Name: Service No. : Rank: Service: Date of Birth: Place of Birth: Date of Enlistment: Place of Enlistment: Date of Death: Age: Cemetery/Memorial:

Robert John Moore 7085-H Able Seaman HCMS Sioux,Royal Canadian Navy December 27, 1929 Yarmouth, Nova Scotia March 8, 1949 Penfield Ridge, New Brunswick July 21, 1951 21 Commonwealth Memorial (Busan), South Korea Commemorated on Page 52 of the Korean War Book of Remembrance Commemorated on the Korean War Memorial Naval Museum of Alberta at HMCS Tecumseh, Calgary, Alberta The Wall of Remembrance in Ottawa, Ontario The Brampton National Wall of Remembrance. Able Seaman Robert John Moore was the son of Herbert John Moore (1905-1987) and Mary Elizabeth (LeBlanc) Moore (1909-2009) of Westphal, Dartmouth, Nova Scotia. Robert was the brother of Victor Alexander Moore, and Mildred Constance Moore (1913-2012), and William Henry Moore (b. 1940). Robert’s father was born in Belfast, Ireland, and his mother was born in Rockville, Yarmouth Co., NS and living in Wedgeport, NS, when the two married in 1929. After joining the service in New Brunswick, Robert trained at HMCS Cornwallis in Annapolis Co., NS. His first assignment was aboard HMCS Magnificent, and from there, he moved on to HMCS Stadacona in Halifax, NS, for Communications School. Upon finishing his training, Moore, along with fellow sailor Frank R. Lake from Sudbury, Ontario, who enlisted in Winnipeg, was assigned to HMCS Ottawa. They served on HMCS Ottawa during its Australian-Asian cruise before returning to British Columbia for their next posting. Hugh A. Halliday recounts that while in Victoria, BC, aboard HMCS Ontario in the summer of 1951, the chief yeoman came to the communications mess and asking for 2 volunteers to leave immediately to join HMSC Sioux in Korea. Three men stood up, including Hugh, Robert Moore, and Frank Laker. They had volunteered for Korean service while in Australia and were awaiting draft to one of the destroyers. The chief took a coin from his pocket and tossed it. Bob and Frank were selected, said farewell to Hugh, and the two immediately left the ship. After a short leave, the two reported for air passage to Japan. Although some records and news coverage from the time report that they flew from the USAAF’s McChord Field in Tacoma, Washington State, the flight departed from Vancouver International Airport. Able Seaman Moore and Able Seaman Laker were killed in an aircraft accident when their Canadian Pacific Airlines DC-4 Flight 3505 was lost at sea near the Gulf of Alaska. It disappeared on a routine scheduled flight for the United Nations from Vancouver Airport in BC, to the Haneda Army Air Base in Tokyo, Japan. The first leg included a scheduled stop at Elmendorf Air Force Base in Anchorage, Alaska. 90 minutes from Anchorage, the DC-4 was on schedule, but it encountered severe weather including icing conditions, heavy rain, only 500-foot visibility. The aircraft reported its position 80 miles west of Juneau off Cape Spencer at 12:17 a.m. Pacific Standard Time. With only a 5-hour fuel supply, that report was the last anyone heard from the pilot or crew. For several hours after the plane disappeared, there was a weak radio signal that might or might not have come from the plane but by early Saturday evening the signal had stopped. Able Seaman Robert John Moore is the only Nova Scotian to die in the Korean War in the Royal Canadian Navy. Able Seaman Moore is also commemorated with a flat marker at the Chebogue Cemetery (also known as Town Point Cemetery) between Central Chebogue and Rockville in Yarmouth Co., NS.

Source: Veterans Affairs Canada Korean War Educator Operation Hawk: The Korean Airlift (Hugh A. Halliday)