*HALL, LEWIS
Rank and organization: Technician Fifth
Grade, U.S. Army, Company M, 35th Infantry, 25th Infantry Division. Place and date:
Mount Austen, Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands, 10 January 1943. Entered service at:
Obetz, Rural Station 7, Columbus, Ohio. Born: 1895, Bloom, Ohio. G.O. No:
28, 5 June 1943.
Citation:
For gallantry and intrepidity above and beyond the call of duty. As leader of a machinegun
squad charged with the protection of other battalion units, his group was attacked by a
superior number of Japanese, his gunner killed, his assistant gunner wounded, and an
adjoining guncrew put out of action. Ordered to withdraw from his hazardous position, he
refused to retire but rushed forward to the idle gun and with the aid of another soldier
who joined him and held up the machinegun by the tripod to increase its field of action he
opened fire and inflicted heavy casualties upon the enemy. While so engaged both these
gallant soldiers were killed, but their sturdy defense was a decisive factor in the
following success of the attacking battalion.
