Julia Compton Moore Biography, Age, Height, Wife, Net Worth and Family

Moore died on April 18, 2004 and is buried at the Fort Benning Main Post Cemetery, near her mother and father, and in the middle of the 7th Cavalry troopers killed in action at Landing Zone Xray. Her husband of 55 years died in 2017 on her birthday, and was laid to rest beside her.

Compton was born in Fort Sill, Oklahoma, the only child of future U.S. Army Colonel Louis J. Compton and Elizabeth Boon Compton. Julie would grow up as the typical “Army brat” and experience numerous relocations as the family followed Colonel Compton. Julie described what an “Army brat” was in a 1996 letter.

Julie describes her experience during the Korean War in the 1996 letter:

Julie describes her experience during Hal’s deployment in the same 1996 letter:

Compton was married on November 22, 1949 to Hal Moore, who later commanded the 1st Battalion, 7th Cavalry in the battle of the Ia Drang Valley in Vietnam in 1965. They have five children:

From the age of 12, she began a lifelong journey of experiencing the separation and risk of loss in war. While the family remained in Chevy Chase, MD, her father had multiple different assignments during World War II requiring him to serve in numerous different locations. As the commander of the 15th Army, Colonel Compton oversaw the deployment of the unit from Fort Sam Houston, TX to the European Theater. Julie was first exposed to the horror of war when family learned her father’s troopship, the SS Empire Javelin, was sunk in transit to France. As a result of the calm discipline of the troops, all but three survived the sinking. Upon return of her father from World War II in December, 1946, the family moved to Fort Leavenworth followed by Fort Bragg in 1948. While World War II was her first exposure to war, she would experience it again when her husband served in the Korean War and Vietnam War, and one of her sons fought with the 82nd Airborne Division in Panama and the Persian Gulf War.

From Fort Sill, the family travelled to the Fort Stotsenberg in the Philippines on the US Grant where Compton commanded a Field Artillery battery for 38 months. The Army in the 1930s was very formal and Julie recalled her parents telling her they had to be ready to formally receive visitors each evening. Louis and Elizabeth would lay out their formal clothes on the bed and quick change into them if a visitor arrived. Following the assignment in the Philippines, the family was stationed at Aberdeen Proving Ground in Maryland, Washington DC, Fort Leavenworth KS, with their final tour of duty at Fort Bragg NC. Colonel Compton commanded the Army Field Forces Board #1. Notably, Julie’s future husband, Hal Moore, was a parachute tester under his future father-in-law’s command.

Julia Compton Moore (February 10, 1929 – April 18, 2004) was the wife of Lieutenant General (Ret.) Hal Moore, a United States Army officer. Her efforts and complaints in the aftermath of the Battle of Ia Drang prompted the U.S. Army to set up survivor support networks and casualty notification teams consisting of uniformed officers, which are still in use.