LITTLE ROCK — On Feb. 6, 1945, A.B. Morara and thousands of other prisoners of war began a 500-mile march that would last more than 80 days across treacherous, snowyGerman terrain. However, it wasn’t surviving the trek that showed Morara’s true character - he and another POW let a friend, stricken with dysentery, lean on them for miles so he wouldn’t be left behind to die.
“If you couldn’t march, they’d just leave you on the side of the road,” said Morara’s wife, Gloria. “He didn’t want them to do away with him.”
Morara, of LakeVillage, died Wednesday at Delta Regional Medical Center in Greenville, Miss., from complications from hip surgery, his family said.
He was 89.
Growing up in Chicot County, Morara worked at the Readland Mercantile store, owned by his Italianimmigrant parents.
He excelled at baseball and was known as “Lefty” while pitching in the minor leagues after World War II, his wife said.
“He pitched left-handed and batted right-handed,” said his daughter, Neva Mayo.
In the early 1940s, Morara served as a tail gunner on a B-24 Liberator in the U.S. Army Air Forces. His son, Jimmy Morara, said his father flew in 28 combat missions and was shot down twice.
The second time, on July 7, 1944, Morara and his crew were captured.
“He said when they got out of the plane they started running and these farmers came up to them with guns and held [them] until the soldiers came and took all of them back to prison,” Gloria Morara said.
A.B. Morara was taken to Stalag Luft IV, a German prison camp at Gross Tychow in Pomerania. To try to gather intelligence, the Nazis threatened the prisoners, Jimmy Morara said.
“They took him and a bunch of other airmen, lined them up on the wall,” his son said. “They wanted to scarehim psychologically. He said, ‘I was scared, I thought they might shoot us.’”
Despite the life-threatening situation, A.B. Morara was a ray of hope to others.
“He was the one always cracking jokes,” said Mayo.“He was the one who would try to keep everyone’s spirits up.”
Gloria Morara said her husband’s strong Catholic faith helped him get through the worst of his almost twoyear imprisonment and the ordeal of the “Black March.”
“They marched ... in the ice and snow and they’d just sleep in barns and under trees and eat whatever they could find,” his wife said. “His sister kept hisletters and cards and what not and he would mention the prayers he’d say.”
On April 26, 1945, Morara was liberated in Bitterfeld, Germany.
“He said they were really happy,” his wife said. “He knew they were coming home.”
The Moraras married in 1948 and he took over his family’s store in Readland.
It was a town gathering place where Morara became affectionately known as “Mr. Red,” because of his red hair.
“We did a lot for the customers,” his wife said. “We’d take them to the doctor, deliver their groceries.”
The couple owned other businesses, including a dollar store and liquor store in Eudora, before Morara retired in the mid-1990s. His daughter said he spent his retirement golfing and playing dominoes.
Though Morara rarely mentioned the war, his optimism was never forgotten by the POW survivors. Mayo said a couple from Eudora relayed their experience at an Alabama restaurant when a veteran said he knew Eudora - the town where Morara lived.
“He said, ‘You wouldn’t be talking to me if it hadn’t been for A.B. Morara ... if it hadn’t been for his spirit and sense of humor,’” his daughter said. “That would be what he’s remembered for more than anything, his smile and sense of humor.”
Arkansas, Pages 10 on 12/29/2012