Joe Moser to throw out first pitch at Mariners-Yankees game August 16!
Joe is just about as excited as he could be. He and his wife Jean will be the special guests of the Seattle Mariners this coming Sunday when Joe will throw out the ceremonial first pitch. Given that they are two of the biggest Mariner’s fans around this couldn’t be more exciting. To all of you in the Northwest, come and cheer Joe on! Hopefully, we’ll have pictures and a story to follow after the big game.
President Obama to visit Buchenwald
Just found out that Pres Obama will visit Buchenwald on June 5. We are doing our best to help convey to his staff that this would be a wonderful opportunity to recognize the 82 Americans who were held there for two months and who narrowly averted execution. These heroes have never been officially recognized by our government, the German government and the Buchenwald memorial. America is the only nation not officially represented as having victims included in the Buchenwald memorials. If anyone can assist in helping us rectify this injustice, please let us know.
Front page of the Seattle Times
I know this is a little late but Joe’s story was featured on the front page of the Seattle Times on Sunday, May 24, the day before Memorial Day. What a terrific job Jack Broom the reporter did. Our thanks to him and to the editorial staff of the Times for recognizing Joe and in so doing giving honor to those men who served with Joe and all our veterans. I am so grateful to be a part of the much deserved recognition that Joe and many others are getting because of Joe’s story getting out and being told.
The books are in!
Just delivered the first order to Village Books in Bellingham so if you live around here you can get them at Village Books in Fairhaven. Amazon will get their shipment soon so you can order there or order direct from the publisher at www.joemoserstory.com.
A Big Day–January 16–the books arrive
Finally, the books are arriving. The first 400 are coming tomorrow I am told. What an exciting day. But there is much more exciting news to tell about Joe and how he will be honored for what he has done.
We are setting up a special website for the book: www.joemoserstory.com. The title is now: A Fighter Pilot in Buchenwald: The Joe Moser Story. You can order from Amazon now or the order form to order direct from the publisher should be live tomorrow. In the meantime, anyone can email me at gbaron@piersystems.com to have a copy sent.
And now, to the printer!
Finally, after over two years of work, Joe’s book will be going to the printer in a few days! Just finishing up some captions on the photos. My apologies to any site visitors for my absence from this site but between my day job and focusing on getting the book finalized, just haven’t had the time.
We have changed the title: “A Fighter Pilot in Buchenwald.” And the subtitle is “Joe Moser’s journey from farm boy to fighter pilot to near starvation in a Nazi concentration camp.” Had some good feedback from friends regarding title and subtitle that I hope will help.
Some great comments
If you haven’t visited this site for a bit (like me unfortunately) you may not have seen these recent comments. It is so exciting to hear from vets like Harry Guinther who experienced similar trials, and especially from Andrew Lamason, a great nephew of Joe’s hero Phil Lamason. Andrew and Henry–Joe will be thrilled to hear from you. Some day I will get him on the internet–until then, I will print your messages and share with him. These things make him very happy!
Chapter 17: Coming Home
Finally! Just finished final chapter. Feels great to be done. I was surprised in writing this how emotional it was for me dealing with Joe’s home coming. That is one of the great joys of working on this story, is putting myself in Joe’s place as best I understand and trying to experience with him what he went through. He conversation with Elise, the operator, kind of got to me.
Chapter 15 Death March posted
I read a few months ago in one of the military history publications an article about Europe’s version of the death march. The term death march when applied to World War II is generally understood to be Bridge Over the River Kwai stuff and Bataan. But the European theatre did have its death march and Joe Moser was in along with about 10,000 other Allied flyers. In late January they were marched out of Stalag Luft III for 65 miles in minus 28 degree snow to the city of Spremberg. A number of them didn’t make it. Joe almost didn’t. While he had regained about half of the weight he lost in Buchenwald, he was still undernourished and weak from that ordeal. I’ll let you read the story but leave it to say that Joe remains hugely grateful to his two American roommates who risked their own lives to save his.
I tried to imagine and convey to you the misery of those six days on the dark, bitter roads of eastern Germany. I know that I can neither imagine it nor can I summon up the words to describe the bone-gripping cold, hunger, exhaustion and overall misery. I hope your imagination is stimulated to at least try to understand what these young men endured. I can think of no better way to honor them now.
44 Missions–Chapter 14 Posted
There have been lots of good stories written about fighter pilots, their heroic exploits, their memorable battles against skillful enemies. I grew up with these stories–collected every book I could find about WWII fighter pilots. I viewed them as chivalrous knights of the sky, the last true solo warriors doing their best one on one against the best the enemy could put up against them.
That is the heroic, romantic image and to tell the truth, I don’t want to give it up. Because part of it is still true. But an increasingly small part. The reality is more prosaic, more mundane, more real. Getting to know Joe has helped make the reality of a fighter pilot’s life more visible than I thought possible. I keep thinking about this sweet, incredibly quiet, incredible humble and loveable old gentleman as a 22 year old P-38 jockey. In many ways it doesn’t compute, but in many other ways it does. Joe is just an average, well, Joe. But of such was the Greatest Generation made. And that makes him and his kind far from average. They were just regular old boys, farm boys, construction boys, manufacturer boys, lawyer boys–just boys who learned how to manage the fastest most powerful technology weapons the brightest in our land could design at the time. They climbed into them early in the morning, late at night. Flew them into the air where the temperatures matched the South Pole, dove them toward the ground until their machines almost flew apart in their hands. They woke up in the morning groggy and tired and wearied of climbing into the freezing cockpit one more time knowing that today just very well might be their day. They returned home after hours of flying or dodging flak that was so close they felt they must be covered in soot from the explosions. And when they did, they frequently found their bunkmates gone forever, perhaps in the hands of the fearful enemy or plowed deep into the ground with the burning hulk of their machines above them.
43 missions completed–that’s what Joe did. There was more great flying in them than I could possibly convey. More heroics and fear and dread and sorrow than he has been able or willing to tell me. But after spending what little time I have with him, I know just a little bit more what it meant to be a 22 year old kid climbing into those cramped cockpits and facing fear and uncertainty every day. 43 missions. Just an ordinary man doing what hundreds of thousands of his fellow warriors did. I hope somehow in telling his story here I can convey my deep gratitude, respect, appreciation and awe over what he and so many others did.
