MOSER, Joseph Frank

Name: Joseph Frank MOSER

Born 3 September 1921

Birthplace: Ferndale, Washington

Age at arrival in Buchenwald: 22

Died 2 December 2015 in Ferndale, Washington, age 93

Service: USAAF

Service ID: O-755999

Service Rank: 1st Lieutenant

Duties: Fighter pilot

Air Group: 9th Air Force, 474th Fighter Group, 429th Fighter Squadron

Airbase: St. Lambert, Normandy, France

Aircraft: P-38 43-28378

Date shot down: 13 August 1944

Fate of crew: Captured within 24 hours

Evasion summary:

Date captured: 14 August 1944

Capture summary:

Boxcar Transport: 15-20 August 1944, in boxcar #3 with BEDFORD, MARTINI, WILSON, CARR, PENNELL, PERRY, BASTABLE, GRENON, GIBSON, HIGH, HODGSON, PRUDHAM, SONSHINE, ROBB, R MILLS, WHELLUM, SPIERENBURG, TAYLOR, ALLEN, HARVIE, LARSON, MCLAUGHLIN, PETRICH. ROBERSON, STEVENSON, VINECOMBE, ZEISER and, at train change, LAMASON, DAUTEUIL, WATMOUGH, SCULLION, SMITH, HEAD, WATSON, and C HOFFMAN.

Buchenwald ID: 78369

Notes on Buchenwald internment:

Transferred from Buchenwald to: Stalag Luft III, North Compound.

Kriege ID: 8148

Notes on SLIII internment:

Subsequent transfer to: Stalag XIIID, Nurnberg

Notes on  internment: Marched to SVIIA 2-16 April 1945.

Liberation: Liberated from SVIIA on 29 April 1945 by units of the 14th Armored Division from Patton’s Third Army.

Repatriation from ETO:

Discharged:

VA status:

Notes on Post-War period: Interviewed in the 1994 NFBC documentary, Buchenwald: The Lucky Ones. Co-wrote the book "A fighter pilot in Buchenwald." Interviewed in the History Channel’s 2004 documentary Shot from the Sky about Buchenwald. His story is accessible online at https://www.sos.wa.gov/legacy/washington-remembers/stories/joe-moser/pdf/moser.pdf  Appears in Lost Airmen of Buchenwald documentary (2021 release). One of two airmen who denied seeing any death or abuse in Buchenwald.