UNITED STATES AIR FORCE 
INFORMATION FROM THE WALL
CMS - E9 - Air Force - Regular
36 year old Married, Caucasian, Male
Born on Dec 09, 1929
From BATON ROUGE, LOUISIANA
His tour of duty began on Oct 31, 1965
Casualty was on Oct 31, 1965
in BIEN HOA, SOUTH VIETNAM
Hostile, died captured
GROUND CASUALTY
Body was not recovered
Religion
BAPTIST
Panel 03E - - Line 9
Photo Courtesy of his Daughter, Diane
MOORE, THOMAS
Name: Thomas Moore
Rank/Branch: E6/US Air Force
Unit: 6250 Civil Engineering Squadron
Date of Birth: 09 December 1929
Home City of Record: Baton Rouge LA
Date of Loss: 31 October 1965
Country of Loss: South Vietnam
Loss Coordinates: 10400N 1070000E (YS224805)
Status (in 1973): Prisoner of War
Category: 1
Acft/Vehicle/Ground: Ford Truck
Other Personnel in Incident: Charles Dusing; Samuel Adams (both POW), Jasper
Page, escapee.
REMARKS: 6512 DIC-ON PRG DIC LIST
Source: Compiled from one or more of the following: raw data from U.S.
Government agency sources, correspondence with POW/MIA families, published
sources, interviews. Updated by the P.O.W. NETWORK.
SYNOPSIS: On October 31, 1965, four U.S. Air Force personnel were captured
while traveling by truck from Vung Tau to Saigon. This incident occurred on
Route 15 at grid coordinates YS224805, just on the border of Binh Hoa and
Gia Dinh Provinces of South Vietnam. The individuals involved in this
incident are SSgt. Samuel Adams, SSgt. Charles Dusing, TSgt. Thomas Moore,
and SSgt, Jasper Page.
On November 2, 1965, while being taken to a detention camp, Jasper Page,
managed to escape and return to U.S. control. It was reported that Samuel
Adams had been shot during the same escape that freed Page, but a defector
identified Adams' photo as a prisoner at a later date. CIA's analysis of
this identification has been inconclusive. The names of all three appeared
on the died in captivity list furnished by the Provisional Revolutionary
Government (PRG) in 1973 at the Paris Peace Accords. The list reflected that
they had died during December 1965, but no details were given.
When 591 Americans were released at the end of the war in 1973, Adams, Dusing
and Moore were not among them; their names were on a list. No bodies were
returned to their families, even though the Vietnamese clearly know where to
find the three men. Since that time, Vietnam has doled out handfuls of remains
as the political atmosphere seemed appropriate, but Adams, Dusing and Moore
remain unaccounted for.
The three are among nearly 2500 Americans who remain missing in Indochina.
Unlike "MIA's" from other wars, most of these men can be accounted for.
Tragically, over 8000 reports concerning Americans still in Southeast Asia have
been received by the U.S. since the end of the war. Experts say that the
evidence is overwhelming that Americans were left behind in enemy hands. It's
time we brought our men home.
===============================
Diane Moore visits her father, Memorial Day Weekend 2005
From: "Moore, Nora D Ms EAMC"
To: "'info@pownetwork.org'" <info@pownetwork.org>
Subject: I wrote this last night, it came all of a sudden and i wanted to
share it
Date: Fri, 10 May 2002 08:20:37 -0400
I am the daughter of a forgotten HERO. I am the daughter of an Airman who
gave his life and his freedom for me.
In the most feeble attempts of writing this I can only hope that when
someone reads it that they attempt to understand my feelings, I can not
write for my sisters, I can not write for the other children of war, I can
however bring to the fore front the differences between Killed in Action and
Missing in Action.
There are many Americans who do not have the littlest idea of what it is
like to try to comprehend what war does to children, from the smallest
toddler to the oldest child who tries to understand why my daddy went away.
I have wonderful friends who know what it is like to loose a parent, many
whose parent was lost to heart attacks, car crashes, and suicides. These
friends and I acknowledge each other's lost and understand the loneliness of
being without mom or dad. However there are only a few of us who understand
those loses coming from war. We all share in the same questions, the same
heartaches, and the same wishes. The biggest shared question being the "What
If".
I have read so many stories from the Children of the Wall, Children of the
Vietnam War dead. The ones whose names are forever carved into black
granite. Well over 58,000 names of men and women, who stand vigil night and
day to remind those who pass in front of them That Freedom has a price, and
that price is not money, but blood of fellow Americans.
Reading stories from Vets, history and other materials is what has educated
us to believe many things about Vietnam. Some good and some bad. Movies have
done the same.
I was a young girl of 11 when my dad went into his Missing in Action status.
Later it was confirmed that enemy forces while returning to base after a
24-hour pass had captured him and three of his friends.
My dad and the others in the wrong place at the wrong time. No way to defend
themselves, nor did they have the chance.
A simple return to base that ended up a terrifying event.
Years have gone by, which in turn have turned in to decades. My sisters and
I have families of our own, and my father has grandchildren and a great
grand son. Yet there is still the man who is Missing.
I remember like other children of our time the Yellow Cab delivering the
telegram, the one that makes mom cry out a very heart-breaking sob.
I remember like others those words, We regret to Inform you...
And the other words depending on the status were either, your husband has
been Killed in Action or is Missing in Action.
This is where my story will differ from other Sons and Daughters of the
Vietnam war, except for a small number. As you see there are less that 2,000
men still listed now has Missing in Action. So that means we MIA kids are
very few, the forgotten ones.
When my dad went Missing I remember asking the big question of my 11 years.
What do you mean my daddy is missing, and why can't they find him. How do
you lose a grown up man, . This followed me all my life, even after growing
up , it is hard to understand why my dad and the other MIA's cannot be
accounted for. And it is really hard to understand if it is the men who were
last seen alive.
Year after Year, the haunting realization comes, daddy is not coming home.
Yet there is no body to bury, there is no funeral, there is not a grave to
visit, there is nothing. NO closure.
We were and are still expected to take the harsh reality of our dads Missing
in Action and to get on with our life's. And WE DID. With little of no help
from any one but our moms and each other , but the each other only came
after we were grown.
Our country was torn apart by Vietnam, our flag was burned by Americans, men
and women protested our presence in South East Asia, some dodged the draft,
and those who went to served were spat upon when they returned,. They were
called baby killers, and no one wanted any thing to do with them, no ticker
tape parades no welcome homes.
Coffins with flags draped on them returned to American soil and the children
grieved, and said good-bye to daddy.
Yet those whose bodies did not come home were never thought about except by
the families and friends. There were those who were Killed in Action bodies
not recovered or returned but evidence to the fact that they indeed were
killed. Those families are like us MIA families. They have the that same
haunting feeling, could my dad still be really alive.
Telegrams came, in the thousands, widows were made, and children grew up to
fast.
My mom got hers, and I grew up, the oldest of three girls is not easy. My
Christmas's Turned into learning how to put toys together, and wrap gives
that Santa is supposed to do.
I even learned how to change fuses at 11, and by the time I was 14 I could
change the oil in the car.
Yet I was protected somewhat by my mom, she did a great job raising my
sisters and me, the best she could do. Yet she could not stop those who told
me my dad was also a baby killer, who spat on my sisters, and me or who told
me my dad deserved everything he got.
That is hard to understand when you are a little girl, still hard for me to
understand now.
Plus mom told us to not talk about dads case, as she said it might not be
good for those men who are POW's and if daddy is a POW we don't want to
jeopardize his coming home.
Neither was it a good idea to talk with men who had been over there because
we don't what to upset them. Whether or not those men were uncles or even
cousins.
Now years later we have talked with the men who served and came home , we
learned about our dads, and we learned about Vietnam. The men were just as
glad to talk as we were to listen.
Yet there is still a difference in the MIA kid, we talk to the Vets, we
listen to them, we ask them questions and they help a lot.
We share our stories with others , but our dad's stories are as some would
like to say still to political. So not to many people will ask us to speak
at functions, yet we still hear, get over it.
We truly have no real place in the Vietnam organizations out there, and
don't get me wrong, there are a few that we belong to. Yet I can truthfully
say there is fewer that really recognizes who we are. There are those who
say that they are working towards the POW MIA issue , but only use it to
benefit them when it is needed.
No one knows what it is like to live year after year wondering where is my
dad but the MIA child, no one can even come near telling me they understand
unless it is another MIA kid.
No one but the MIA child or family member knows what the Missing Man
Formation means unless you lost your dad to a plane crash some where and his
remains were never found, or a small hand full of broken fragments comes
decades later. No on but the MIA child or family member understands the
Table Ceremony for the POW MIA , no one but the loved one who sits in
silence with a tear as the meaning is read.
To feel happiness and jealously at the same time is another feeling that is
something we deal with , happiness when another MIA is found , recovered,
and returned to his home land and to his children and loved one, jealousy
when you want so much to be standing the same way, Watching a flag draped
coffin being so gently carried to a final resting place ,wishing it was your
turn to say good-bye.
To my fellow MIA sisters and Brothers, we are very special, we are children
who have kept the eternal flame alive that our dads gave us when he became
our dad.
Our dads may have been forgotten, by the general population, and we may but
a few, but we have a voice and we have the time to make sure we continue the
legacy our moms put before us.
As this memorial day approaches we all need to remember.
Never Forget.
Diane Moore
Proud Daughter of
CMSGT THOMAS MOORE-USAF
POW-MIA unaccounted for October 31 1965
Nora Diane Moore
N.R.E.M.T.- Paramedic
EMS Educator/Lead Instructor
Hospital Education & Training
Eisenhower Army Medical Center
Ft. Gordon, Ga.
706-787-2695
Note: 12/18/2004
Thomas Moore was the only T/sgt at the time of the capture, the others were
S/sgt. Of course all of their ranks are now CMS(E9). And of course Jasper
Page is a retiree.
Also you may put my email addy on the bio <<norad65@comcast.net>>
Thanks, Diane
