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name
MOSS, Nathaniel - Date of
birth
19 December 1920 -
Age
23 - Place of
birth
Harrison County, Texas -
Hometown
Gregg County, Texas -
Ethnicity
African American
Personal info
Military service
- Service
number
38040062 -
Rank
Private -
Function
unknown -
Unit
C Battery,
333rd Field Artillery Battalion
-
Awards
Purple Heart
Death
-
Status
Killed in Action - Date of
death
17 December 1944 - Place of
death
Hauptstrasse in Wereth, Belgium
Wereth, Belgium
Grave
-
Cemetery
American War Cemetery Henri-Chapelle
| Plot | Row | Grave |
|---|---|---|
| F | 10 | 8 |
Immediate family
-
Members
David Moss (father)
Essie (Bell) Moss (mother)
Ollie M. Moss (sister)
Anna Moss (sister)
Ruth Moss (sister)
More information
Pvt Nathaniel Moss enlisted in Dallas, Texas on 7 March 1941.He was captured by German troops during the Battle of the Bulge in the town of Wereth, Belgium on December 17, 1944. He along with 10 other African American prisoners of the same unit had their helmets and rifles taken, were forced to sit on the cold and wet ground until dark and eventually made to run nearly 800 meters out of town, chased by a vehicle driven by the German soldiers. They then were brutally murdered and their bodies dumped in a roadside ditch. This atrocity is know as the Wereth Massacre or the Wereth 11.
An autopsy report on the 11 is ghastly: broken legs and arms, jaws shattered, fingers severed, bayonet wounds to the face and body and bullet wounds designed to inflict anguish rather than death.
Since 2004 there is a memorial at the site were these soldiers were murdered.
The complete story of the massacre can be found here: http://www.wereth.org
Source of information: Raf Dyckmans, www.wwiimemorial.com, www.footnote.com, www.fold3.com - WWII Draft Card, www.ancestry.com - family tree
Photo source: www.findagrave.com