10/04/2026
After 82 years, two brothers are coming home.
Sergeant Jay Bently Moreland was 21. Staff Sergeant William Wright “Bill” Moreland was 19. Bushong, Kansas. They enlisted together. Trained together. Deployed together with the 149th Engineer Combat Battalion. On D-Day, June 6, 1944, their landing craft was struck by underwater mines as it approached Omaha Beach. They died together.
This afternoon their remains arrive in Emporia. Next Saturday, October 10, the public is invited to walk them the rest of the way. Private gathering at 1:30 p.m. at Roberts-Blue-Barnett Funeral Home, 605 State Street, Emporia. About an hour later, a procession to Bushong Cemetery. Full military honors. Family plot. Fort Riley is carrying them. The town is receiving them.
James Wulfkuhle put this in front of me and asked for a call. Here it is.
If you wore the uniform, wear it. Current or past. If you cannot be in Emporia, stand where you are at 1:30 Central on the 10th and give these two a minute. They waited 82 years for the funeral they did not get in 1944. The least we can do is show up.
Together in life. Together in service. Together going home.
~ DS Rock
