DOB/DOD: September 18, 1923 (New Haven, CT) – February 27, 1945; 21 years old
MARITAL STATUS: Unmarried
LOCAL ADDRESS: 51 Ramsdell Street, New Haven
ENLISTMENT: July 20, 1943, in Springfield, Massachusetts
SERVICE NUMBER: 861787
UNIT: Company A, 1st Battalion, 25th Marines, 4th Marine Division
MILITARY OCCUPATIONAL SPECIALTY: 0937, Instructor; 0737, Fire Team Leader
FAMILY: Born to Archibald (1895-1955) and Genevieve Peters Moscoe (1900-1972). John was their only child. Attended Bucknell University. Member of the Phi Kappa Psi fraternity. 1
CIRCUMSTANCES: Boot camp at Parris Island, South Carolina, in the Fall of 1943. Stayed as an instructor at the rifle range through the Summer of 1944. Attended infantry training at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, in the Fall of 1944 and was assigned to the 4th Marine Division, 30th Replacement Draft. 3 The cause and manner of his death are unknown. Corporal Moscoe, PFC James Dermody of West Haven, Corporal James Duffy, Corporal John Moscoe of New Haven, PFC David Phaneuf of Taftville, and Private Richard Wilkinson Jr. of Waterbury, Connecticut, were all in the same company. All were killed in action on separate days between February 19 and March 12, 1945.
Graduate of The Mount Hermon School, Mount Hermon, Massachusetts, Class of ‘41
Photos contributed by niece Suzanne Steinbrecher. This one is Jack, fishing with an unknown adult.
Archie and Genevieve Moscoe — Jack’s parents.
Jack and his mother, Gen.
From the November 1945 issue of “The Shield,” a book from Bucknell University’s Phi Kappa Psi fraternity
Corporal John (Jack) A. Moscoe, USMCR, Pa. Gamma ’42, the only child of Mr. and Mrs. A.J. Moscoe, 51 Ramsdell Street, New Haven, Connecticut, was killed in action February 27, 1945, on Iwo Jima, on which he landed eight days previously. With other Marine Corps heroes, he is buried in the 4th Marine Cemetery on that island. He had observed his twenty-first birthday, September 18, 1944. “He truly loved his Fraternity and his Phi Psi brother,” his mother told The Shield.
Photo of Jack’s fraternity paddle he made himself. Photo courtesy of Suzanne Steinbrecher.
From The Post-Star (Glens Falls, New York) April 2, 1945
Corporal John Moscoe, U.S. Marine Corps, son of Mr. and Mrs. Archie Moscoe, New Haven, Connecticut, and nephew of Mrs. Simon Minor, 56 Orville Street, this city, was killed in action on Iwo Jima February 27, according to word from the War Department. Corporal Moscoe’s father is a former local resident, and the family, for a number of years, have been summer vacationers at the home of Mrs. Minor.
Initially buried in the 4th Marine Division Cemetery on Iwo Jima, Plot 1, Row 26, Grave 1293. 2 At his father’s request, his remains were returned and buried at St. Andrew’s Cemetery, 7 Bridge Street, Kent, Connecticut; plot number is unknown. Photo from Sue McCarthy Steinbrecher and Family.
1 – 1940 census https://www.ancestry.com/cs/1940-census
2 – USMC Casualty Record received via FOIA request
3 – USMC Muster Rolls: https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/1089/