George Van Horn Moseley, Jr.

Who was George Van Horn Moseley, Jr.?

George Van Horn Moseley, Jr. was born in Fort Sam Houston, Texas on January 4, 1905, the son of George Van Horn Moseley and Alice Dodds Moseley. His father, then an officer in the 1st Cavalry Division, later rose to become a Major General and Vice Chief of Staff of the Army during the Hoover Administration. Colonel Moseley grew up on Army posts and in Washington DC, where he graduated from Western High School in 1922. He graduated from the United States Military Academy in 1927, He subsequently served on various assignments, obtained a Masters Degree, taught English at West Point and served in Tientsin, China as a Company Commander with the 15th Infantry Regiment during the 1930s. He commanded, trained and jumped into Normandy with the 502d Parachute Infantry Regiment on D-Day 1944., June 6, 1944. He was injured on the jump but refused to be evacuated, commanding his regiment from a wheelbarrow for two days. After convalescing in England, he returned to the United States to command the 2d Parachute Training Regiment at Fort Benning, Georgia. He attended the Naval War College at the end of World War II.

In 1946 Colonel Moseley retired to Grafton, Vermont, where he had owned a home for many years. Because of his expertise on China, he returned to serve with HQ Far East Command during the Korean War. Later he served as Commandant of Cadets at Norwich University. He was awarded the Legion of Merit and the Purple Heart and died in 1976 in Montague, Massachusetts.