Robert William Hall was bom on March 20, 1919 in Elyria, Ohio. His parents were Harvey Hubert Hall (1885-1951) and Adelaide E. Schmitkons Hall (1890-1963) and lived in Amherst, Lorain County, Ohio. They also had three other children, Lynn Hall (1921-1931), Harry Hall, and Jay Edwin Hall (1920-1995). Robert William enlisted on November 1, 1941, serving in the USAAC and USAF, attaining the rank of Lt. Colonel as a combat pilot. He retired from active service in 1965.

Colonel Hall was assigned to the 62 Squadron of the famous 5 FG at Boxted Air Base in England during WWII and was credited with the destruction of two enemy aircraft (Junkers Ju- 188 bombers). He flew 55 combat missions with a total of 310 combat hours in WWII and the Korean War. In 1944, Hall was shot down by German flak and broke his back when he bailed out at a very low altitude on his 20^th combat mission. He spoke French, Javanese, and Spanish, and served around the globe. He was stationed in Japan and North Africa, Randolph Field in Texas, Maxwell AFB in Alabama, among other duty stations. Robert W . Hall passed away on December 10, 1993 at Alvarado Hospital and is buried at El Camino Memorial Park, San Diego.

Link to the collection's Descriptive Finding Guide.

Images from the collection on Flickr.