Francis Eugene “Gene” Moke was born at Jefferson City, Cole County, Missouri on August 1, 1917. (His birth year is recorded as 1916 on his enlistment record.) His parents were Samuel Adam 'Sam' Moke (9 Apr 1879 – 14 Jan 1968) and Nellie Maud Moke (1882 – 5 Sep 1968) (called Nellie or Nell), who were born in Ohio. His parents married about 1904, and by 1910 lived at Jefferson City, Missouri, where his father was a steam locomotive engineer for the Missouri Pacific Railroad. He had a sister, Genevieve Moke (abt 1923 – unk), born in Missouri, who his parents fostered or adopted.

In 1940 he lived at Fulton, Callaway County, Missouri, where he worked as an insect exterminator at State Hospital #1 for the Insane. He completed at least one year of college, and later worked as an office clerk. He married Ethel Irene (Bellamy) Moke (abt 1918 – unk) at Jackson County, Missouri on June 29, 1941. He enlisted in the U.S. Army at Jefferson Barracks, Saint Louis, Missouri on April 30, 1942. His home of record was 2634 Paseo, Kansas City, Jackson County, Missouri, his wife's address in 1944. By 1962 his parents lived at 211 2nd Street SW, New Philadelphia, Ohio.

He completed Army Air Forces navigator training, and was commissioned a Second Lieutenant on December 24, 1943. He was then assigned as navigator on the heavy bomber crew of Lt William J. Mowat, in the 837th Bomb Squadron of the 487th Bomb Group. The Mowat crew completed B-24 crew training with the 487th Bomb Group at Alamogordo Army Air Base, New Mexico, and deployed with the Group to England in March 1944. They flew B-24H 41-29523 overseas via the southern Atlantic ferry route—a journey of about 10,000 miles—and arrived in England by mid-April 1944. The 487th Bomb Group was based at Army Air Forces Station 137 near Lavenham, Suffolk, England, and was part of the 8th U.S. Army Air Force in Europe. After arrival at Station 137, Lt Moke was reassigned as navigator on the crew of Lt Norman E. Gross in the 838th Bomb Squadron.

In the early morning hours of June 6, 1944, the 487th Bomb Group dispatched two Squadrons on the first of three missions that the Group flew on D-Day. The Gross crew flew B-24H 42-52629 'Sweatin' It Out' on this mission. The 487th Bomb Group was assigned to bomb a choke point—a road junction—in Caen, France, to disrupt German transportation. The Group's assembly in the dark over England took five hours, much longer than planned. Then a complete undercast prevented the crews from bombing the target. On the return, the entire heavy bomber force was routed away from the Allied shipping area, to the west of the Channel Islands Jersey and Guernsey. Lt Moke and his nine crew mates went missing in action when their aircraft ran out of fuel and went down in the English Channel. A station at Saffron Walden, England received a distress call from the crew at 0842, which indicated that the aircraft was about 35 miles northwest of the Cherbourg Peninsula, and all four engines were dead. The aircraft's last reported position was 49°52'N, 02°38'W, some 20 to 25 miles northwest of the Channel Island of Alderney. Other crews almost ran out of fuel before landing at bases near the English coast.

Remains of Flight Officer Levine, the bombardier, were found by the crew of the British ship HSL 192 (High Speed Launch 192) and were buried at sea, in the English Channel, on July 3, 1944. None of the other crew members was ever found.

Lt Moke and the other officers on the crew are memorialized on the Wall of the Missing at Cambridge American Cemetery near Madingley, England. The enlisted men are memorialized on the Wall of the Missing at Normandy American Cemetery in France.

Lt Moke also has a cenotaph at Evergreen Burial Park in New Philadelphia, Tuscarawas County, Ohio, where his parents are buried.

B-24H 42-52629 crew:
• Gross, Norman E – 1/Lt – Pilot – MIA
• Haskell, Willard D – 2/Lt – Copilot – MIA
• Moke, Francis E – 2/Lt – Navigator – MIA
• Levine, Milton – F/O – Bombardier – Buried at Sea
• Huebel Jr, Benjamin A – S/Sgt – Engineer – MIA
• Markowitz, Max I – S/Sgt – Radio Operator – MIA
• McWilliams, Charles A – Sgt – Nose Gunner – MIA
• Benson, Stanley J – Sgt – Top Gunner – MIA
• Allensworth, Harold O – Sgt – Ball Gunner – MIA
• Westhoff Jr, Henry B – S/Sgt – Tail Gunner – MIA

Source of information: Paul Webber, www.findagrave.com