Alumni Profiles

A Memoir of a Lifetime For his country, Fred Hall '41, '74H fought in Europe. For his family, he wrote it all down. By Rachel M. Collins '81

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Correction: Due to an editing error, the military service of Fred Hall ’41, ’74H was misrepresented in the print version of this article. Hall was recalled to active duty during the Korean War but did not serve in Korea. UNH Magazine regrets the error. Hall is a much-decorated veteran of World War II, serving in the 16th Infantry from 1941 to 1945 and participating in eight campaigns and D-Day landings in North Africa, Sicily and Normandy. After the war, he joined the Army Reserve, retiring in 1966 with the rank of lieutenant colonel. Hall received the Army's Outstanding Civilian Service Award, and was inducted as a distinguished member of the 16th Infantry Regiment in 1994.

When the noted historian Stephen Ambrose asked for his eyewitness account of the D-Day landing, Fred Hall Jr. '41, '74H decided it was time to revisit the day he plunged through the surf and onto Omaha Beach in Normandy with an advance group of the U.S. Army."I thought, 'That's a challenge,'" he recalls. "'I guess I'll try it.'"

Perry Smith/UNH Photographic Services

Although Ambrose had requested an oral recording, Hall, who joined the 16th Infantry after graduating from UNH's ROTC program, put together instead a written account of the landing, and how only 14 of the 28 soldiers in his boat survived.

"Once ashore it was a matter of survival," he wrote. "There wasn't much time to think except to do what had to be done." He told of the constant noise of the artillery, the roar of aircraft and the sound of soldiers screaming: "No wonder some people couldn't handle it."

A year later, Ambrose asked for his recollections from D-Day to the war's end. Hall wrote about the eight campaigns he fought in, and the D-Day landings in North Africa, Sicily and Normandy.

"That's when, for the benefit of my family, I decided to write a memoir, from the time I went into the service on Dec. 10, 1941, until I retired from the Army Reserves in 1966," he says, including his service during Korea. It took him eight years, from 1988 to 1996. Today copies are in the Dimond Library's Special Collections and in military museums.

Currently, Hall and a historian are cataloging his memorabilia, from the letters Hall wrote home, to military orders, street maps and New York Times articles in which he was featured. There are also military decorations—two silver stars, three bronze stars and a combat infantry badge. On March 2, he was awarded a Chevalier de l'Ordre de la Legion d'Honneur, France's highest honor, by Consul General of France Christophe Guilhou for "exemplary military and civilian service."

It was not the first time he's been honored by a French citizen. Hall and his wife, Jane Coe Hall '39, visited Bayeux in Normandy in 1982, and while there he pointed to the places where he had fought on a map. "A young lady was watching me and asked, 'Were you there?'" Hall said, according to a Foster's Daily Democrat article. When he replied yes, she asked, "May I kiss you? We will never forget," and kissed him on each cheek.

Hall, 91, practiced law in Rochester, N.H., until two years ago. He also served as the elected county and city solicitor. He and Jane, who died in 2004, have been strong supporters of the Alumni Association and UNH. A Pettee Medal winner and honorary doctorate recipient, he served on the USNH Board of Trustees for seven years, four as chair. He has three daughters, Diane, Susan and Marcella, and a son, John '83. Grandson Blake McGurty '05 is also a UNH graduate.

Stories are central to his family, Hall says. His father, Fred Hall Sr. '18, wrote an autobiography of his life as a teacher, principal and superintendent, his time in the reserves during World War I and his service during World War II. "It's important for people to write narratives about ordinary experiences," says Hall. "It's so important to pass personal accounts of what happens between generations."

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