U.S. Army Tech Sgt. Joseph Ruffin Moore died in one of World War II’s bloodiest campaigns. His unit, the 8th Infantry Division, had been fighting in Germany’s Hürtgen Forest for almost a month when he was killed near the town of Kleinhau on Dec. 11, 1944, at the age of 28. His remains were never identified during the war.
Moore’s division landed on Utah Beach a few weeks after D-Day (June 6, 1944) and fought across France until reaching the Hürtgen Forest, along the German-Belgian border, where German forces repelled nearly every American attempt to advance. After the campaign ended, unidentified U.S. soldiers were buried in the Ardennes American Cemetery in Belgium.
In 2019, the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) determined that two sets of unknown remains in the Ardennes cemetery likely belonged to soldiers who had gone missing north of Kleinhau. After the remains were exhumed and sent to the DPAA laboratory, scientists confirmed that both sets belonged to the same individual.
As DPAA scientists worked to identify the remains, they received help from Moore’s daughter, Barbara Moore, who had been born before her father shipped out—and who had spent much of her life hoping to identify him. She requested a DNA testing kit, which DPAA provided to both her and one of Moore’s nephews. According to Barbara’s daughter, Michelle Daczkowski, “My mother just always said, ‘I'm going to find him one day.’”
Unfortunately, Barbara passed away in early 2025, before learning that her father had been found. DPAA then contacted Daczkowski. “I was stunned,” she said. “I'm the oldest, so I had probably more memories of stories than my siblings, and all those memories came flooding back.” Daczkowski recalled hearing stories about her grandfather when she was growing up. “My grandmother told me he would always keep her laughing,” she said, adding that he was an athlete who “wasn't afraid of anything. He had the energy of 10 people, so I guess that fared him well when he went to war.”
Daczkowski decided to have her grandfather buried at Arlington National Cemetery “to honor the service he gave and the sacrifice of his life.” At the funeral on Nov. 21, 2025, U.S. Army Chaplain (Capt.) Albert Addison noted that Moore had earned the Bronze Star and the Purple Heart, among other decorations. The Purple Heart, he added, signified that Moore had “shed his blood in defense of our nation.”
Daczkowski described the service as “bittersweet,” since her mother had passed before learning about her own father’s fate. “It was her dream to find her father,” Daczkowski said. “But I'm so glad that he's back home.”
