MEADVILLE &045; More than 40 years later, Arthur Littleton can still remember how he felt when he first heard his former football teammate, Charles Moore, was missing.

&uot;I thought Š it was tragic,&uot; Littleton said Saturday afternoon, standing across Meadville’s Main Street from where Moore and friend Henry Dee were thought to have been abducted May 2, 1964.

Littleton was in California when he heard the news that the two young men were missing, and he knew in his heart it was likely they wouldn’t be found alive.

&uot;When you hear Meadville on the national news, you knew it couldn’t be good,&uot; Littleton said. &uot;When we first heard it, we knew what had happened to them. They just didn’t have the bodies.&uot;

He hasn’t forgotten, and he doesn’t want others to forget, either. That’s why, at the request of Charles Moore’s brother Thomas, Littleton has placed a sign in Charles Moore and Henry Dee’s memories at the Main Street site.

On July 12, 1964, the lower halves of Moore and Dee’s bodies &045; Moore’s identified by a belt buckle his brother had given him &045; where found in the Old River south of Tallulah, La. The men were both 19 years old.

Their bodies were found during the search for James Chaney, Andrew Goodman and Michael Schwerner, the three civil rights workers killed in 1964 in what is now known as the &uot;Mississippi Burning&uot; case.

It’s not known why Moore and Dee, who by all accounts weren’t actively involved in the civil rights movement, were targeted.

&uot;I never felt there was anything in his personality&uot; to warrant such an attack, Littleton said about Moore, whom he knew personally. &uot;I’ll always believe they were just in the wrong place at the wrong time.&uot;

Littleton and others who were present when he hammered the sign into the ground said they want to see justice done in the case, and the first steps have already been taken.

Back in 1964, an investigation resulted in the arrest of two suspects, Charles Marcus Edwards and James Ford Seale. The charges against both men were later dropped.

The Moore and Dee cases were reopened by the FBI in 2000, although questions about federal jurisdiction halted progress.

Then, in June of this year, U.S. Attorney Dunn Lampton announced he would conduct a re-review of old files in the case and was asking anyone with information to come forward in that case, as well as in the 1967 murder of Wharlest Jackson in Natchez. Lampton’s action came after a jury, earlier in June, convicted Edgar Ray Killen in connection with the deaths of Chaney, Goodman and Schwerner.

Meanwhile, those standing at the Main Street sign said they hope it will raise public awareness of the deaths of the two young men they described as good, quiet teens.

&uot;It keeps their memory alive,&uot; said Elmo Higginbottom, who knew Moore personally. &uot;Maybe someone will come through with some evidence.&uot;

&uot;Maybe it will get the attention of people who could help shed some light on this and lead to the punishment of those who did it,&uot; said Peachie Morgan, who knew Dee.

Anyone with any information can contact any local law enforcement officer, lawyer or public official or call Lampton’s office at 601-965-4480.