Julia Compton Moore

Julia Compton Moore
Julia Compton Moore
	Julie Moore in 2002
Born	Julia Compton; February 10, 1929; Fort Sill, Oklahoma, U.S.
Died	April 18, 2004 (aged 75); Auburn, Alabama, U.S.
Burial place	Fort Moore Main Post Cemetery
Occupation(s)	Army daughter, wife, and mother
Spouse	Hal Moore (m. 1949)
Children	5

Julia Compton Moore (February 10, 1929 – April 18, 2004) was the wife of Hal Moore, a United States Army officer. Her efforts and complaints in the aftermath of the Battle of Ia Drang prompted the U.S. Army to set up survivor support networks and casualty notification teams consisting of uniformed officers, which are still in use.

In 2023, Fort Benning, Georgia, was renamed Fort Moore in honor of Moore and her husband.

Early life and education

Compton was born in Fort Sill, Oklahoma, the only child of future U.S. Army colonel Louis J. Compton and Elizabeth Boon Compton. Julie would grow up as an "Army brat" and experience numerous relocations as the family followed Colonel Compton. Julie described what an "Army brat" was in a 1996 letter.

The term "Army Brat" does not fall into the dictionary meaning of a "a nasty child". Far from it. Used with warmth, its special meaning is a child born into an Army family. Army brats the world over, many of whom knew each other while growing up on various Army Posts, are constantly running into each other all their lives. They are, in themselves, a kind of "family" - each member of which knows what it means to have lived their youth in an Army family constantly on the move and in a disciplined Army environment.^[1]

From Fort Sill, the family travelled to the Fort Stotsenburg in the Philippines on the US Grant where Compton commanded a field artillery battery for 38 months. The army in the 1930s was very formal, and Julie recalled her parents telling her they had to be ready to formally receive visitors each evening. Louis and Elizabeth would lay out their formal clothes on the bed and quickly change into them if a visitor arrived.^[2]^{[citation needed]} Following the assignment in the Philippines, the family was stationed at Aberdeen Proving Ground in Maryland; Washington, D.C.; Fort Leavenworth, Kansas; and with their final tour of duty at Fort Bragg, North Carolina. Colonel Compton commanded the Army Field Forces Board #1. Julie's future husband, Hal Moore, was a parachute tester under his future father-in-law's command.

From the age of 12, while the family remained in Chevy Chase, Maryland, her father had multiple different assignments during World War II requiring him to serve in numerous different locations. As the commander of the 15th Army, Colonel Compton oversaw the deployment of the unit from Fort Sam Houston, Texas, to the European theater. His troopship, the SS Empire Javelin, was sunk in transit to France. As a result of the discipline of the troops, all but three survived the sinking. Upon return of her father from World War II in December 1946, the family moved to Fort Leavenworth, followed by Fort Bragg in 1948. While World War II was her first exposure to war, she would experience it again when her husband served in the Korean War and Vietnam War, and one of her sons fought with the 82nd Airborne Division in Panama and the Persian Gulf War.^[3]

Compton was a graduate of Chevy Chase Junior College in Chevy Chase, Maryland, and attended the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, as a member of Pi Beta Phi sorority, prior to her marriage.^[3]

Career

Wherever her husband was stationed, Moore served as a Brownie and Girl Scout Leader and Cub Scout Den Mother. She volunteered with the Red Cross in the Army hospitals. She supported the day care centers and worked with the wives clubs to take better care of the enlisted soldier and his family. Moore was especially active in setting up the Army Community Service organizations that are now a permanent fixture on all army posts and which assist each soldier as they process into their new duty stations.^[3]

Vietnam

The Ia Drang Campaign was the first major ground engagement involving U.S. forces in Vietnam. The Army had not yet set up an adequate system of notifying the next of kin of battlefield fatalities. Instead, the telegrams were given to taxicab drivers for delivery,^[4] as depicted in the film We Were Soldiers. Unlike the film depiction, Moore did not actually assume responsibility for the delivery of the telegrams, however, she accompanied the cab drivers who delivered the telegrams and assisted in the death notifications, grieving with the widows and families of men killed in battle, and attended the funerals of those who fell under her husband's command. Her complaints to the Pentagon, and the example that she set, prompted the Army to immediately set up notification teams consisting of a uniformed officer and a chaplain.^[5]

Death

Moore died on April 18, 2004, and is buried at the Fort Moore Main Post Cemetery, near her mother and father, and in the middle of the 7th Cavalry troopers killed in action at Landing Zone X Ray.^[5] Her husband died in 2017 on her birthday, and was laid to rest beside her.^[6]

Legacy