Lewis Hall (soldier)

He held a machine gun in action while other troops withdrew.

Lewis R. Hall was born at Bloom, Ohio, on 2 March 1895 and entered the Army from the Obetz area near Columbus. By the Guadalcanal campaign he was a technician fifth grade serving in Company M, 35th Infantry Regiment, 25th Infantry Division. At forty-seven, he was considerably older than many of the soldiers around him.

In January 1943 the regiment was fighting around Mount Austen on Guadalcanal in the Solomon Islands. The terrain and jungle conditions made the movement and support of infantry difficult. Hall's machine-gun squad was assigned to protect other elements of the battalion as they operated against Japanese positions.

During an enemy attack on 10 January, the squad's gunner was killed, the assistant gunner was wounded and another gun crew was put out of action. Hall was ordered to withdraw from the dangerous position. Instead he went to the idle weapon and brought it back into the fight with Sergeant William Fournier.

The two men kept the machine gun firing while the troops behind them drew back. Fournier supported the weapon by its tripod to improve the field of fire, and together they inflicted heavy losses on the attackers. Hall was killed during the defence. Their resistance helped the battalion continue its operation despite the temporary collapse of the gun positions.

Both men received posthumous Medals of Honor in June 1943. Hall's remains were later buried in Glen Rest Memorial Estate at Reynoldsburg, Ohio. His decoration was preserved at Motts Military Museum in Groveport. The shared citation records the importance of the two soldiers' decision to keep one weapon in action when withdrawal appeared the safer course.