Fred H. Moston

Fred Moston was born in Chicago, IL, on 1/26/23. He was 20 years old when he entered the U.S. Army and reported to Camp Butner, NC. During basic training there, he was offered the opportunity to become a pilot in the Army Air Corp and transferred to University of Tennessee. Moston and many other young men were in training there when reinforcements were needed in Europe and he, along with 15,000 others were sent, via the Queen Mary, to Britain to prepare for the invasion of France. Moston was transferred to the Medical Unit and served as an Army Medic with Patton's 3rd Army, 80th Division. He joined that force as it made the 150 mile march to relieve the trapped forces fighting in the Bulge and the Ardennes Forest. From there the American Army pushed through Luxembourg and Belgium and on into western Germany. Moston by then was attached to the 317 Platoon. Late on the night of March 22, 1945, he was part of a 130 men diversion force that was sent, -in rubber boats, to cross the Rhine River between the towns of Mainz and Hoffenheim. This was a feint to determine the strength of the retreating German forces on the east bank. Those enemy forces opened heavy fire and many American lives were lost in that crossing. Moston and 11 other men in his boat were wounded or killed in that barrage. He, along with one of the men, was able to paddle the boat to an in-river island where Moston secured the 4 survivors into an abandoned farmhouse cellar, treating the wounded and checking the 7 men who had not survived. The following day, Moston was able to signal the Allied troops grouping on the west bank for an assault across the river and get help to bring himself and the remaining survivors to safety. He was later awarded the Bronze Star for his actions that night.

Moston entered his military service on March 23, 1943 and was wounded exactly 2 years to the day. He remained in the service until November 29, 1945 when he was honorably discharged. He served in 3 European Campaigns, the Battle of the Bulge, the Saar Campaign, and the Central European Campaign. In 2015, the French government honored Moston and other soldiers with the Legion of Honor medal for their service in France during WWII.

After the war, Moston received his BS and MS degrees from Roosevelt and DePaul Universities. During the remaining years of his life, he was an history/civics/political science teacher in IL, FL and CT, receiving awards for his development strategies in small group techniques for the public school classroom. Moston was a loving and devoted husband to his wife of 50 years and to his children whom he considered the best of his achievements. He is predeceased by his parents, Margaret Fardy Moston and Frederic H. Moston Sr. and daughter, Cheryl Slaughter. He is survived by his wife, Barbara Collins Moston, sons Frederick Joseph, Marc Henry (both of Florida), Frederic Henry Jr. (Texas), and daughters Joanne Kennedy (Florida) and Jennifer Griffith (Georgia), 3 grandsons, Mike, Luke and Shaun and 4 granddaughters, Stacey, Kinsey, Lily and Hanna.