Ferndale area farm boy and WWII hero Joe Moser passed away Wednesday, December 2nd. He was 94 years old.
By his mid-twenties Moser had seen and endured more than most could ever imagine. At age 22, he was shot down over France, captured by Germans and sent to a concentration camp in Germany. That was just the beginning. His ability to endure and survive was eventually encapsulated in a movie, “Lost Airmen of Buchenwald” and in the book, “A Fighter Pilot in Buchenwald“ by Moser as told to local author Gerald Baron.
While an unassuming man, Moser was the recipient of several awards including the Distinguished Flying Cross and France’s Legion of Honor award which he received this past April. According to a MyNorthwest.com article, it wasn’t until the 1980s that his family learned of his captivity.
According to his book bio, after the war Moser worked as a furnace repairman for more than 40 years.