with his time and himself. It was also typical of Hal Moore that I had lived in the same small town for 7 years without knowing he lived there...he was a humble man who would never bring attention to himself. General Moore and his wife personified what a loving, welcoming couple should be. Julie Moore was the tie that bound Hal to Auburn. Her father, Colonel Compton, had served as PMS at what had been the Alabama Polytechnic Institute and the family stayed in Auburn after he retired from the military. Newly minted Infantry officers undergo branch training at Ft Benning, about 30 miles southeast of Auburn. Like many other young officers before and after him, Hal Moore would fall in love with and marry an Auburn girl. Julie Compton would prove the perfect mate for Hal...a gracious, charming, and lovely lady who bore him 5 children as they traveled the world together during a career in the military. When Julie gained widespread recognition as a result of her portrayal in the book, and later the movie, "We Were Soldiers Once...And Young," she bore it with casual aplomb. There was nothing false or phony about Julie Moore...she was as much a person to be admired as was her beloved Hal. Their love was special, and after Hal lost her in 2004, he was never really the same man. Last Friday evening, we lost a very special man. Those of us who were privileged to know him can tell those who were not what a giant of a man he was, but we cannot expect them to comprehend. Like them, we never fully understood until he came into our lives. He was a commanding presence...he was blessed with handsome features and he kept himself ruggedly fit. He was a man who set very high standards...he held himself to the same lofty ideals he demanded of others. He was capable of great love...no one who observed the care and devotion he showed to his family and his troopers could ever doubt how much they meant to him. He was a man of faith...the Catholic religion was the cornerstone of his life. He was an honorable man...no one who knew him ever doubted his word. He was a man of immense loyalty...right up until his passing, he continued to be the father-figure who held survivors of LZ X-Ray together through reunions and personal contact. He was the epitome of what an officer and a gentleman should be. "Duty, Honor, Country" was the motto that defined his life. General Hal Moore was special. Would there were more like him. We were lucky to have him. He has gone to his beloved Julie. As a concluding stanza of the Alma Mater famously says, "And when our work is done, Our course on earth is run, Let it be said, Well done!! Be thou at peace." Surely, the General has gone to his just reward. Rest in Peace, Sir!!

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