Arthur S. Moura Brigadier – General, United States Army

Arthur S. Moura
Brigadier General (United States Army (retired)

General Moura passed away on October 29, 2008 at the University of North Carolina Hospital of complications from congestive heart failure.  He was a resident of Fearrington Village in Pittsboro, North Carolina.

General Moura is survived by his beloved spouse of 65 years and his childhood sweetheart, Josephine, both natives of Taunton, Massachusetts.  He is also survived by their four children: Kenneth Moura of Fairfax, Virginia and Valerie Moura, Robert Moura and Janice Cruz, all of Chapel Hill, North Carolina.  Survivors also include: his sister, Mary Sevigny of Tucson, Arizona; seven grandchildren: Kenneth Moura, Jr. of Culpeper, Virginia; Brian Moura of La Habra, Calicornia; Ashley Koncul of Savannah, Georgia; Andrea O’Neal, Alex Moura, Thomas Cruz and Alice Cruz, all of Chapel Hill, and two great grandchildren: Kenneth Moura, III and Alison Moura of Culpeper, Virginia along with several nieces and nephews.

General Moura was a decorated Army officer who specialized in US-Latin American relations.  His U. S. Military decorations included the Distinguished Service Medal, the Legion of Merit and the Army Commendation Medal with two clusters.  He also earned the Order of the Southern Cross, and the Orders of Military Naval and Armed Forces Merit from Brazil. He served three tours at the Pentagon including one with the Joints Chiefs of Staff.  He also served one tour in the Panama Canal Zone and two tours in Brazil, one in Rio and one in Brasilia, where he was the Defense Attaché.

Included in his military career were nine special assignments at the White House under Presidents Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson and Nixon.  He was a frequent guest lecturer at the National War College, the Industrial College of the Armed Forces and the Foreign Service Institute on the role of the Latin American armed forces and U. S. Policy.  General Moura was fluent in both Portuguese and Spanish.  He was inducted into both the Officer Candidate School Hall of Fame and the Hall of Fame of the Defense Intelligence as a Distinguished Military Attache.

Following his retirement from the Army in 1975, he and Jo stayed in Brazil where he served as Executive Assistant to the President for the international company, Mendes Junior Construction Group.  He retired from that position in 1991 and repatriated to Venice, Florida, where he lived until June 2007.

General Moura earned a BS degree from the University of Maryland and an MA degree in Latin American Civilization from the George Washington University in Washington.

Expressions of sympathy may be made to the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, 7721 Six Forks Road, Suite 136, Raleigh, North Carolina 27615.

Funeral services will be held at Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Virginia on a date yet to be determined. A mass in his memory will be held at St. Thomas More Catholic Church in Chapel Hill on Tuesday, November 4th at 2:30 pm.

NOTE General Moura will be laid to rest with full military honors in Arlington National Cemetery on 16 January 2009 following services in the Post Chapel at Fort Myer, Virginia.

Michael Robert Patterson

Michael Robert Patterson was born in Arlington and is the son of a former officer of the US Army. So it was no wonder that sooner or later his interests drew him to American history and especially to American military history. Many of his articles can be found on renowned portals like the New York Times, Washingtonpost or Wikipedia.

Reviewed by: Michael Howard