About Bidwell Moore

Bidwell Moore, the son of a regular army officer, graduated from the Punahou School in Honolulu in 1935 and West Point in 1940. Assigned to the 26th Infantry as an anti-tank platoon leader, Moore remained with the regiment, an element of the 1st Infantry Division, until July 1944 when he was transferred to the 5th Field Artillery Battalion, also an element of the 1st Division. This unusual personnel action resulted from an interview with Lt Gen "Beetle" Smith, Eisenhower's chief of staff, who was interviewing Moore for the post of American aide to General Bernard Montgomery. General (later field marshal) Montgomery was the designated field commander of the British and American troops who would make the Normandy invasion. General Smith commented that Montgomery did not permit smoking, was Moore prepared to stop smoking forthwith. At the time both the General and Moore -- the latter at the General's invitation -- were smoking cigarettes. When Moore demurred, General Smith indicated that the interview was over.. "I'll authorize you to stay in London for a few days holiday. Can I do anything else?" Moore said that he had seen most of his service in the artillery part of the infantry and he would like to go to the Tank Destroyers., then a provisional branch of the Army. Six months later Moore was officially transferred to the Field Artillery where he spent the rest of his military career. In the meantime he returned to his command of the 26th's anti-tank company in Dorset, England, whence he took the company (modified British six-pounders towed by armored half tracks) in to Omaha Beach. Earlier he had served on the staff of the 1st Battalion of the 26th Infantry -- Oran landing through Kasserine and El Guettar -- then with the death of a friend (mine) became the CO of the anti-tank company. In July 1945 Moore took a battalion of General Clay's support troops to Berlin where he stayed until October. Later he served in Switzerland as an assistant military attaché. His touch with World War II concluded with his assignment as escort officer and aide to the visiting NATO Ground Force Chief, General Hans Speidel, former chief of staff to Field Marshall Rommel.