The Other Wes Moore: One Name, Two Fates

One day while harassing his sister, Moore accidentally splits her lip and gets in serious trouble. His mother had already had a disappointing conversation with the dean at Riverdale. She slapped Moore twice, hard across the face. He recalls, “She was devastated. She was losing her son, and she was not sure how to turn the tide” (89). Her solution turned out to be the Valley Forge Military Academy in Wayne, Pennsylvania.

At Valley Forge, Moore’s days began before sunrise and ended long after sunset. He writes, “Our birth names were irrelevant, as were our past acquaintances and past accomplishments and past failures. We were the same now. We were nothing” (89-90). His first few days were filled with rage directed at his mother because he “felt betrayed” (90).

One morning, Moore’s squad leader entered his room and offered him a map to the train station in Wayne because he knew Moore didn’t want to be there. Moore was overwhelmed with gratitude, and his mind spun with plans for a “great escape” (92). He left at midnight that evening and followed the directions perfectly, only to wind up lost in the forest. As he sat on a rock and wept, the entire chain of command found him and took him back to his tactical officer, Colonel Battaglioli, whom Moore calls Batt.