Family's WWII mystery may end
By Dan Champagne, Record-Journal staff
WALLINGFORD ‹ Amy Martorelli tied a tourniquet around John Moore's right arm, swabbed his skin with a cotton ball and drew his blood in hopes of helping the Moore family solve the 61-year mystery of the whereabouts of Moore's brother.
James Moore, a member of the U.S. Army Air Corps during World War II, went Missing In Action in November of 1943. It is believed his plane, a B-24 flying its 120th mission and carrying 11 crew members, crashed in the mountains of New Guinea, a large tropical island north of Australia. Moore was a tail gunner on the plane.
Maureen Moore, John's daughter and James' niece, has been working with her cousin Lynn Valente and Stephen Ward, the nephew of Tom Moran, who was also a crew member on the plane and James Moore's best friend, to try and get some closure on the life of her "Uncle Jimmy."
Valente informed Maureen that the military found the plane in 1984, but could not remove it from the site. About six months ago, the military notified Valente that the plane had been recovered. A few months later, the Moores got a call informing them that the military would send someone to collect DNA samples to try to identify the remains.
"It was some shock," said John, 84, who served in the Marine Corps in WWII. "A lot of memories came back. I never expected a phone call about it. It was completely closed in my mind."
"I always kind of thought it would be a mystery," said Maureen, 55. "I am really impressed that there is a division that continues to look for the missing in action of all the wars, or at least try to solve the mystery for the families. I really am grateful that they show the respect that men and women that served for this country deserve."
Martorelli, a phlebotomist from ExamOne of Wethersfield, was contracted by the military to collect DNA samples from John to see if they matched up with any of the remains. Martorelli will send the samples to the Knight Group in Maryland, where the Army Lab Department of Defense will test John's DNA.
She asked John a series of questions about James, who was 21 years old in 1943, in order to help the process.
"The Army calls us and tells us about the case," Martorelli said. "Most of the time there's not a lot of information. The more information the family has available, the better chance that they have to identify the remains."
Martorelli, who has taken samples for five cases involving missing in action veterans in the last two years, said the results would be available in 10-14 days.
"I've done DNA sampling for other reasons and they do a saliva swab," Martorelli said. "The blood work gives them a better chance for a match."
Maureen, her 44-year-old brother Kevin, his wife, Catherine, and their 1-year-old son, Brendan, watched as Martorelli took the blood samples from John.
"It just brought to light the type of person my Uncle Jimmy was," Kevin said of the recent events. "I started asking my dad about him. This really brought him up again. We couldn't believe they found the plane and we started talking about him a lot. It was just amazing."
"It's breathtaking to know that there's someone still out there looking for people that served so long ago," Maureen said.
Maureen added that the family always held out hope that James was alive somewhere. She said her grandmother, Mary Ellen, kept a candle lit because, "she was sure he was going to come back."
James and his crew nicknamed the B-24 aircraft the "Mary Ellen Watermelon" after his mother.
John said if the remains of his brother are identified, he wants to bury James in a plot near his mother in Massachusetts. "She would have wanted him to be buried there," John said.
As for waiting for that phone call over the next 10 to 14 days, John said, "I'll just go day by day."
It shouldn't be too hard. He's been waiting for more than 60 years.
© 2004 The Record-Journal