Finding Aid for the Thomas E. Moore Second World War correspondence 2016.084.w.r

Andrew Harman

Center for American War Letters Archives

8/10/2016

Leatherby Libraries

Chapman University

Orange, CA 92866

speccoll@chapman.edu

URL: http://www1.chapman.edu/library/archives/

Contributing Institution: Center for American War Letters Archives

Title: Thomas E. Moore Second World War correspondence

source: Moore, John T.

Identifier/Call Number: 2016.084.w.r

Physical Description: 2 Linear Feet (2 cartons)

Date (inclusive): 1942 January 1 - 1946 January 18

Abstract: This collection consists of approximately 400 letters from Lt. Thomas Eugene Moore, USA, to his wife, Mary Ruth Montgomery Moore, during and after the Second World War.

Language of Material: English .

Container: WWII 15

Container: 1-6

Container: WWII 18

Container: 24-26

Container: Oversize 1

Container: 13

Container: WWII 16

Container: 7-14

Container: 1-8

Container: WWII 17

Container: 15-23

Container: 1-9

Conditions Governing Access

This collection is open for research.

Immediate Source of Acquisition

Gift of the children of Thomas E. and Mary M. Moore. Donated by John T. Moore.

Arrangement

This collection is arranged by material type and date:

Series 1: Correspondence from Gene to Peggy
Series 2: Correspondence from Gene to parents
Series 3: Correspondence to Gene and Peggy
Series 4: Photographs
Series 5: Book.

Biographical / Historical

Thomas Eugene Moore was born January 4, 1922 in Holdredge, Nebraska. A shortening of his middle name earned him the nickname "Gene," the name he uses throughout his correspondence with Mary Ruth Montgomery, who went by the name "Peggy" because her uncle liked to sing "Peg of My Heart" whenever she came around as a child. Born January 11, 1921 in Palisade, Colorado, her family, through a series of moves around the country similar to the Moores, found themselves in Arizona while Gene and Peggy were still children.

They met in Tuscon at a Wesley Foundation meeting in February, 1942 and shared their first kiss two months later on the first day of April.

Three days later, April 4, 1942, Gene joined the United States Army from Phoenix. He had participated in his high school ROTC (Reserve Officers Training Corps) and CMTC (Citizen Military Training Camp) prior to his service while attending the University of Arizona. In 1941 he was too young to earn his reserve officer commission, but the age was lowered to 18 after Pearl Harbor and the breakout of the war. He boarded a train in Phoenix on April 11 to begin training in Los Angeles.

He reported to Company B, 81st Battalion, 17th Infantry Regiment as a Second Lieutenant the next day and his military correspondence to his girlfriend Peggy began. He served from April 1942 to February 1944 with the 125th Infantry Regiment, moving between bases in Palo Alto, CA, Fort Benning, GA, and Fort Ord, CA. He and Peggy married during that time on August 14, 1943. He was transferred in February 1944 to the 391st Regiment, 98th Infantry Division based in Hawaii where he spent the war training. He explained to Peggy in a letter on their second anniversary in 1945 how he felt having never fought in the war and the scene in Hawaii at war's end. Lt. Moore was eventually transferred to Japan as part of the occupation forces where he stayed until the correspondence ends in January 1946. The 391st was inactivated February 16, 1946 in Japan (from the Center for Military History, United States Army).

Preferred Citation

[Item title, Box number, Folder number], Thomas E. Moore Second World War correspondence (2016.084.w.r), Center for American War Letters Archives, Chapman University, CA.

For the benefit of current and future researchers, please cite any additional information about sources consulted in this collection, including permanent URLs, item or folder descriptions, and box/folder locations.

Content Description

This collection consists of approximately 400 letters from Lieutenant Thomas E. "Gene" Moore, United States Army, to his wife, Mary "Peggy" Moore, during and after the Second World War. Lieutenant Moore wrote to his wife frequently while in communications and infantry training at several Army bases around the country. He then transferred to another infantry unit and was stationed in Hawaii, where he continued infantry training until the end of the war. He continued correspondence as he was shipped to Japan for occupation duties until early 1946.

There are also three letters from friends to Lieutenant and Mrs. Moore and one letter to Mary Montgomery (her name before marriage) about work at a Quaker camp in 1942, as well as two photo albums of Lt. Moore during the war.

Conditions Governing Use

There are no restrictions on the use of this material except where previously copyrighted material is concerned. It is the responsibility of the researcher to obtain all permissions. For further copyright information, please contact the archivist.

Subjects and Indexing Terms

World War (1939-1945)

United States -- Army -- Pacific Theater of Operations

United States. -- Army.

Zoot Suit Riots (Los Angeles, California : 1943)

World War (1939-1945) -- Hawaii

Correspondence -- World War, 1939-1945

World War (1939-1945)

Military training camps

Moore, John T.

Moore, Thomas E.

Moore, Mary "Peggy" Montgomery

box WWII 15, folder 1-6, document-box WWII 16, folder 7-14, box WWII 17, folder 15-21

Series 1, Correspondence from Gene to Peggy 1942 January - 1946 January

Physical Description: 1.5 Linear Feet(21 folders)

Language of Material: English.

Scope and Contents

This series contains letters from Lt. "Gene" Moore, USA to his wife, "Peggy" Moore, during the Second World War prior to enlistment in 1942 to the end of his occupation duties in Japan in 1946. Also included with some of the letters are miscellaneous photographs and ephemera such as dinner menus and cards sent along with the correspondence.

Of interest:

June 3, 1944, continuous letter that ends on June 6 (D-Day) and he mentions that the men on base (Hawaii) are "rather on the happy side tonight, because we can all begin to see the end in sight and of course, it means the time we can all go home."

box WWII 17, folder 22

Series 2, Correspondence from Gene to parents 1945 August - 1945 November

Physical Description: 0.025 Linear Feet(1 folder)

Language of Material: English.

Scope and Contents

This series contains correspondence from Lt. "Gene" Moore, USA to his parents during the end of the Second World War from August to November 1945. The first letter, August 19, 1944, discusses the celebration of the end of the war while still stationed in Hawaii. The other two letters were sent from Japan while on occupation duties. Included in the second letter are a series of small black and white photos originally sent with the correspondence.

box WWII 17, folder 23

Series 3, Correspondence to Gene and Peggy 1942 January - 1945 October

Physical Description: 0.025 Linear Feet(1 folder)

Language of Material: English.

Scope and Contents

This series contains correspondence to Lt. "Gene" Moore, USA and his wife, "Peggy" Moore, during the Second World War. Some letters are to Mary Montgomery (Peggy) before they married and some are addressed to both Gene and Peggy.

Authors to Peggy:

mother and father, Gene's mother, Esther Rhoads (American Friends Service Committee), Lieutenant Charles Montgomery (brother), Captain L.E. Eaton, Lieutenant Don M. Rickard, Helen Murphy.

Author to Gene:

One letter signed "Herb" (no envelope).

Authors to both:

Corporal Ray C. Osborne.

box WWII 18, folder 24-25, folder 1-2

Series 4, Photographs 1942 - 1944

Physical Description: 0.25 Linear Feet(2 photo albums)

Language of Material: English.

Scope and Contents

This series contains two black photo albums with black and white photographs of Lt. "Gene" Moore and his wife, "Peggy" Moore, during the Second World War. One album contains photos of ROTC training, military training, recreation, tanks, and some photographs of Peggy and her friends at home and at school. The second album contains photos of Lt. Moore and his unit while stationed in Maui, Oahu, Saipan, and Japan during the second half of the war, including some professional landscape photos of the island. The photos include shots of training, landscape, flamethrowers, mortars, living spaces, VE Day celbration, and various photos of Osaka during the occupation. The album ends with photos of the journey home to America. Some photos are in color.

box WWII 18, folder 26, folder 3

Series 5, Book 2015

Physical Description: 0.1 Linear Feet(1 book)

Language of Material: English.

Scope and Contents

This series contains one book, All My Love, Gene: The World War II Letters of Lt. Thomas E. Moore, by John T. Moore. The book contains some photographs and narrates the story of Lt. Moore from his meeting of his wife, Mary "Peggy" Montgomery, in 1942 until the end of his war experience when he left his occupation duties in Japan in February 1946. The story also includes Gene and Peggy's childhood. It also as it fills in the gaps of the story with family history not contained in the content of the correspondence collection.