Bryant Moore

Major General Bryant Edward Moore (June 6, 1894 – February 24, 1951) was a United States Army officer who commanded the 8th Infantry Division during and after World War II and the IX Corps in the Korean War. A K-8 school is named after him.

Childhood and education
He was born in Ellsworth, Maine on June 6, 1894 to Nettie Haley Moore and Edward Grafton Moore. He had three siblings: John Leroy Moore, Margaret Moore Coolidge and James Moore. He graduated from Ellsworth High School and was educated at the Sorbonne in Paris, France and at the United States Military Academy in New York, where he graduated in the class of 1917. His father ran and then later owned Moore's Pharmacy on the corner of Water Street and Main Street in Ellsworth. The family home was on State street, located on a hill above the corner where the store was located and situated across from the First Congregational Church.

Personal life
Bryant Moore married the former Margaret "Peggy" King, also from Ellsworth, and they had two daughters, Margaret and Barbara.

Military service
Moore was well known for his diplomatic abilities as well as being fluent in French and an expert in military strategy and military science.

In the early days of World War II, Col. Moore commanded the 164th Infantry Regiment on Guadalcanal. After promotion to general officer's rank, he later fought with the 104th Infantry Division as Assistant Division Commander under Terry de la Mesa Allen. He was later promoted again and commanded the 8th Infantry Division in Europe. Under his command, the division liberated the Neuengamme concentration camp. In the immediate post-war period, he commanded the occupation of Yugoslavia, holding Trieste, successfully keeping out Tito's troops. From 1949 until 1951, Moore was superintendent of the United States Military Academy at West Point. During the Korean War, under General Matthew Ridgway, he led the IX Corps in Operations Thunderbolt, Killer and Ripper. It was during these operations that General Moore's helicopter crashed. He died a few hours later from an apparent heart attack after having gotten help for the surviving pilot and crew, on February 24, 1951. The account of his service to America was entered into the United States Congressional Record by Maine Senator Margaret Chase Smith. Moore was promoted to the rank of four-star general posthumously.

He was buried at the United States Military Academy at West Point on the Hudson River in New York, his body being one of the first to be repatriated to American soil during a war.