John R. Moses, a Madison, Wisconsin resident, discusses his service as a lieutenant in the 3rd Tank Battalion, 10th Armored Division in the Army during World War II and his work as the Secretary of the Wisconsin Department of Veterans Affairs from 1962 to 1982. Moses was born in North Dakota where his father, John Moses, was a prominent lawyer and politician who became Governor and later a U.S. Senator. Moses mentions that he and his father disagreed about the United States' policy of isolationism prior to the war. Moses touches upon how the Depression and WPA projects affected North Dakota. In 1941, Moses was drafted into the Army and went through basic training at Camp Callan (California). He discusses his basic training in detail, describing the outdated World War I artillery and surveillance equipment they had to use. He describes the frenzy on the Army base during Pearl Harbor and how his coast artillery unit used spotlights to look for Japanese attackers off the California coast. Moses mentions his isolationist views changed after Pearl Harbor and says he was psychologically ready to serve. Moses also remarks that civilians in San Diego treated servicemen with more respect after Pearl Harbor. Moses relates that his first assignment was to Dutch Harbor in the Aleutian Islands (Alaska). He describes the scenic ferryboat trip to Alaska that he took with the 206th Arkansas National Guard. In Alaska, Moses became a switchboard operator. He describes ongoing tensions with Captain Warren Dodgeson who refused to process his request to go to Officer Candidate School (OCS) and later acted cowardly in battle. Moses details his participation defending Dutch Harbor against a Japanese air attack. He also relates a humorous story about he and a friend smoking pipe tobacco to annoy Captain Dodgeson. They were assigned to dig ditches as punishment, which they did not do. Moses suggests his negative experience inspired him to be a better officer than Dodgeson. In 1943, Moses left Dutch Harbor to attend OCS at Fort Knox (Kentucky). He characterizes officer training as rigorous and also discusses his tank and artillery training. Moses feels some of his commanding officers who had not seen combat resented soldiers who had. After OCS, Moses was assigned to Camp Gordon (Georgia) to the 10th Armored Division where he led field exercises with Sherman tanks. In 1944, after D-Day, Moses was finally sent to Europe. Moses related that his unit was the first ship to off-load in Cherbourg (France) and that they had to disembark by climbing down nets into the mud because the ports had been destroyed. He mentions that even this long after D-Day, the French still greeted the Americans as liberators, decorating tanks with flowers and offering soldiers food. He tells a story of a farmer in Normandy who offered him some calvados (apple brandy). Moses proceeded to travel by tank to Metz, by the German border. Moses explains there were five men to a tank, and as a platoon leader, he usually rode in the second tank in a line of five. By this time, Moses was part of the 20th Corps in the 3rd Army and belonged to one of General Patton's Divisions. They were trying to build a bridgehead across the Moselle River above Metz. Moses discusses the numerous failures while trying to build a bridge heavy enough to transport tanks under constant fire from the Germans. He tells a humorous story about bored soldiers trying to kill a wild boar by setting a trap with hand-grenades. The grenades went off and caused a commotion. A division-wide alert was issued; they never caught the pig. Moses reveals that his greatest fear in combat was of showing the men he was commanding that he was afraid. Finally, his tanks crossed the Moselle River in the dark, but they found themselves facing off with German tanks in a small village. Moses feels that German tanks were far superior to American tanks and explains the differences in detail. He also characterizes German soldiers as a competent, respected fighting force. Moses states that his tank was hit during the battle and he jumped out, landing safely in a ditch, but losing his glasses. Moses managed to climb into the second tank in line, but that too, was pierced, and he was seriously injured by shrapnel. His men helped him hide out in the woods and eventually got him back to a hospital. Moses tells how an African American ambulance driver rushed him to a hospital in Verdun because the field hospital closer to the frontlines did not have enough beds to treat Moses. Moses explains that his wounds were severe and gangrene had set in on his hip. He had surgery in Verdun before being moved to Paris and then England. He mentions that the ambulance driver took them on a quick tour of Paris before taking them to the hospital so they could see the Arc de Triomphe and the Eiffel Tower out the ambulance window. Moses states that his career in the military was ended by his wounds but that he was lucky enough to walk again. He describes life in the hospital ward, the general good spirits of most casualties, and the good treatment he had from professional doctors and nurses. The head nurse in the ward, Donna, became a life-long friend, and Moses later married a close friend of hers (his second wife). At one of the hospitals, Moses ran into a man from his unit in Metz. This soldier explained that when Moses was wounded and slipping in and out of consciousness, he had been the one to give him a morphine injection in his rear end. Moses was finally shipped to a hospital in Chicago and retired from the service in December, 1945. He moved to Wisconsin with his first wife where he attended UW Madison Law School on the GI Bill. He discusses the challenges of raising four children while attending school. Moses characterizes the Madison campus as "all veterans" and felt that having servicemen in college made the experience "more serious." Moses mentions that he used the veteran's home loan program to buy a house. Moses touches upon his participation in veterans groups, particularly the American Veterans Committee (AVC). When he moved to Gays Mills (Wisconsin) to open a law practice, Moses briefly joined the Lions Club, VFW, and American Legion; however, Moses appreciated the AVC most because of its motto: "citizens first, veterans second." He describes his forays into local politics, running campaigns for state legislators and serving as the School Board President of Gays Mills. He explains that he became involved in politics in 1948 writing position papers for Democratic candidates on national issues and managing "The Wisconsin Democrat" newsletter from 1948 to 1950. In 1961, Wisconsin Governor Gaylord Nelson appointed Moses the director of the Wisconsin Department of Veterans Affairs and charged Moses with overhauling a department that had previously been looking for excuses to deny veterans benefits and loans. Moses served as director (later, his title changed to secretary) for four different governors. He details the intricate political atmosphere within each administration and portrays himself as earning much bipartisan support at first, then falling victim to partisan disputes. He mentions encountering anti-veteran bias in the legislature, and he covers in detail a conflict with Governor Patrick Lucey. Using the line-item veto, Lucey "gutted" a veterans bill that Moses helped draft, then he changed a law so he could remove Moses from office. Moses fought against his removal in the State Supreme Court and won. Next, he discusses at length the challenges of working with Vietnam veterans who did not come forward to claim their benefits like World War II vets. Moses initiated the WISVET program in the 1970s, which was the only statewide outreach program in the nation to find Vietnam vets wherever they were and help them receive their benefits. Moses states he is most proud of building up a program for part-time study loans for veterans returning to college and of improving conditions at King Veterans Home.
