Staff Sergeant Henry L Moore - Crew Chief / 302nd FS, 99th FS, 100th FS - Italy 1944/45
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For every pilot there were often 10 or more men in a ground crew to maintain and repair the aircraft with an NCO in charge of the overall team. The pilot’s lives depended on these men and they in turn took pride when one of their charges returned from a successful mission and grieved when one did not come home. Both the ground crews and pilots of the Tuskegee group had to stay longer in the field as there were not enough replacements in the pipeline to relieve them. The AAF still being a segregated force did not integrate until 1947.
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last update 5/17/2001
Henry Lincoln Moore was born in Georgia in the town of Ocilla on April 8, 1921. Ocilla was in the cotton belt of Georgia. Henry had two older brothers and two younger sisters. His father the Rev. Andrew Washington Moore was a self taught bible scholar and a well-trained wagon and carriage mechanic who could find work only as a farmer. Even with the restrictions on his ability to find work, the family did well on rented land as a sharecropper. They managed to accumulate livestock, including horses and a carriage until a house and barn fire destroyed their holdings in the early 1920's. With the growth of KKK (Klan) activities in the state and county where they lived, life became increasingly repressive for families like the Moores. They were not able to recover from the losses and farming was not at all profitable in the 1930's depression era. His mother Mrs. Eliza Moore was a schoolteacher and possessed the equivalent of a 10th grade education. She had a talent for mathematics, which she passed on to Henry. She stopped teaching when the Negro schools that existed at that time began t require college training. Henry's parents, both of who had been previously married brought 9 other children to the marriage. Henry had fourteen siblings of whom 11 lived at home at one time. This was not unusual as there were often cases of combined families and the more hands to till the farm and care for the livestock the better. Henry being born in the 20's his grandparents could tell him of the times when they were born into slavery. He can trace his family back to the 1830's to the farms and plantations in the surrounding area of Ocilla.
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Henry relates that they lived outside of the recognized Negro section of the town and felt the frustration of having to walk often shoeless to the segregated school four to five miles away while the white students could go to school close to his home and by bus. Seeing the differences between the races and classes at an early age only fueled the frustration he felt. Eliza Moore motivated her children to achieve an education. Most of the siblings took jobs in the sugar cane fields of Florida and farther from home in other states after leaving high school. Some move to black communities near the small Negro college towns of the era, and gain their education as part time students while working for white people near the colleges.. The Moore children took Eliza's advice and each eventually gained their educations. Florine, Mollie and Nettie all received Degrees from Albany Normal College; Fred and Ben completed at least two years at Georgia State College. Most found jobs in teaching and the insurance industry. Eventually 2 obtained Masters Degrees and one a PHD. Florine became Supervisor of Schools in Manatee County, Florida. The Florine Abel Elementary School of Bradenton is named after her.
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Henry graduated as valedictorian from Ocilla High School in 1940. Like many young people at that time he decided to go North to try to escape the segregation and poverty. The local white postmistress secretly said to him "Linc, there is nothing here in Georgia for you to do" In Ocilla Henry was know as Linc a contraction of his middle name Lincoln. As was the law at the time, Henry informed his local draft board that he was leaving Ocilla and headed north to Newark New Jersey to stay with a sister. Opportunities were not any better there for Henry. Though the defense industry was starting to boom, jobs for young black men were not available. Says Henry, "If you were an elevator operator or had a similar job it was thought that you were doing well. I worked as a waiter and a cook. There were no black Rosie the Riveters" He so detested the racism and segregation that he was considering going to Canada when he got the letter of greetings from his local draft board. It had not taken long for his name to be submitted after he left Ocilla.
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At Fort Dix New Jersey the bus load of draftees from Newark arrived on September 22 1942.
Immediately on unloading their names were called and the men were turned over to two corporals, one white and one black. The segregation was about to begin again. After the names were called his white friends from the neighborhood in Newark were led away and he never saw them again.
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While at Ft. Dix New Jersey Henry was tested and drilled for about two weeks. The recruits were then sent via train to Buckley Field, Colorado near Denver. It seemed arbitrary that he was assigned to the Army Air Corps, but he saw it as a streak of luck. It was only recently that Negroes were accepted into the Army Air Corps. Everyone on the train, perhaps 200, was destined for the 86th Aviation Squadron on the base. "Aviation Squadrons" were no more than work battalions or service units set up by the Army Air Corps to contain black draftees during the war. The camps were no better than those set up to contain the Japanese civilians during the war, and more degrading because of the hypocrisy attached to it. Duties performed by these "soldiers" were often of the most menial conceivable. Typical duty was to "police the area", i.e. pick up all the paper and other trash in your way as you walk around base. One was required to walk by the all white squads that were being professionally trained to be Airmen. It was considered a luxury to be given training, periodically in close order drill or survival training and health issues. It was more common for a request from Base Headquarters for a "squad" from the 86th to work at the commander's HQ.
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During November 1942, Henry began awakening to the fact that opportunity to advance would only come when self-activated. One thing that seemed clear was that the officers (all white) in the squadron seemed to sympathize with the black soldiers plight, and offered any incentive they could for advancement. The men were encouraged to apply for any openings offered, and all openings to black soldiers were posted. Henry took most all the tests offered. He has absolutely no desire to go to the OCS (Officers Training School) and become the sole black officer, perhaps the adjuutant, in a work battalion. He was given that opportunity due to his IQ scores but turned it down.
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Having been a Jazz trumpeter in dance bands n the South, he thought he would make a good band director. he was good at playing "swing" as played in the large, 20 piece, orchestras at the time. Fact is, he had the opportunity to "sit in" in several bands, notably Noble Sissle which entertained on the base and played in Denver. he took the tests for this at Buckley Field but did not pass. Henry did not have the experience in military or high school bandsman ship.
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By December 1942 Henry really wanted to fly. He had only a high school education and was told that black Aviation cadets had to have college training, even though white cadets could enter cadet training from High school if they passed the tests. Soon, the requirement was eased for blacks and Henry had the opportunity to apply for Aviation cadet training. His brother, Ben, had just been commissioned a 2nd Lieutenant in the Field Artillery, and had completed Air cadet training at Tuskegee for observation pilots flying the Piper cub. Henry was the only black in a group of about 40 who took the test for Air Cadets and Lowery Field, Colorado. Time went on and he did not hear back from the test. The word was that the test was offered to blacks only to compile a list of candidates. It seemed them that with all of his attributes, that Henry would be stuck "For the duration of the war" in a black work battalion. Then came the opportunity to take the test for airplane mechanic training. This seemed to be an opportunity in the waiting! Henry took the test (a pass- fail) at his base Buckley Field and passed. It seemed to him that is was the same test he had taken for Aviation Cadet training. It consisted of basic, Math (Algebra), History, English, Geography, etc. There were perhaps 10 or more from the squadron who took and passed the test. They were immediately put on orders to report to school for Airplane Mechanics. It was a cold day in January when the men boarded a public train from Denver to Lincoln Nebraska. When they arrived at Lincoln Air Base, they were met by an all white staff and taken to barracks in an isolated part of the base, but not too far to march in ranks back and forth to classes. Major Fox, the commanding officer, a former High School principal from Kentucky was tops! He warned the men that they were unique and that they were being watched. He cautioned them to be a positive example as they moved about the base and into the surrounding cities of Lincoln and Omaha.
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The staff welcomed 250 students, all black, from across the country to the base to form the 789th Technical School Squadron, (TSS). "You can make it, because you are better than anyone on this base", Major Fox said. These students constituted one class in the gigantic and well-structured aircraft training school. All classes ahead of this class were white as were all classes behind. It was a unique situation to see the all-black class marching to and from classes on that base. There were no other blacks on the base except for perhaps some service personnel. All the staff, from the commander to the drill NCO, was supportive; they just wanted the men to progress.
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The school itself was very proficient in its instruction and no racisim was evident except that sometimes as the class moved from one area of study to another one, an instructor (all of whom were white) would inquire about their mission. "We were glad to tell them", Henry said. They knew by then that they were destined to be members of an all black group of airmen, somewhere. The students were taught all of the intricacies of aircraft systems: engines, propellers, electrical systems, vacuum systems, hydraulic systems, instruments, structures and airframes, even aircraft markings and identification. Aircraft studied were:
The AT6 
BT13A 
P40 Kitty Hawk -------------------------- P47 Thunderbolt
Other types included the P-38 Lightning and the P-43 Lancer.
Radial as well as inline engines were studied and operated. A graduation requirement was the ability to perform preflight inspection and service on any of these aircraft plus the ability to "taxi" the P-38
with its twin engines. It was a relief to know that blacks were being trained to be "real" airmen. ON the base and in the city of Lincoln there was subtle racism, even though this was the North. Eating places in Lincoln asked colored soldiers not to enter, and the base exchange was not friendly, asking black soldiers to be served at a specific counter. The stores and other businesses in the town blamed it on the "white soldiers from the South" One restaurant manager told two well mannered and dressed soldiers that help was inclined to "spit in the food" and he never had any more black airmen patronize his business again. This was the North! Henry spent most of his off time at study on the base. The racism caused the members of the 789th to be closely bonded together, closer than any other group on the base. They could not wait to prove them selves as "the best class of aviation technicians ever to go through this school", as Major Fox put it. These men had caught on so quickly and proceeded from stage to stage, passing tests with the highest scores, that many instructors seemed to have been amazed. They did not know that these men had been selected at a much higher level of screening than were the white students.
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Amoung the students at the 789th was "Colonel" Hubert Julian, one of the first licensed black pilots, a stunt showman and promoter of black aviation shows of the early 1930's
Colonel Hubert Fauntleroy Julian, the first black person to obtain a pilot's license. Tall, athletic and handsome, he was dubbed "the Lindbergh of his race." Despite constant struggles to raise financial backing for his exploits, he had a brilliant and widely publicized flying career. In 1964 he published his autobiography, "The Black Eagle."
He was said to have been a Colonel in Haile Selassise's Ethiopian Air Force that consisted of a couple of planes (before the Italian invasion). Others who had many years of involvement with blacks in aviation were also there. Seems there was nowhere else to send these black air veterans. Henry said that it was a privilege to have had Julian as a bunk buddy (Hubert had the upper bunk) while he was there. Most of these men were young enough to be drafted but too old to be considered for combat pilot training, and yet too smart to be left in an "Aviation Squadron". The Army soon found out that they did not fit in with the younger recruits, and discharged them back to civilian life. True to his character as a flamboyant, controversial figure, Private Julian wore a non-regulation pre WW-II U.S. Army Colonels uniform. No one, not even Major Fox, seemed to bother him, even though he did not blend in with the other trainees. Julian was discharged from the service before graduation. Julian even had a career as a producer of a film called Lying Lips. Click here for more on Col. Julian
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After graduation from the Technical Training School, half of the men were put on a special train for Detroit 
Michigan, to be conveyed by military vehicles to Selfridge Field Michigan. This was near the little town of Mount Clements, North of Detroit. The other half was sent directly to Tuskegee Army Airfield to bolster the maintenance staff there. Henry arrived with the first half in Detroit during the Summer of 1943, immediately following the "race riots". causes of the riots in 1943 click here Because of the disturbances, the airmen were detained on the train for several hours. They eventually arrived at Selfridge Field, where they were met by the pilots of the recently activated 332nd Fighter Group, consisting of the 100th, 301st and 302nd Fighter Squadrons, which had been deployed to Tuskegee Army Airfield. Except for a handful of top officers and enlisted personnel, who came from Tuskegee, the graduates of the 789th TSS constituted the entire ground crew of the 332nd.
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Shortly after arriving at Selfridge Field the 789th TSS graduates, all carrying the rank of Pfc, were assembled for assignments. They had already been assigned to squadrons but not to positions within the units. Henry was assigned to the 302nd Fighter Squadron where the adjutant was 2nd Lt. Punch, the first black officer he would serve under. Two "senior" enlisted men, Pfc Bill Harris and Pfc. Chester "Art" Burris, both blacks from the Tuskegee program were assigned to distribute the assignments. None of the graduates would know that this would be a lasting and permanent assignment, and few were anxious to volunteer. Some had been told that the last thing that you do is to volunteer. Observation of the graduates while working with them on the flight line has shown by then that the graduates were of equal ability, so the job of selection was easy.
While the squadron was at "parade rest", Harris said. "we need some volunteers and as I call out the positions we want you to call your name if you want the position". His first call was for Technical Inspector. "Who will volunteer?" He asked. Reluctantly, someone volunteered. "Electrician", he went on. "We want four Flight Chiefs", he said. Who will be Crew Chiefs? Assistant Crew Chiefs? "We need 16", Harris asked. This is the way the squadron was being formed, and this was to stand. Little did the men now that the position of Technical Inspector, Electrician and Flight Chiefs carried the rank of Technical Sergeant ( T/Sgt ), the highest enlisted rank in the squadron to be assigned in this manner. Below them were the Crew Chiefs who carried the rank of Staff Sergeant (S/Sgt) and the Assistant Crew Chiefs who were Sergeants (Sgt). The highest enlisted rank, the Line Chief and Engineering Chief which carried the rank of Master Sergeant (M/Sgt), had already been assigned to those who came from Tuskegee. All who did not volunteer for any of these positions was assigned to engineering at the rank of sergeant or lower. Not to be a person to volunteer for much, Henry didn't volunteer until the Crew Chiefs were called. At that time, rank did not mean as much as the position. "If I can not fly the thing", Henry said, "I at least want to be the one in the cockpit, responsible for preflight inspection and day to day maintenance." In other words, he wanted to be the one in charge of the aircraft, and that is the Crew Chief. The Crew Chief literally "owned" the aircraft; the pilot just flew it. Bill Cousins can second this as he states in his profile that the crew chiefs left no doubt that the aircraft was to be taken care of by the pilot. No one had the authority to touch the aircraft, even fly it, without the consent of the crew chief. Henry felt very fortunate to have been assigned as a Crew Chief. The policy of the AAF under General Hap Arnold, at a later time, was that all Crew Chiefs in the USA had to be white.
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The 302nd was thus formed: One Line Chief (Harris), One Engineering Chief (Burris), four Flight Chiefs (Henderson for D flight), 16 Crew Chiefs (one for each aircraft in the squadron Henry being one.) and 16 assistant Crew Chiefs. Henry's assistant Crew Chief was John T Summerville. There was a technical inspector, an electrician, and a full contingent of armourers, radio operators, photographers and fueling crews to service the aircraft. The engineering crew was available for 25 hour, 50-hour etc. inspections of the aircraft and for major work, such as engine or propeller changes, etc. Each Crew Chief and assistant Crew Chief was assigned a specific aircraft. On a first come basis, each pilot was also assigned a specific aircraft. Henry’s pilot was 2nd Lt. Elmer "Chubby" Talyor. There were more than enough pilots to fill the 16 aircraft in the squadron. Some pilots therefore could not be paired with a particular crew chief. Henry hit it off well with his assigned pilot, and considered him his best friend in the Air forces. "Chubby" and Henry and John were the team, which Henry was ready to pit against the best of the Axis. The 100th and 301st Squadrons were similarly formed.
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While at Selfridge, the crew maintained the P-40 Warhawk fighter, then flown by some of the pilots. Some of the aircraft were real "wrecks" as they were hand me downs from white fighter groups in training. Some of the had the shark-faced markings of the Flying Tigers, a group of civilian pilots (released from the military to form an unofficially sanctioned American mission to help China) under General Claire Chennault before Pearl Harbor. Note: The AVG (American Volunteer Group was still in training at the time of the Pearl Harbor attack. Many squadrons copied their shark-faced motif, however none of the aircraft used at Selfridge were actual China returnees. 
These were the same kind of aircraft being used by the 99th Fighter Squadron in Africa in combat and, as trained aircraft and engine specialists who had recently serviced the new P-47 and P-38 fighters in school, flown by white pilots, these crew chiefs were not pleased that our boys would have to fly old aircraft. Their crew of mechanics was determined to keep these old aircraft in top mechanical condition and they did this. Soon after arriving at Selfridge, they were indeed surprised with the assigning of relatively new P-39 Airacobras,
a sleek looking plane with a tricycle landing gear, engine behind the pilot, and a 37 millimeter (37mm) cannon firing through the propeller shaft. It was not as maneuverable as the old P-40's but perhaps a bit safer. While in Michigan Henry was able to get a bit of flying time in the unit Cub with Alphons Davis .
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There was nothing to do on the base or in the community nearby. Neither the officers nor the enlisted men were welcomed at the base officers clubs. The Commanding Officer of the 332nd Fighter Group, Lt. Col. Samuel Westbrook, a Georgian, and later Col. Robert Selway, were white and the black airmen were not surprised when segregation was the norm, but they wished for more consideration, this being such a highly technical group which was being prepared to fight the enemy in combat.
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In October 1943, Col. Selway, was replaced by Lt. Col. Benjamin O. Davis Jr., 
(Davis Profile click here),
who had taken the 99th Fighter Squadron into combat and had returned from North Africa to head up the all black fighter group. The spirit of the men changed overnight. For the first time for some, their Commanding Officer was black, and they liked that. Of course, the expectation might have been over inflated. The hard rock of segregation was not easy to crack, even by a black leader. There was a mild protest to integrate the officers club, but Lt. Col. Davis, who soon became Col. Davis, discouraged any protest as a distraction from the mission to be performed: To prove their worth as a combat force. Mt. Clemonts, Michigan, being a white town, did not put out the welcome mat. So the airmen went there only to take the bus to Detroit. The men found an ally in the black community of Detroit. The churches were particularly receptive, providing free overnight places to sleep, either at the churches or in a member's house. While on leave from the base, that's where the men of the 332nd were to be found. Of course, one cannot forget the free beer at some of the Detroit breweries and the free tickets to the Detroit Lions football games.
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Congratulations came that Henry L. Moore, ASN 32468127, had successfully passed (Score 92?) the Aviation Cadet Examination and was appointed to appear at the Army Testing Center, Detroit, Michigan, to undergo a physical examination. Even though there was detected a slight "unusual" heart murmur, Henry passed the test and was to be advised "later" on the disposition of his appointment to flying school. It was after a fifteen-day furlough in December 1943 that the order came to be transferred to Tuskegee for pilot training, but Col. Davis exercised his option to delay the assignment, which he did because, "I cannot spare a Crew Chief". The assignment came literally during a time that the group was undergoing maneuvers for embarking overseas for combat duty. There were two men, Henry Moore and Althea Smith who were affected. The C.O. promised that as soon as these men could be spared they would be permitted to accept the Tuskegee assignment. Furlough for Henry was a return to Newark to stay with his sister. By this time his mother had passed away and his father was still in Georgia and ill, the rest of the family was scattered around the country. While in Newark the unit had moved and upon his return to Selfridge a truck was waiting to take him to the new base at Oscoda. The base there was set up to simulate the conditions the men would be facing when they landed in Italy, tents and aircraft parked on steel matting.
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Shortly there after a gunnery training session was held at the new base at Oscoda, Michigan, where the meals were served in an open field and under the trees between the tent areas. The 332nd was on its way by private Pullman coaches, 
on December 23rd 1943, to the port of embarkation (POE) at Camp Patrick Henry, Virginia. It was there that only an order from Col. Davis prevented the base from destruction. The issue was a refusal of the white base commander to permit members of the all black group from sitting anywhere in the base theater and to use the Officers Club and the NCO Club. Racisms practiced against service men on their way to fight for this country, perhaps never to return alive, could not be accepted. The men had 45's and 30 caliber carbines and live ammunition, and many had fired their guns in protest. Only inspection of quarters settled things down. The urgency then, was to arrange for the debarkation as soon as possible.
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Shipping out on January 3rd 1944 on a Victory Ship out of Hampton Roads Virginia on a cold and rainy night
with Luther Smith a pilot of the 302nd they linked up with an Italy bound convoy. Henry says of Luther at the time. "He was a religious man and would hold prayer services on ship, but I wanted nothing to do with it at the time, though we were friends. The first three days the seas were calm but the passage was long, over 30 days as the convoy zigzagged and reversed course on many occasions to avoid the U-boats that were still a threat." 
Says Henry of the voyage. "We thought on several occasions that we were being torpedoed when we heard explosions. The British escorts would drop depth charges and circle the convoy to protect us and on several occasions when the ship would plow into a 30 foot wave I though we might not make it." Henry never got seasick but his upper bunkmate, Line Chief Harris did and so did many others. The ship finally pulled into the former Italian naval base at Taronto where Henry could see the impact of the British torpedo plane attacks on the Italian navy with several of its battleships and cruisers still settled on the bottom. Ironically it was the British that proved to the world the Pearl Harbor attack was possible, the same attack that led the U.S. into war. Luther Smith would later be shot down and badly wounded, though he was well cared for by his German captors. He and Henry would meet much later in life at a meeting of the
Tuskegee Airmen where Henry would learn to his relief that Luther had indeed survived.
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Upon landing in Italy Henry says it was a day he will never forget. For the first time in his life, he says, he felt free. Having left the racist U.S. South, whose people were openly hostile, he felt a free man not to be segregated and made to feel inferior. He vowed that he might never return to the U.S.
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For a few days the 332nd was housed in an open field about a mile from town, on some red rocks, here they set up pup tents and ate British supplied food. There was no fraternizing with the locals. Soon came a convoy of trucks, which transported the units over the mountains to an abandoned airfield at Montecorvino, near Salerno. This base was mostly Marston pierced steel matting and moving aircraft was difficult. Here Henry taxied aircraft for the pilots and in one case had to gun the engine enough to jump a ditch or else the aircraft would have been damaged. The P-39 could not be towed while the engine was running and pulling it by its oleo leg would only damage it. 
This is where they received their first aircraft, brand new P-39 Airacobras, and also where it seemed not to stop raining. It was cold and it caused many to become sick. They did receive four man tents here and could warm themselves using improvised heaters using drums and 100-octane gasoline. One of Henry's tent mates caught pneumonia and was sent home to Walter Reed Hospital where he subsequently died. This was also the place where Henry's aircraft had problems at an altitude above 10,000 feet. The problem, one that seemed to be sabotage, was resolved by scavenging carburetor parts from a wrecked Spitfire aircraft on the airfield.
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From this field, the squadron supported ground troops fighting near Anzio. Soon, the 302nd was moved to Capodichino Air Base, near Naples, where the Germans came and bombed every night, and the volcano Mt. Vesuvius erupted, scattering hot lava on the tent area, making holes in the tents. Between that and having to dig fox holes, everybody kept busy. Henry: " The German intruders were there mainly to keep you up at night and would drop flares then bombs, there was a slope behind the tent area with a 20 foot slope that you would slide down to get into a underground bunker. The British protected the base with 90mm antiaircraft guns. Here is where the transition from the P-39 to the more rugged P-47 aircraft was made, in preparation for higher altitude, longer range escort missions.
Henry standing center third from the right just under the rabbit on a B-24 that made an emergency landing with wounded aboard and was later repaired.
While at Capodichino, it was almost all work, arising at 5 o’clock, to pre-flight the aircraft and seeing the flights off to their ground support missions with the 12th Air Force. Sometime after things settled down, and the Germans stopped bombing, there were fresh eggs, stateside food and also some time off to spend in Naples and the surrounding villages ---Pompeii, Capodichino.etc. The people were friendly and helpful. This seemed to have welcomed the black airmen. except where there was evidence that white Americans had been there before. In that case, it was evident that they had been told stories, which were not true. For both Henry Moore and Bill Cousins the plight of the Italian people around their bases was unsettling. The poverty of the women and children was terrible, even for Henry who had seen similar conditions for poor blacks and whites in the south of the 1930's. His parents often fed passers by when the farm was still a going concern. Seeing children picking through the garbage tips of the base was more than many of the men could take and often they gave their food and old clothing to these people. In exchange they did odd jobs, laundry for the men on base.
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All three squadrons of the 332nd, the 100th, 301st and 302nd, were together at Capodichino. The 99th was also at the same base, but was attached to a white group operating across the field from the 332nd. Soon, with sadness by the men, the tenure at Capodichino had come to an end. They were about to see a move from a large metropolitan area to a farm in an isolated area on the Adriatic coast. Moving on from the 12th Air force to the 15th Air force was yet an accomplishment. The 332nd had proved itself as an effective fighting force, so it was now given the best aircraft, first the P-47 Thunderbolt, then the P-51 Mustang, and assigned bomber escort missions. The group moved to an area called Ramitelli, some 100 miles North of Foggia, North of Bari on the Adriatic coast. This is where the men settled down and made it home for the duration of the war.
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Henry directing aircraft and with Pilot Luke Weathers other crew (kneeling 1st on the left)
While at Ramitelli, Henry lost some buddies in the transition from the P-39 to the P-47 and then the P-51. Henry says of the three aircraft. "the P-39 was good for strafing work but not for air combat, the P-47 was a monster with that R2800 engine. I used to watch the P-47 and P-38 pilots dogfight above the base but when the P-51 came the P-38 and P-47 pilots wanted no part of them, the P-51 was just too good as a combat fighter. He also lost some to accidents on the airfield. And at this time, Col. Benjamin O. Davis Jr., approved the orders for Henry and Althea Smith to return to the States for flight training at Tuskegee. Both Moore and Smith declined to return, for the reasons that they were content to end the war in the positions they were in. Henry was a Crew Chief on a B-25 bomber 
that was used by the 332nd for transport behind the lines. Smith was an electrician and Tech Inspector. Henry was also the organizer of the 332nd dance band, playing trumpet, and was placed on Special Service with the 15th Air Force for a while.
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Henry served as a crew chief for the 332nd fighter group of the Tuskegee Airmen in three of the four fighter squadrons including the 302nd, the 99th and finally the 100th fighter Squadron. Henry was usually part of flight D.
Fred Hutchins .
The crew chief had several assistants working for him and was responsible for a particular aircraft. From its mechanical integrity, arming, fueling, instrumentation and general maintenance he was responsible for the aircraft & reported up through the flight chiefs and line Chiefs. For Henry the best part of his job was the "hands on" it allowed him with the aircraft, and of his men he says they were all qualified and very accomplished. The engineering group performed what his group could not do in the way of major repairs. Henry: I could change a carburetor on the line and if it could be fixed within 48 hours we did it. But an engine or propeller went back to the engineering unit. The 96th Service group was still father back from us and did major rebuilds. The ground support units were close to the front whenever possible and the bomber escort units were ahead of the bomber bases.
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Henry's brother Benjamin Franklin Moore
In 1941 Henry's brother Ben joined the Army as a private & improved his lot as he later became a Captain. He was a member of the first Liaison Pilot Training Class (43-CL-1) which graduated from the Liaison Pilot Training Program at Tuskegee AAF, on April 10, 1943, one of the 15 in his class of 21 students. Ben served in an artillery-spotting unit flying a Piper Cub in the 92nd division fighting in Italy. There were only three Liaison Pilot Training Classes at Tuskegee AAF. A total of 51 graduated and 11 were eliminated. These pilots are not listed in any of the official documentation and books on the subject and subsequently are sometime not recognized as Tuskegee Airmen, but they are listed on a official database “Participants in the Noble Experiment” generated by Historian “Ted” Johnson of Atlanta, GA.
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With the wars end there was time for R&R and visits to the cities of Italy and his brother who was also in the theater. Returning from Italy with the 100th FS in October 1945 the voyage was calmer than on the way over. In 30 days the ship arrived in New York Harbor. It was back to the same segregation Henry had left behind and soon he was at Camp Kilmer, NJ and then on to Fort Dix, NJ for discharge. In 1948 he would visit his brother, Ben, who had transferred to the Air Force and was with the 332nd Composit Group at Lockbourne AFB, Columbus, Ohio. . The segregation was still in effect until the Truman order to desegregate the Armed forces became the law. There were a few black pilots flying out of Willow Grove before this time but it was not officially sanctioned.
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Henry came home with 7 battle stars and campaign ribbons from Europe and the Mediterranean theaters. The Presidential Unit Citation was awarded as well for the 332nd 1600-mile escort missions to Berlin Germany on March 24th 1945.
WWII Victory Medal, Africa, Italy Campaign, Good Conduct
For Henry a man who had the skills and knowledge of the most advanced aircraft and systems of the day, finding a job in the aviation industry was not possible. Henry: " When I came back I went to Newark airport and we were told to just disappear. It would be in the 1980's before the first black airline pilot would be hired and even that had to come through a lawsuit. Even today on the flight line there are few black pilots and mechanics."
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Henry like a lot of returning vets took advantage of the GI Bill. Had it not been for the GI Bill he may well have stayed in Italy as did many of his friends. He had considered going to the University of Milan. Per Henry: "The GI Bill is what brought me home, mother always said that education will put you over the top and I thought here is the chance to get a college education & I was going to get it." He studied Chemistry at Rutgers for a short time but did not like it and dropped the program after a few weeks. He found a program at West Virginia State College that combined an Industrial Engineering program with a Mechanical Engineering Degree. He graduated with a degree in Physics, Magna Cum Laude and with majors in both Mathematics and Education. He followed up with one year of graduate study of Physics at Rutgers University. In 1960 Henry obtained a Master of Science in Physics from Temple University and took Advanced studies in Electrical Engineering at Penn State University and Drexel University. It was at West Virginia State that he met his wife on the campus in a registration line. Says Henry : "She was standing just in front of me in line, her mother standing between us when we met" Mary Ion Ewell and Henry Lincoln Moore were married on September 8th 1951. They have two daughters Nadene and Meva. Son-in-Law Kenny Justice and grandsons Keith and Mark Justice.
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From 1951 to 1973 Henry’s career took him from a Research Physicist with the US Naval Air Material Center, Philadelphia Naval Base, to U.S. Army Ordinance, Frankford Arsenal and to the position of Electronics Scientist with Diamond Ordinance Fuze Laboratories. While working at the Frankford Arsenal he was involved in the research to perfect a microwave beam that could bring down an aircraft. Henry was a Supervisory Electronics Engineer at the U.S. Army Metrology and Calibration Center and was Chief, Electronics Counter measures / ECCM Section at the U.S. Naval Air Material Center, Johnsville. He retired from this career in 1973. He joined the Philadelphia School District as a teacher of Science and Math and served as a department head. At Abraham Lincoln High School he was the assistant Dean of Men. He retired from teaching in 1983.
While at a Tuskegee Airmen, Inc. (TAI) conference in 1995, he traveled “Back to “skegee” with the group. Currently Henry is the Vice President of the Greater Philadelphia Chapter of the Tuskegee Airmen and well as President of the board of the Summit Presbyterian Church near his home in Philadelphia. Henry says the TAI is recruiting people from all walks of life to continue to tell the story and feels that we should practice what we preach when it comes to treating people with respect and tolerance. Henry: "The Italian people treated us with respect and we did the same." 
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