Army 1Lt Ralph Erman Hall was born in McCullough, Alabama on April 1, 1922, the son of Lemuel Erman Hall (1898-1935) and Irena "Rena" Catherine Isler (1900-1985). His father spent his entire life as a farmer in the Mobile, Jack Springs, Gateswood, and Pensacola areas. His parents married on December 9, 1915 in Mortimer, Alabama and four years after Lemuel passed away his mother was remarried to Charles W. Nims in Milton, Florida in 1939.
Ralph decided to forfeit the life of a farmer and instead enlisted in the US Army on September 23, 1938 at Fort Barrancas and spent the next four years there. While there, he would marry on December 26, 1940 to Miss Eula Vermell Townley, daughter of Dave F. and Pearl A. Townley of Gateswood, Alabama. He was discharged from the Army in 1942 and would reenlist and was sent to Officer Candidate School at Fort Benning, GA. He received his officer's commission in July 11, 1944 and was assigned to Company "L" of the 345th Infantry Regiment with the 87th Infantry Division.
The division arrived in Scotland on October 22, 1944, landed in France on December 1st and shortly afterwards entered its first combat at Metz. When the German horde descended on the Allies during the Battle of the Bulge, the division was committed to the fight in Belgium on December 29th. By March 25th they had crossed the Rhine River and according to an eyewitness they headed north. The 3rd battalion moved out with "L" Company leading the way, followed by "I" and "K" companies. The progress was rapid until the two battalions converged on Tambach, the hub of all roads in the area. Here, there were open fields surrounding the city, which offered excellent fields of fire for the Germans. And it was here they met the "Hitler Youth" in great force for the first time. As they moved forward, the 3rd battalion encountered a number of roadblocks with about seventy Germans dug in on the high ground. Ralph and his Company "L" lost 20 men wounded and 15 killed in the following fight. They were outnumbered at least 2 to 1 and each German had a fully automatic weapon, with no supporting fire or cover for us. It was here in this firefight that Lt. Ralph Erman Hall, commanding officer of Company "L", was killed along with two other soldiers.
His body was transported back to the rear echelon and turned over to the grave registration unit for processing. His wife Eula was notified by the War Department at her home at 1385 West Garden Street that her husband had been killed in action. He was buried in a military cemetery however his remains were shipped home at his family's request after the war. There, he was buried on April 19, 1949 in the Clear Springs Cemetery in Gateswood, Alabama. His wife Eula would remarry Charles Vernon Kleinatland (1924-1989) on January 22, 1947 in Gateswood.
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