Sergeant Harry Franklin Hall (33258464)

Harry Franklin Hall is first mentioned as a replacement, assigned to Troop A on August 10 1944, south of the Cotentin peninsula in the area of Cigné. Whether he was fresh or returning from being wounded is not known.

On arrival he is listed as a Private First Class, but he ends the war as a sergeant.

Harry Franklin Hall came from Snow Shoe, Pennsylvania and enlisted on November 17 1942 in Altoona, Pennsylvania

He fought with the squadron through all five European campaigns and was honourably discharged at the end of his service on December 8 1945. The discharge certificate records that he received the Good Conduct Medal, the American Theater Service Medal, the European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal (EAME) with five bronze stars and the Purple Heart with oak leaf cluster (oak leaf clusters are added for each successive combat injury).

Harry was hospitalised twice in December 1944, in the Ardennes, first with shrapnel injuries to his legs and again with shrapnel injuries to his abdomen and face. He resumed active duty in January 1945.

Harry’s son, Wayne, remembers the scars on his dad’s face. He recounts of the day Harry was shaving one morning, in the 1970s, when his razor hooked onto something and a fragment of grenade shrapnel emerged.

As a young man, Harry loved hunting. But when he returned home from the war he sold all his guns.

Harry Franklin Hall was born on August 31 1922. He passed away on May 17 2003, aged 79.

A particular thank you to Wayne Hall for his help with this profile. Wayne was the first of our squadron family members to be in touch, back in February 2024 when the project was just beginning.