In the late 1990s, Joe Moore sent each of his children a letter as he prepared his will, asking them to tell him if there was anything of his that they wanted when he died.
One of them replied, "I want all the stories nobody will be able to tell once you are gone."
A year later, he sent her his autobiography, from birth to the day he joined the Navy. The rest, he said, would have to wait, as too many of the people involved were still alive.
After his death, his computer files showed that he had continued to write. Those stories, combined with public records from genealogical research and the contents of his Navy personnel file, reveal a complex man.
From a childhood spent living in cars and tents as his "Okie" parents travelled to where they could find work, through his Viet Nam era Navy service and to the end of his life, Joe Moore lived life on his own terms.
This is his story, told in his own words.
