George Hall was a native of Stoneham, Massachusetts. He dropped out of high school to assist his father on their family farm. He joined the Massachusetts National Guard before he was 18 and was discharged in 1940 when he enlisted in the Army. While training at Fort Hamilton in New York, he met and married his wife, Elizabeth.

In September 1943, he was deployed with the 135th Infantry, 34th Infantry Division, to fight in the Italian campaign. His first combat encounter was crossing the Volturno River in October, followed by fierce fighting in the town of Cassino in January 1944. In March, his unit landed in Anzio, where he battled enemy forces for two months.

On May 23, the 34th began its offensive, moving toward Rome. On that day, his Company B troops were pinned down in an open area by machine gunners and snipers.

Hall was near the front line of his platoon and crawled about 60 meters along a trench until he was close enough to one machine-gun position to destroy it with hand grenades. He threw four grenades into that nest, killing two Germans and taking four others prisoner. He made them crawl back to his unit lines, where they surrendered.

Having succeeded in neutralizing the first machine-gun position, he then worked his way toward the second nest, where he and the Germans exchanged grenades. Each time he raised up enough to throw a grenade, the gunners would fire at him and toss back more grenades, but they soon realized this lone American was determined and relentless. After killing one of the Germans, the other five surrendered, and Hall again pushed them back to the U.S. line.

Then, he was determined to take out a third machine-gun nest about 100 meters away from his position on the line. As he worked his way toward that position, they fired on him with fury. When he was closing in, the Germans then fired artillery on his position, and one shell ripped apart Hall’s right leg and severely injured his left foot.

Hall recalled: “As soon as I saw what had happened to my leg, I knew I couldn’t go forward anymore. I turned around and started to crawl back. It was about 75 yards to our men.”

However, his injuries prevented him from making much progress: “Every time I tried to drag my leg, the pain was so great I had to give up. I yelled for a medic, but there was so much noise nobody could hear me. I lay there and rested awhile to gather my wits. I was still under fire, and I knew I would have to do something. … So, I pulled my sheath knife out and cut through the two tendons that were holding my leg on.”

To survive, he had to sever his leg from his body. At that point, he said, “I was able to crawl,” and he finally reached the American line, where medics applied a tourniquet and pain sedatives. As he was taken to the rear, soldiers in his platoon heard Hall complaining about not completing his mission to take out that third gunner position. Inspired by his indomitable spirit, they rallied and moved forward to take out that position, which they did.

Hall was taken to a European medical facility to treat his severe wounds and, in July 1944, was shipped back to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center.

After six months of recovery, Hall joined his wife and two children again. In April 1945, he was awarded the Medal of Honor by Army MG Sherman Miles at a ceremony held on the Boston Common.

His citation concludes: “S/Sgt. Hall’s fearlessness, his determined fighting spirit, and his prodigious combat skill exemplify the heroic tradition of the American infantryman.”

George and Elizabeth settled in Boston, where he was appointed as a Veterans Administration representative. In February 1946, George Hall died of complications from his injuries two years earlier. He was 26. VFW Post 620 in Stoneham was founded in his name.

SSG George J. Hall: Your example of valor — a humble American Patriot defending Liberty for all above and beyond the call of duty and in disregard for the peril to your own life — is eternal.

“Greater love has no one than this, to lay down one’s life for his friends.” (John 15:13)

Live your life worthy of his sacrifice.

(Read more Profiles of Valor here.)

Semper Vigilans Fortis Paratus et Fidelis
Pro Deo et Libertate — 1776

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