A Son Finds his Father

If your finding this post and are interested then you are in for a treat. As you may know I have taken up the banner to find my cousin Richards father. I have worked very closely with his wife Rachel for some time and might I say we have worked. We literally have combed through thousands of documents, obituaries, city directories, Facebook, social security death index, libraries, newspapers and every document that could be searched for World War II soldiers serving in Dorset, England that we could open and look at.

Ethel (Harry) Austin Moore and his son Richard John Hanger have been reunited. There have been many tears shed by all involved but might I also say there has been much rejoicing had by all involved in this search. I am only sorry there wasn't Ancestry DNA autosomal testing before 2003 or the father and son pictured above could have been reunited much sooner. In fact it was because of Ancestry DNA and it's unique combination of DNA testing combined with such a large database of family trees that allowed this mystery to be solved. I am a complete DNA novice until I got my test results I had never even read about how you locate relatives or build trees from cousin matches with hints I can only say a wonderful third cousin match and many hours of digging into 4rth all the way up to 8th cousin matches yielded the tree that pinpointed Harry. The most rewarding work was completed with the help of Edna, Larry, and Deborah close relatives of Richards who supplied the beautiful portrait directly to Richard.

Larry supplied the details of what happened that could have interfered with him returning to Bournemouth England and being reunited with Marjorie Hanger. Harry was severely wounded while storming a fox hole and taking Germans prisoner during the War his injuries were so severe he was placed in a full body cast and sent home. He received a silver star and a purple heart for his bravery along with a letter from General Patton. Harry would walk with a limp for the rest of his life due to the injury.

Edna provided details of Harry to Richard about his father that we could not have dreamed of ever having. Harry was a loving, caring man who was well liked by all who knew him. He retired from the Coca-Cola plant in Greer where she once walked over to say hello with her parents and remembers the day clearly.

Richard will make the journey from Australia to Woodlawn Cemetery to visit his fathers resting place in the near future.

For all who helped and shared stories, and emails and sometimes midnight calls helping me sort this out, Thank You!

A Prayer was Answered.

Weymouth

I spoke with Rachel this morning with a wonderful clue that may help find Harry Moore. Marjorie Hanger had a brother who owned a pub called The Belvedere Inn in Weymouth in 1944 it was mentioned in a book called Doctor Danger as a local favorite of the soldiers who were stationed there. In reading the book I came to realize there weren't that many soldiers in the town as early as December 1943 or January 1944 it would have been the setup troops who would have gone ahead in preparation for D-Day in June 1944. The book details the 18th Combat Regiment as being some of the first soldiers to arrive there.

The Belvedere Inn Weymouth

I have also been combing through records searching for casualties of the War and noticed a large amount of Harry or Harold Moore without dates and locations which one could it be?

I have combed through cemeteries with WW2 headstone requests looking for clues as to a unit for any Harry Moore that fits our pattern the above images are instructions on where to bury the soldier who died in the War some would be sent home some could not.

I contacted several World War 2 researchers and enthusiasts and haven't had an answer yet but we will continue to search the records and daily check the DNA matches to see if we can find Harry Moore.

If anyone knows of a War Baby group or someone who specializes in searching for American GI fathers please email us at findingharrymoore@gmail.com with your hints and or advice. The more people we have helping the better the odds of locating helpful information.

A Son Looks for his Father

This is the story of a son looking for his father and why it matters. The details of this story were brought to my attention a little more than three days ago it happened by chance when checking my highly anticipated Ancestry DNA results. I was thrilled to see my over 400 fourth cousin matches and equally curious about them all when I received a message from a fifth to eighth cousin match in Perth Australia from Richards wife Rachel. Her husband Richard was looking for his father and he was an American Soldier during World War II stationed in Dorset England around January 1944.



Marjorie Hanger is Richards mother she was in the Woman's Land Army billeted in Dorset, England.

Marjorie can be seen to the far right in this photograph. The Women's Land Army (WLA) was a British civilian organisation created during the First and Second World Wars to work in agriculture replacing men called up to the military. Women who worked for the WLA were commonly known as Land Girls. In effect the Land Army operated to place women with farms that needed workers, the farmers being their employers.


You may be aware that this was just before D-Day in June 1944 when allied troops flooded into Dorset making preparation and providing infrastructure for troops.

"Soldiers-english-coast" by Photograph from the Army Signal Corps Collection in the U.S. National Archives. http://www.history.navy.mil/photos/images/ac00001/ac00727c.htm. Licensed under Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons.

Harry Moore would be one of these American Soldiers stationed in Dorset, England. There are no details of what branch of service he was in or when he left Dorset, all that is known is that Marjorie fully expected Harry to return but alas he never did. Let's fast forward to October 1944 and Marjorie had a handsome son with a good disposition it would be hard but with the help of her parents she would make a way for them.

Marjorie always found work to make ends meet and held her head up, if you ask me she had spunk and that goes a long way in raising a child by yourself. Later in 1950 Marjorie married and carried on with her life.




Richard went on to be a very industrious man and married his fair maiden Rachel in the 1960's gaining a lifelong help-mate.

Richard and Rachel have done all the work they can do to help locate Harry Moore they have performed Y-DNA tests to locate his Moore Paternal line on such sites as FTDNA and Ancestry being ever diligent and checking connections as they arise looking for that hint please Lord we need a second cousin match or the final clue that will give him his modest wish to see a photograph of his father and to know who he comes from.





Marjorie passed away in 2010 and with her any details that may have helped locate Richards father. I understand this could be a delicate subject for our potential Harry Moore to deal with, and to be honest I thought about this before writing this blog and I decided it would be up to Harry Moore and his children to help us locate him. Why does it matter to me a distant cousin half-way around the world? Simple I share DNA with Richard he is part of my extended family and as a member of his family I feel it is only right that he find Harry Moore or what happened to him. Richard is an American Son born in England and one of our own.




With the help of all who read this no matter what your level of expertise we can FIND HARRY MOORE and we will. If you or someone you know has any information about Harry Moore please message us at findingharrymoore@gmail.com if you find this name is familiar and you are a close relative you can help by testing your Y-DNA at FTDNA or Ancestry.