Veteran's History Project - Lt. Gwen Moore

Lt. Gwen Moore

U.S. Navy, 1959-1968

EDITOR'S NOTE: This story is one of many American Veteran accounts published in The Sidney Sun-Telegraph. The writer, who is from Potter, is conducting the interviews as part of the Library of Congress' Veterans History Project.

In 1959, Gwen Moore was a young lady who had reached her 21st birthday.

She had worked a few jobs since high school graduation, but knew that she needed an education and a different look at the world. One place to obtain both of those goals was the U.S. military.

Gwen had several family members who had served in Korea and World War II. Since she was "of age," she liked what the military had to offer – especially the U.S. Navy. In not much time, Gwen had talked the matter over with her parents – sort of getting their approval. (The recruiter for the U.S. Navy in the middle of Nebraska had to have been a heck o fa salesman, no?) Gwen was bused with other recruits to Grand Island where she underwent the physical exam, some paperwork, and some testing so that the Navy could match her strengths with their work.

After successfully completing the tasks at the military entrance and processing station, Gwen was sent on to San Diego. She had already said her good-byes and knew that her Father wasn't particularly happy about all this. She learned, however, that her mother's wisdom really counted right then, giving her the confidence to make the best of it.

In Gwen's favor was the fact that she could speak English, Irish, and the American Native tongue of Shoshone. She was also much more mature than others – both the men and women – who also enlisted.

After the plane landed in San Diego, the military bus picked up the recruits and took them to the nearby training station.

There, she learned the basics of being a new member of the Navy. There were other females in her recruit class. They learned the essentials of marching, drill and ceremonies, marksmanship, physical training and agility, doing stuff the way the Navy does things.

Mixed in with all this was the oversight of certain individuals. They named several of the female recruits and had them take additional tests and interviews. Gwen and the others had to figure that they were in a special category ... all the other recruits were not taking the same tests...just a few of them.

Gwen graduated from the eight-week "Boot Camp" and knew that her next duty station was going to be at Southport, N.C. The number of female sailors set aside for an unknown future was six. After graduation exercises, they packed their seabags and were ticketed to North Carolina by train. San Diego to Southport is more than just a jaunt.

At the Navy installation, the six sailors found out that they were to be instructed in the intelligence field. They were trained in several subjects including intel gathering, development of sources of information, observation skills and how to assess the information and then transmit it to a higher headquarters. They continued to work on physical training and lots of weapons training.

Some of the training included being provided a case study. The new sailors were to read the packet of information, make recommendations about the data, name and develop the characters in it, then generate a report of the case. The training had to be a step-by-step method, building on what they already knew. Also, there had to be instructions on the new equipment for transmitting/receiving messages.

Another skill that was developed was land navigation. They were trained and repeatedly tasked with map reading, compass use, shooting an azimuth, recognizing land features shown on a map, etc. Of most things, this was a significant area to master..

Another point of instruction involved using ones own mind to know what others were thinking. The mental telepathy was worked on extensively in unusual ways. Gwen knew that she had something in her skill set that was useful in telepathy, and used it in this training.

During all this education, the young female sailors had to be asking where this was all headed. There hadn't been much mentioned about doing the tasks normal Navy recruits would be doing ... this was truly different. Questions kept coming up but answers were rarely provided. This experimental training finally ended after a few months. The number of female trainees that were selected had lessened from six to three.

The three were flown from Southport to the U.S. Naval Station at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Here, they found out more about their mission. Whispers at first, but specificity later. They spent considerable time with weaponry including handguns with noise suppressors, hand-to-hand combat, use of the K-bar knife in close fighting situations, etc. Their training also included some situational role playing of isolation and interpreting of un-noticed information.

While at "GTMO," all that was available for quality of life matters was a small PX kind of store, laundry facilities, and a dining hall. MacDonalds was not there yet, nor was the outdoor theater, nor the Class Six (liquor store)!

Training here was also months long. The training was in a low-profile, high-temperature, high-humidity climate. There wasn't much jungle. Their trainers and "handlers" finally had to inform them that their destination was Southeast Asia. The specific country would be Laos.

They would be sent first to Tibet, for further training, especially language education. Gwen and the others wore the customary female clothing – the dark blue burka. The sailors worked on gathering information, intermingling with people of a different history, and developing scenarios from what they observed. They were sent on to an Abbey where priests lived.

In a couple of months time, the "handlers" showed the sailors what they would need, how to pack it, and to be ready to deploy. The three would be flown by chopper to Laos. The changed their appearance by having black hair, some eye make-up and the clothing normally worn by the people in the area they went to.

Once there, their mission was to find American and French pilots whose planes had been shot down and were now captive. At the point of insertion, the three were to use their land-nav skills to find villages where there were suspected POWs. Over time, they were to set the captives free and bring them out of confinement to rendezvous points.

So here we are, three highly trained, female sailors, embarking on a seemingly staggering mission. Let's get to it.

The POWs would probably be held in individual bambo cages. They would have just enough room to sit. They would have little clothing. Their captivity would have included minimum amounts of food, no medical care, and regular beatings at the hands of their captors. Some captives might be very suspicious of new people approaching the caging. The presence of new people could mean more beatings and less rations. Mental stability of the captives would surely be an issue.

By reading their maps, hoping they fit in, the three made their way to several villages. Once in a village, they slowly gained the confidence of the locals. None of them made a spectacle. They were just like all the others. In time, the location of captives was learned. Situational awareness was assessed and a plan was put into place. Slowly and methodically, each or a pair of sailors would approach the cages and make introductory remarks and try to get handles on the mental condition of the prisoners. The more recent expression of "either your with us or you're against us" comes into play. More than once, certain captives made it clear that they would not cooperate. Others couldn't wait – but they had to.

In staging, the sailors would make "mannequins" of mud and grass. They briefed the captives of a time and what they were to do ... and in the dark of the night, make it happen.

As the captives were freed, they were to meet at a certain point and be led out by the sailors. The mud mannequins were put in the cages to make it look like the captives were still in there. The sailors had to make their way to the rally point by maps and reckoning. Protesting prisoners were left behind, having been terminated.

Along the escape route, the sailors had to take time to rest because the men hadn't had physical exercise in quite a time and/or had injuries. Their work was always done at night. Mother nature didn't help here ... the monkey population was vocal. They would screech at anything that was unusual.

Once freed, they had to carefully in handing out food- not knowing how far away the next stage was. One of the freed prisoners became "lost." He knew what he had and wasn't sure where he was being led and started to make quite a fuss. Quickly, Gwen had to get the man's attention and explain things to him. In this situation, the quieting talk included the threat of the man's life for non-cooperation. With luck and skill, all the fleeing party made it to the rendezvous point and handed off the prisoners to the underground members who got the men out.

Gwen said she never knew any names of those she freed. She was sure the prisoners didn't know the identity of those freeing them. The action took place over four years. In all, she figured that they had freed approximately 30 men.

During all this time, Gwen and her colleagues couldn't write home to keep in touch with their families. There was no Rest and Re-cooperation. There were no U.S.O. shows to lift their spirits. Actually, the Navy would most likely dis-avow their presence and/or their mission. Finally, they received word that their mission was complete. Things in neighboring Viet Nam had heated up by 1968 and a war was now going on.

Gwen was flown back to the U.S. and to Southport. There she was debriefed by members of the intel community. She also learned that she had been promoted to Lieutenant in the U.S. Navy. Since she hadn't been able to make paycall every month, there was some back pay due. Clearly, re-adjustment to civilian life would be tough.

She needed to re-acquaint herself with her family and friends. Once a phone was available, she called her mother to say that she was alright, and that she had been out of touch. And, she needed to find work that would be financially beneficial.

Gwen became an over-the-road truck driver and did that profession for thirty years. She had two daughters in the time. As she now is living her life, she is content knowing that she did her best under very trying circumstances.

What a great mission you accomplished, Lt. Gwen Moore of the U.S. Navy! Thank you for your service.