h
HOMETOWN LIVING AT I TS BEST 45
Harry Moses (Sr.) was born in
1916 right in the middle of the
first world war. Two years later,
the Spanish Flu would reduce
the entire world population by
one third. In 1926, his father
left, and his mother moved
the family from Montgomery
County to Vidalia. With five
children to raise on her own,
Mattie Lou Moses was not one
to be identified by the choices
of others or the hardship of the
times. When Hyman (known
as Hymie) Estroff, the son of
Russian immigrants, opened
Estroff’s Department Store in
Vidalia, Harry’s mother found
work as a seamstress and did
all the store’s alterations. She
never learned to drive a car, so
she walked to and from work
for years.
The Great Depression made
survival difficult, and Mattie
Lou’s children all learned to
work at a young age. One of
Harry’s first jobs was delivering
groceries for the Mixon Grocery
Store in downtown Vidalia. In
1932, at the age of sixteen, he
graduated from Vidalia High
School and went to work fulltime
as a salesman in the men’s
department at Estroff’s. When
Hymie’s father, Simon Estroff,
needed help at his store, Hymie
asked Harry if he wanted the
job. Harry went to work at the
Estroff Department Store in
Louisville and lived with Simon
Estroff and his family.
After three years in
Louisville, Mr. Estroff
encouraged his young protégé
to move to Thomasville,
Georgia, where there was
greater opportunity at
Steyerman’s Department Store.
The store was owned by a
Jewish immigrant family from
Germany. Harry was there just
long enough to get settled in
before he was drafted into the
United States Army. He was
twenty-three years old at the
time.
In January 1940, Harry
reported for duty at Fort
Gillem, an Atlanta Distribution
Center of the Army. When he
was asked if he had any skills,
he said, “I know men’s clothing”
and was put in charge of a
warehouse full of uniforms.
It didn’t take Harry long to
be promoted to sergeant and
to be given full charge of the
warehouse.
On December 7, 1941,
the Japanese bombed Pearl
Harbor. Harry understood
everyone would now serve for
the duration of the war. When
given the option to change
positions, he asked to be sent
to bomber pilot school. At that
time, pilots were trained in
the Army Air Corps. The Air
Force would not be formed
until 1947. But in order to get
into Officer Candidate School
(OCS), Harry had to pass all
the physical requirements, take
an entrance exam, and submit
a letter of recommendation
from his congressman, which
he received from Georgia U.S.
Representative Hugh Peterson.
Out of fifteen men that took
the exam, Harry was one of
only two that passed.
The training was stringent
and took nearly a year to
complete. On one of his last
training sessions, he flew out of
Dyersberg, Tennessee, and over
parts of Mexico and Cuba. Since
the flight took him only a few
miles west of Vidalia, he told
the lead pilot he would catch
up in a few minutes and flew
out of formation to take a quick
detour. “He flew his B17 down
the SAM railroad tracks right
through downtown Vidalia at
an altitude of about 100 to 150
feet,” said his son, Rusty. “Most
of the town came outside to
see what was going on.” Later,
he would confirm the names
of several people he had seen
standing on the sidewalk as he
flew over, including his mother.
In July 1943, Harry was
sent to England near a place
called Kimbolton. He finally
flew his first mission as a B17
bomber pilot in the 8th Air
Force, 379th bomb group in
early August 1943. “They didn’t
have enough planes,” said
Rusty, “and were making them
as fast as they could. Bombing
missions were also dependent
on the weather. They might
fly nonstop for two or three
days and then not be able to fly
again for two weeks.”