The apartment tells the story. A military man lives here. Not just any military man. A big shot. A brigadier general.
His apartment at Imperial Towers brims with military memorabilia - autographed photos of Army VIPs, a slew of framed citations and scads of medals (three Purple Hearts, two Silver Stars, three Bronze Medals and the coveted West Virginia Distinguished Medal of Honor - 34 medals in all).
Books with military themes jam the bookshelves. Oh, and there's the framed glove he wore at funeral ceremonies for President Harry Truman.
The keepsakes go on and on, but, well, you get the idea.
This is Harley Mooney's pad.
West Virginians probably best remember him as a high-profile State Police superintendent under Gov. Jay Rockefeller. But it's the long and eventful military career that defines him.
Even at 89, a remarkable memory spews incredibly detailed accounts of his journey to the here and now. Like war stories? He's your man.
A native of Marion, Ohio, he was smitten with disciplined military life from the time he signed up for Army Officer Candidate School shortly after high school. He served in Italy and Korea and three tours in Vietnam, moving quickly through the ranks.
He owns a master's degree in history -- he actually flirted with a switch to academia -- but when the Army beckoned again, he couldn't get there fast enough.
And forget those obligatory military desk jobs. He yearned always for action.
"I was a mud soldier," he declares proudly.
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"I grew up in Marion, Ohio, an industrial town north of Columbus. My dad was a tool-and-die maker. Mother was pretty much a stay-at-home mom. Her mother, my grandmother, lived close by. Both were very strong women who didn't mind sharing their opinions.
"So strong women do not scare me. That's why we had the integration in the State Police. Women and blacks came into the department. It had never been done. You've got to give Gov. Rockefeller all the credit in the western world. He wanted me to clean the department up and get it out of politics.
"Troopers had been shabbily treated. These are some of the finest men that America produces. It was a wonderful transition for me from the military to the State Police.
"The first job I had out of high school was at the Marion Engineer Depot, a huge place that stocked supplies going overseas during the war.
"Then I decided to join the Army. I went to Fort Bliss. They were taking applications for Officer Candidate School. I was selected to go to Fort Benning. It was great stuff. Trains ran on time. People did things at the time they said they would.
"I was commissioned 71 years ago today. I went to Italy with the 88th Infantry Division. We were having a confrontational problem with the Yugoslavs. We maintained outposts across a thing called the Morgan Line, like the DMZ.
"In late 1947, I got ordered to Korea. We served on the 38th parallel. Our division went to Japan and I was selected to be part of the 5th Regimental Combat Team.
"In the summer of '49, the team was ordered to Hawaii. Korea was no longer considered of national interest, according to Dean Atkinson. I had my first command, F Company of the 5th Infantry, and I was all of about 20 years old. We started having border confrontations, good sized regimental engagements in '49 and '50.
"I left on June 9, 1950. The war started on the 25th. They had called it a police action before then. I had landed in Seattle.
"I intended to get out of the Army. I was looking at WVU. Then I got a notification to report to Fort Hood, Texas, instead of Fort Knox for separation. We had the so-called Truman Year. They added a year to everyone on active duty.
"At Fort Hood, I'm thinking, 'You wanted to be a soldier all this time. You've got to get to Korea'. I spent six days at Fort Hood. I walked in and said to the guy, 'I just came back from Korea, and I am very familiar with the area. Do you have any units going?' They had an artillery unit, an all-black unit, a heavy tank outfit.
"He called this battalion and said he had a guy just back from two years and did they think they could use him. The commander said, 'Hell ye. We'll make him a liaison officer.' I was really eager to go. A taste of combat changed that enthusiasm.
"The Army had been cannibalized after World War II. Instead of three battalions in a regiment, we had two. Instead of three rifle companies, we had two. We were woefully unprepared for Korea.
"We sailed for Japan. One of my duties was to help with offloading equipment. The guy that ran that outfit was Lt. Col. Fred C. Weyand, a tall blonde guy. Instantly there was good chemistry between us.
"When the Incheon invasion occurred, I thought war was over, but I became an aide-de-camp to the assistant division commander, Armistead Mead from Wheeling.
"We landed in Wonsan in North Korea. Marines were north of us. A division task force that Mead headed went up to relieve a Marine unit so they could prepare for their withdrawal from the Chosin Reservoir.
"If it hadn't been for Naval and Marine aviation, we would still be at the Chosin Reservoir. I got hit over the eye, the neck and shoulder.
"Back at the division, I decided I needed to get to a regiment. I went up to the 7th Infantry and was assigned to the first battalion, A Company. Fred Weyand took command of the battalion four days later.
"Our first operation, this artillery unit fired short on our company, nine killed and 22 wounded. The company commander had a compound fracture of the leg, and I took command of the company.
"They wanted to pass another company to me. I told them if I didn't get these guys up and fighting, they would never fight for me again. I said we had to make a win out of this. We did.
"I commanded that company until April 25. The night of the 22nd, we had pulled back into the reserve position to shower and change uniforms. A British outfit next to me woke me up about midnight. Somebody was flying missions. The big Chinese offensive.
"The next two days, we rescued a Belgian battalion that had been trapped. Then we occupied a big defensive position on the Kansas Line. Our second battalion got overrun on the 23rd .
"The only way our third battalion had to withdraw was through me, and they did. We were the last unit off the Kansas Line. Clay Bryant describes it as 'the most gallant fight of the war' in his book, 'The Forgotten War.'
"Weyand saved the day. Chinamen were all over the place. I described to Weyand where I was. He said we were in the same place. I told him to put a round out so I could hear it. It didn't matter if I got hit by American artillery or Chinese, one of the two was going to happen quickly. He made an adjustment and I could hear Chinamen screaming.
"I'd been hit and a couple of guys drug me down the hill, and that essentially ended my combat phase in Korea.
"I got out of Korea and got the leg wound infected again. I'm at Walter Reed and ran into Armistead Mead. He said, 'You may have a future in the regular Army.' That was high praise. I'm a reserve officer.
"Mead got me to WVU. His brother was head of the alumni association. He was going to Morgantown on the 20th of May and wanted me to come with him. On the 4th of June, I was a student at WVU. I finished a history degree in two years. A regular commission still wasn't forthcoming, so I went to Athens and got a master's in history. I was on my way to Michigan State to get a Ph.D. I was going to become a college professor.
"Weyand called and said they were opening appointments in the regular Army. I thought being a captain in the Army was better than being a continuing graduate student. I've never regretted not finishing.
"So I went off to the advanced course at Fort Benning. They assigned me to Army headquarters. If there's anything more boring, I can't think of what it is.
"A guy who had been one of my regimental commanders was going to Minneapolis to the 14th Corps and I went as his aide. After six months, I got promoted to major. I got assigned to manage the 14 college and university ROTC programs.
"From there I went to Leavenworth, Kansas, the school, not the prison. Some people have difficulty believing that. I graduated from Leavenworth and was assigned to Scofield Barracks in Hawaii.
"I was assistant chief of staff at division headquarters. Guess who becomes the commander? Fred Weyand.
"I was selected to command a battalion of the 22nd as a CO major. I took them to Vietnam in December of '65. We were the advance element of the 25th Division. We fought for and cleared Chuchi, which became the division base camp.
"I had another leg infection. This wound has caused me more problems. It was rough over there. We discovered the tunnels of Chuchi. People were underground. You had a lot of ways to kill them, from B-52s to M-14s, but you couldn't find them. We found enough to keep us entertained. The unit received a citation, the equivalent of every man in the unit qualifying for the Silver Star.
"I was there until April of '67 when I went back to command a battalion. They had never seen a battalion commander shot at before because they couldn't find the battalion commander. I corrected that in about three days, and they had plenty of entertainment watching me get shot at.
"I was a professional soldier. This is what the American people were paying me for.
"I had three tours in Vietnam. I'd been back five months in the Pentagon in the logistics office when they were having the M-16 problems, the basic infantry weapon.
"I was a full colonel by then. I had damn good people with me. I've always had good people. Whatever success I had with the State Police is because of guys like Bob Stanley and Jack Buckalew and the support of a damned good governor.
"I went to the National Defense University. I got a brigade in the 2nd Division. They said I would never get promoted because I wasn't getting enough staff time, so that didn't hurt too bad.
"Then I got orders for Hawaii again as exec to the United States Army's Pacific commander. En route, I got promoted to brigadier general. I called and asked what I should I do. He said to keep on coming. I had a great 18 months out there.
"I had open-heart surgery in '74. In those days, that was instant retirement. I was brought back to Washington to be the president of the reduction-in-force board. They had 6,000 captains and were going to get rid of 4,000. I got the lousiest job I've ever had in the Army.
"Gaston Caperton had given my name to Jay Rockefeller about the State Police job. In 1977, I got a call and met with three screeners and had an interview with Rockefeller and was hired the same day.
"It was a great transition. Great people. I wasn't a cop and wasn't going to pretend to be one. They would have spotted a phony. You never saw me in a uniform with the West Virginia State Police except the fatigue uniform at the penitentiary escape and the floods and coal strikes and other incidents.
"We got troopers a 60 percent pay raise over four years and overtime for the first time ever. We got the education program going for an associate degree from Marshall for people finishing our basic course.
"I had three kids in school at the same time and needed to make some money. I financially couldn't stay. I had made a lot of contacts throughout the state, guys like Buck Harless. I went into the consulting business. We put together the West Virginia Roundtable with Mr. Harless.
"I spend a lot of time helping kids get into the service academies. I'll tell you when you really feel old. These kids I helped get into the academies are retiring.
"I was a mud soldier with a checkerboard military career. I was in and out of the White House as a member of the third infantry when Truman was president. I had the privilege of meeting the president and was the funeral officer in charge of the ceremonial troops that buried him. I have known some great men.
"This has been a complicated life, but what a privilege it has been to serve this country and how damned distressing it is to watch us fiddling while Rome is burning around us. It kind of makes glad I'm at the end of the trail."
Reach Sandy Wells at sandyw@wvgazettemail.com or 304-342-5027.