Cpl. James Lee Moore
Born Feb. 3, 1980 in Roseburg, OR
Died Jan. 26, 2005 in Ar Rutbah, Iraq
James had profound feeling towards others. Growing up he was quite a handful, curious about the world around him. After he graduated from high school in 1999, he spent the next couple years working and exploring the outdoors, a passion he had from an early age. He enlisted in the Marine Corps in late 2001; inspired by his shock of witnessing the 9-11 terrorist attacks on America and wishing to make a difference. James family had a long history of military service. The military toughened him up on the outside, but on the inside, he remained a deeply caring man. When his grandfather died in 2003, James, dressed in his full Marine uniform, was the one who presented the flag that had draped the casket to his grandmother. His lips quivered over his family’s loss as he handed the flag to her. Stationed at Japan, Thailand, Kuwait and Hawaii over the next few years, he was called to serve in Iraq and left for there in September 2004, assigned to 1st Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment, 3rd Marine Division, III Marine Expeditionary Force, Marine Corps Base Hawaii. While deployed his family frequently send him care packages. He discovered a Marine in his unit was not receiving any letters or care packages from his family, so James asked his own family to take this other Marine under their caring wings and send him letters and care packages also. James remained tough, but sensitive to the needs of others. On January 26, 2005, James died in a helicopter crash, which also took the lives of 29 other Marines. His future plans included leaving the Marine Corps when his enlistment ended and beginning a career in law enforcement or a guide for fishing and hunting.
James was cremated. Some of his ashes were buried next to his grandfather’s grave in Roseburg National Cemetery and another part were scattered over one of his favorite mountains in Oregon.
The Cpl. James Lee Moore by Freedom Remembered, unless otherwise expressly stated, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 3.0 United States License.
