Duke o Brewery
8/11/2006, 09:20 AM
God bless 'em:
http://newsok.com/article/2829297/
Burying a real Sooner hero
By Berry Tramel
The Oklahoman
We buried another hero Thursday. The real kind.
Harry Moore was 84. We remember him as co-captain of OU's first national title team in 1950. Successful oil man, good golfing buddy, beloved husband and father.
But before he was any of those things, Moore helped save America.
Before he ventured to Ames and Stillwater, Lincoln and Lawrence, Moore journeyed aboard the USS Idaho to Attu and Kiska, Makin and Tarawa, Pacific islands which swung World War II momentum.
We are losing Harry Moores by the minute. Sixteen million Americans served in World War II. More than 400,000 never made it home. The Veterans Administration estimates only 5 million remain. More than 1,000 World War II vets a day die. Three or four will go in the time it takes you to read this tribute.
Moore spent 61 months in the Marines and earned four battle stars for his service. Then he came to Norman and helped Bud Wilkinson build the Oklahoma football monster.
Jim Tatum and Wilkinson energized the Sooners in 1946 by recruiting returning veterans. Wilkinson's first team, 1947, counted 31 veterans among its top 33 players.
Jack Mitchell and Darrell Royal, Myrle Greathouse and Homer Paine.
Buddy Burris earned three battle stars fighting in both Europe and the Philippines. Ken Tipps was a bombardier/navigator on B-29s in Guam.
Dee Andros was a field cook but shed his apron at Iwo Jima and was awarded the Bronze Star for heroism beyond the call of duty. Jake McAllister spent 40 months as a combat engineer fighting the Japanese.
Big John Rapacz was a Marine who stormed the island of Roi in South Pacific, digging foxholes to avoid Japanese fire. Norman McNabb spent three years as a Marine, enduring a skin burn across his back during savage fighting in Saipan and Iwo Jima.
Eddy Davis was wounded in the battle of the Rhineland, tripping a Nazi land mine. "For six months he lay in various army hospitals," Harold Keith wrote in his book, 47 Straight, "but when the war ended, he returned to Norman, enrolled in the university, bought a half interest in a restaurant and, eating his own steaks, averaged 8.5 yards per carry through the last six games of 1946."
Sixteen million Americans served. Every single one a unique story. This is Harry Moore's.
Moore was born April 29, 1922, in Grant County, grew up in Blackwell and graduated in 1940. His dad died that year, and Moore went to work in the zinc smelter to support his mother and two sisters.
War arrived on Dec. 7, 1941, and Moore joined the Marine Corps in 1942. He played a little football at St. Mary's pre-flight, then was assigned to the Idaho.
Moore never talked much about his war days, daughter Michelle Hughes said, except for his best friend, Frank Gifford. Gifford, the best man at Moore's wedding, died at sea.
Moore rose to the rank of second lieutenant, became the admiral's orderly and stayed in the Marines five years.
He came to Norman in 1947 as a 25-year-old freshman, a year behind the other veterans who would transform OU football.
Moore was third-string as a sophomore, an alternate as a junior and an all-Big Seven center as a senior.
"Harry was a great personality," said Claude Arnold, OU's 1950 quarterback and himself a veteran of the war. "Everybody knew him. Everybody loved him.
"Good football player. Great leader on that team. Everybody looked up to him. Just had a lot on the ball."
Moore played behind Charlie Dowell in 1949. Dowell's father was a Tulsa oilman who took the coaches out to dinner the night before games.
"I always got beat out on Friday night," Moore cracked, and maybe he wasn't kidding.
In those pre-facemask days, Moore played with dental bridgework that was knocked out one game by a Kansas State foe. The OU game film caught Moore crawling around on his hands and knees, searching for his false teeth, a scene that was quite a hoot to his Sooner teammates.
But Moore was a leader. Voted co-captain in 1950 along with fellow veteran McNabb, Moore was 28 during that Sugar Bowl season. He's believed to be the oldest Sooner player of the modern era.
"They were five and six and seven years older than we were," Dick Ellis, who arrived on campus in 1949 and became Moore's lifelong friend, said of the veterans. "Married, had children. Different environments.
"They were just more serious about going to school. I guess they were more serious about football."
When you've dug foxholes and had your back burned and lost your best friend and saved the nation, you tend to be a little serious.
Moore received a petroleum engineering degree from OU, went to work for the Western Company in Texas and then started oil companies in Cushing and Oklahoma City.
A memorial service is set for 2 p.m. today at Edmond's First Presbyterian Church.
"Harry was a wonderful guy," Ellis said. "We're going to miss him a lot."
We're going to miss all these heroes.
http://newsok.com/article/2829297/
Burying a real Sooner hero
By Berry Tramel
The Oklahoman
We buried another hero Thursday. The real kind.
Harry Moore was 84. We remember him as co-captain of OU's first national title team in 1950. Successful oil man, good golfing buddy, beloved husband and father.
But before he was any of those things, Moore helped save America.
Before he ventured to Ames and Stillwater, Lincoln and Lawrence, Moore journeyed aboard the USS Idaho to Attu and Kiska, Makin and Tarawa, Pacific islands which swung World War II momentum.
We are losing Harry Moores by the minute. Sixteen million Americans served in World War II. More than 400,000 never made it home. The Veterans Administration estimates only 5 million remain. More than 1,000 World War II vets a day die. Three or four will go in the time it takes you to read this tribute.
Moore spent 61 months in the Marines and earned four battle stars for his service. Then he came to Norman and helped Bud Wilkinson build the Oklahoma football monster.
Jim Tatum and Wilkinson energized the Sooners in 1946 by recruiting returning veterans. Wilkinson's first team, 1947, counted 31 veterans among its top 33 players.
Jack Mitchell and Darrell Royal, Myrle Greathouse and Homer Paine.
Buddy Burris earned three battle stars fighting in both Europe and the Philippines. Ken Tipps was a bombardier/navigator on B-29s in Guam.
Dee Andros was a field cook but shed his apron at Iwo Jima and was awarded the Bronze Star for heroism beyond the call of duty. Jake McAllister spent 40 months as a combat engineer fighting the Japanese.
Big John Rapacz was a Marine who stormed the island of Roi in South Pacific, digging foxholes to avoid Japanese fire. Norman McNabb spent three years as a Marine, enduring a skin burn across his back during savage fighting in Saipan and Iwo Jima.
Eddy Davis was wounded in the battle of the Rhineland, tripping a Nazi land mine. "For six months he lay in various army hospitals," Harold Keith wrote in his book, 47 Straight, "but when the war ended, he returned to Norman, enrolled in the university, bought a half interest in a restaurant and, eating his own steaks, averaged 8.5 yards per carry through the last six games of 1946."
Sixteen million Americans served. Every single one a unique story. This is Harry Moore's.
Moore was born April 29, 1922, in Grant County, grew up in Blackwell and graduated in 1940. His dad died that year, and Moore went to work in the zinc smelter to support his mother and two sisters.
War arrived on Dec. 7, 1941, and Moore joined the Marine Corps in 1942. He played a little football at St. Mary's pre-flight, then was assigned to the Idaho.
Moore never talked much about his war days, daughter Michelle Hughes said, except for his best friend, Frank Gifford. Gifford, the best man at Moore's wedding, died at sea.
Moore rose to the rank of second lieutenant, became the admiral's orderly and stayed in the Marines five years.
He came to Norman in 1947 as a 25-year-old freshman, a year behind the other veterans who would transform OU football.
Moore was third-string as a sophomore, an alternate as a junior and an all-Big Seven center as a senior.
"Harry was a great personality," said Claude Arnold, OU's 1950 quarterback and himself a veteran of the war. "Everybody knew him. Everybody loved him.
"Good football player. Great leader on that team. Everybody looked up to him. Just had a lot on the ball."
Moore played behind Charlie Dowell in 1949. Dowell's father was a Tulsa oilman who took the coaches out to dinner the night before games.
"I always got beat out on Friday night," Moore cracked, and maybe he wasn't kidding.
In those pre-facemask days, Moore played with dental bridgework that was knocked out one game by a Kansas State foe. The OU game film caught Moore crawling around on his hands and knees, searching for his false teeth, a scene that was quite a hoot to his Sooner teammates.
But Moore was a leader. Voted co-captain in 1950 along with fellow veteran McNabb, Moore was 28 during that Sugar Bowl season. He's believed to be the oldest Sooner player of the modern era.
"They were five and six and seven years older than we were," Dick Ellis, who arrived on campus in 1949 and became Moore's lifelong friend, said of the veterans. "Married, had children. Different environments.
"They were just more serious about going to school. I guess they were more serious about football."
When you've dug foxholes and had your back burned and lost your best friend and saved the nation, you tend to be a little serious.
Moore received a petroleum engineering degree from OU, went to work for the Western Company in Texas and then started oil companies in Cushing and Oklahoma City.
A memorial service is set for 2 p.m. today at Edmond's First Presbyterian Church.
"Harry was a wonderful guy," Ellis said. "We're going to miss him a lot."
We're going to miss all these heroes.