Crashing bombs woke them on Easter morning, 1941. They knew they had to leave the city.

John Allen and Pauline Moore grabbed loaves of bread and ham as they quickly prepared to leave their house. Students from the seminary where they taught in Yugoslavia rushed to flee with them. As German planes filled the skies, bombs began to crash around them.

They walked on foot until the pain of blisters slowed their progress. Occasionally a farmer with a wagon would give them a ride. When they neared a train track with an approaching train, the group ran to jump on the train. John Allen and Pauline quickly realized that everyone was trying to leave the city — the center of the country and the target of the bombs. They prayed together for the safety of their group. They spent the nights on kitchen floors of friendly farmers or in public eating places. Finally, they met a kind man who let the group stay in a cabin behind his house. But he warned them not to leave.

As World War II raged on and the Germans overtook Belgrade, the Moores were forced to leave Yugoslavia, where they had started their lives as missionaries together. They moved to Hungary at first so John Allen could teach in a girls’ school. When forced out of Hungary, too, they went to Portugal. Finally, they sailed back to the United States to wait for the war to end. They had no plans of stopping their commitment to missions, however. They waited and prayed for the chance to return. Europe remained on their hearts, and they looked forward to how they would be used by God again to further the gospel.

John Allen Moore

IMB Photo

The Moores on duty with UNRRA in El Shatt, Egypt, where 25,000 Yugoslav refugees were being cared for until they could return to their homes in the Balkans.

IMB Photo

John Allen and Pauline Moore

IMB Photo

John Allen Moore

IMB Photo

Pauline Moore

IMB Photo

Pauline Moore

IMB Photo

Pauline Moore

IMB Photo

John Allen Moore dines on soup during a young peoples’ conference in Cerna, Yugoslavia, in 1939.

IMB Photo

Pauline Willingham Moore

IMB Photo

John Allen Moore heads out to a Serbian lesson in Beograd (modern-day Belgrade) in 1938.

IMB Photo

John Allen Moore

IMB Photo