08/15/2023
Over a seventy year period the Homestead cabin served as a retreat and home to two World War II veterans whose paths came so close to crossing in the Pacific Theater.
Uncle Roscoe Moser lived with Aunt Betty Siggins Moser in the Homestead cabin after he was discharged from the war in January of 1946.
Roscoe was drafted November 11, 1942 and was 27 years old. He served as a high-speed Radio Operator 766 in the Pacific Theater.
He participated in battles and campaigns at the Bismarck Archipelago ( a group of islands off the north, eastern coast of New Guinea in the Western Pacific Ocean and is part of the island of Papua New Guinea), New Guinea and Luzon. His decorations and citations were; the American Theater of Operation Service Ribbon, the Asiatic Pacific Theater, Service Ribbon, the Philippine, Liberation Service Ribbon with one Bronze Star, the Good Conduct Medal, and the Victory Medal, and a Purple Heart for wounds received in action at Noenfoor Island, Dutch, New Guinea, on July 2, 1944.
Roscoe and Betty lived at the homestead cabin and worked in the Siggins Polled Hereford operation after Roscoe returned from the war. They later moved to Colorado Springs, Colorado, where Roscoe managed horse stables was the owner/operator of a car wash until his retirement.
My Dad, John Wilson Shockley and my mother Harriet renovated and lived in the Homestead cabin from 1986 until 2017 when they moved to town to be closer to medical facilities.
Dad enlisted in the United States Navy October 11, 1943 when he was 18 years old.
He was Yeoman 2nd class aboard the USS General M.M Patrick. After shakedown, the crew left San Francisco, October 14, 1944 and transported nearly 3,000 troops to Pearl Harbor and Guam, before returning to San Francisco, January 18, 1945, with military passengers. Between February 19 and March 6, she carried more troops from Seattle to Hawaii and returned sailors to San Francisco.
March 16, 1944, she set sail for the Southwest Pacific. On April 1, 1944 Captain Leo Brennan mounted the bridge and gave directional change orders and had a heart attack and died within a few minutes. There were no other officers on board with the combination to the safe where the orders of the route were locked up. The navigator, Commander Rice, assumed temporary command, and took over the ships operations. Commander Rice was the only ships officer with any prior navigational sea duty.
The communications officer contacted the Sixth Naval District Command Headquarters in San Francisco, and orders were received from the naval department to continue course to Fremantle, Australia with the troops aboard.
Commander Rice arranged the burial of Captain Leo Brennan in a military cemetery in Hollandia, Dutch New Guinea. His body was later buried at Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery in San Diego, California.
After shuttling troops from Allied bases along the northern coast of New Guinea to Luzon, she departed Manila May 16 and brought home returning veterans, arriving in San Francisco on June 12. 
Dads decorations and citations for his service in World War 11 were the Asiatic–Pacific Campaign Medal,
American Campaign Medal, Victory Medal, and the Philippine Liberation Medal.
After being discharged from the Navy, June 2,1946, Dad enlisted in the Montana National Guard, Armored Tank Division, in Chinook, Montana. He served 27 years in the National Guard until he retired as a Sergeant First Class E7.
Two veterans shared a time in history and a place they called home.
