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CITATION: GO 13 30 January 1945 (page 1)
JOSEPH HALL, O-1824859, Second Lieutenant, 508th Parachute Infantry.
For gallantry in action on 31 December. 1944, near ***,
BELGIUM.
Second Lieutenant HALL, Platoon Leader, Company
"D", voluntarily led a patrol within the enemy lines. In daylight,
with six men. Second Lieutenant HALL proceeded to the
outskirts of ***. Noting no enemy activity within the village,
he searched the surrounding countryside and discovered a trail
leading up a firebreak along which he moved swiftly until he came
within sight of the enemy. Without pausing, he deployed his
men and opened fire, killing one German. He continued his
advance under an intense hail of fire and so disconcerted the enemy
with the volume of his fire that the enemy machine gunners left
their weapons and fled intro the woods. Second Lieutenant HALL
then attacked the main group in a ditch near the end of the
firebreak. This attack was carried right into the enemy's
position. Twelve Germans were killed in the ditch and others
driven back. Second Lieutenant HALL then reassembled his
patrol and returned to his lines without casualties. His
courageous action in the face of the enemy reflects great credit
upon himself and the Airborne Forces of the United States Army. Entered military service from
SALEM, NEW JERSEY.
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This Division Gets Around
Two Stories Bare Work Of 82nd Air-Borne
By WILLIAM BONI
Associated Press Writer |
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With the 82nd
air-borne division, Jan 8 --- In their small way perhaps
these two stories will tell the bigger story of the 82nd
air-borne division and what it has done to first check, and
now, as a part of the First army, attack, to strike back
against Field Marshal Von Rundstedt's counter-offensive.
One concerns a young lieutenant who, since the outfit came into the
line Christmas day, had been on so many patrols to and
behind the German lines that when the Silver Star was pinned
on by by Maj. Gen. James M. Gavin of Mount Carmel, Pa., he
could not remember for which action he was being decorated.
The other story is of the Swedish-born master sergeant, who was
supposed to merely give two weeks of lectures to 82nd
personnel before D-Day and liked them so much he has been
with them ever since.
The lieutenant involved --- "it is our lieutenants that make this
outfit go" said a staff officer --- is Joseph Hall, 25, of
Salem, N.J. He joined the airborne division only five
months ago after volunteering from a tank destroyer outfit.
The patrols for which he was cited for the Silver Star were the
first two he made. But of the seven or eight that he
has been on, |
mostly behind German lines, perhaps the most
spectacular was the third, for which he has been recommended
for additional decorations.
Lt. Hall, Sgt Warren Albrecht, of Windfall Ind., and five other men
patrolling to high ground overlooking the village of
Reharmont, saw a trail in the fresh snow which to a fire
lane cut through a thick stand of pine trees.
Lt. Hall led the patrol up the trail a little way when he saw a
movement ahead. He opened fire with a Browning
automatic rifle and told his men to spread out in a
diamond-shaped formation.
Still firing, Lt. Hall went forward another 75 yards and aw
the body of one German he had killed. He saw three
machine gunners quit their post and flee.
Between that German and a ditch at the end of the fire break 12
more German bodies were found and at least a dozen other
Germans took to cover.
A sergeant in the patrol was wounded by a booby trap.
Lt. Hall and his men were looking for more Germans when mortar
bombs suddenly began falling near the patrol, Lt. Hall
ordered the rest of the patrol to pull back, but before he
left he stripped the identification tags from one of the
bodies thus |
giving the battalion, which was commanded by
Lt. Col. Otho E. Holmes, of Wilmington, O, valuable
information of the enemy unit before it.
Lt. Hall's first patrol was on Dec. 26, the day after rhe 508th
regiment had gone into the line and during it the young
lieutenant picked off four Germans.
The story of Master Sgt Wollin is of a
different type, one that demonstrates the fascination the
parachute troopers and glider infantrymen exact on people
who come in contact with them.
Sgt Wollin, a Swedish newspaperman, had been in New York about a
year, making his home at 337 Riverside dr., when he joined
the army and was assigned to First army headquarters, Ft.
Jay, Governor's Island.
When headquarters went to England late in 1943, he went with it.
Late the spring of 1944 he was directed to go to the 82nd's
camp in England to lecture on certain phases of what might
be expected in Normandy.
He never left the outfit. He jumped with them in Normandy, though
he had never attempted a parachute jump before, and again in
Holland on Sept.17.
He has written a book about parachutists for publication in Sweden.
The 82nd is the only air-borne outfit to have made four air-borne
combat missions --- Sicily, Italy, Normandy and
Holland. |
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[Note: Sgt Warren Albrecht, mentioned
above, also was awarded the Silver Star but for an operation
which took place four days earlier.] |
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