Hall, Eugene H. - S/Sgt

== Service during the War ==
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S/Sgt Eugene H. Hall flew 35 missions, from 10/15/1944, mission #156, to 02/24/1945, mission #214. He served as a Ball Turret Gunner. 
}

=== Recorded Missions ===
{s:MemberMissionList}

== Life before the War ==
Eugene H. Hall, was born in 1925 rural Iowa. His parents were of very modest means, struggling to raise three young boys when tragedy hit. In 1929, my father's father was killed in a car accident. His mother, now a widow with no means, was left to raise three young children alone during the Great Depression. The oldest of which, my father, was just four years old. To say things were tough is an understatement. When WWII started, my father, a country boy from Iowa was anxious to see the world. The glamorized images he saw in the theater news reels and the promises of the many armed services recruiting campaigns were feeding a young boys imagination about the world beyond Iowa. They were irresistible and at 17 he enlisted under a promise to become a fighter pilot. Unfortunately, the promise was not real.
 
Quickly, it was becoming clear, things were not going to work out the way he planned. Instead of flight school to become a pilot he was directed to gunnery school where he learned the bare essential skills required to operate the twin Browning M2 .50 caliber machine guns found in the ball turret of a B-17. Not the glamorous fighter pilot job he had hoped for ...

== Life after the War ==
<p>One story I want to share with you about my father ....</p>
<p><br></p>
<p>After attending university in the states he returned to London in 1949 to
attend at the Chelsea School of Art. His best friend was a well connected man
named William (Bill) Coss, a retired U.S. Army Major who stayed in the UK after
WWII. Bill was the officer incharge of the military police who guarded Hermann
Göring at the Nurnberg Trial. Bill was forced into retirement after Göring
committed suicide. Now there is a point to this story on my fathers credibility
which I questioned at a young age....... bear with me here. Bill was well
connected, I wont make you suffer through the specific details, and he
introduced my father into the stuffy upper class English Society where my
father became more than just casual friends with some European Royalty namely
the Count and Countess Eric Lewenhaupt who were Swedish Royalty with direct
family ties to French Royalty as well, namely Louis XVI and Marie-Antoinette.
After becoming a regular at the Counts estate, as it turns out my father had an
agenda. The Lewenhaupts had an 18 year old daughter, Karin, who he describes as
very attractive the product of years of classical ballet training. He dated her
a number of times. The Count had a bodyguard accompany them whenever they went
out. On one occasion Karin was wearing her mother's 100 carat diamond and
sapphire necklace. Besides the obvious protection required on such occasions
the bodyguard also kept the paparazzi away. The photographer for"Tattler"
(magazine) was often lurking around. Her social activities were followed
regularly as the night she wore that necklace she was in the headlines of the
London newspapers that read "Debutant presented at two Courts"with photos of
Karin in London and Stockholm.</p>
<p><br></p>
Now hearing this story growing up, I said to myself this just a load of
crap...... I didn&#039;t believe a word of it. It seem impossible that a
farmboy from Iowa with no money could find himself dating Royalty. I
didn&#039;t believe it until 1995 when he took my mother to the UK for the 50th
anniversary of WWII. Where my father was able to hook back up with the
Lewenhaupts and introduce my mom to Karin and even stay at their palatial
homestead.
<p><br></p>
<p><br></p>
<p style="font-weight: bold"></p>
<p><br></p>
<p><br></p>
<p>From My Father ... letter explaining his adventures:</p>
<p><br></p>
<p style="font-weight: bold"></p>
<b>Allen Hall</b>
<p style="font-weight: bold">2010 LaFayette Ave.</p>
<p style="font-weight: bold">McMinnville, Oregon 97128</p>
<b><br>
Allen Hall</b>
<p>127/135 Farnham Road</p>
<p>Slough</p>
<p>Berks SL1 4UY</p>
England<br>
<p>Atten: Allen Hall</p>
<br>
<p>Allen,</p>
<p>A short synopsis of memorable events experienced during my time in
England.</p>
<br>
<ul>
<li>
<p>WHY ENGLAND?</p>
</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>
<p>I completed my BS at Woodbury University in 1949 and still had U.S. Gov. GI
Bill (Ed.) unexpended so I elected to continue pursuing my planned career in
motion picture stage/set design. I chose Chelsea School of Art in London (
London U. exten.), years 1949-1950.</p>
</li>
</ul>
<br>
<p>ONTRA TO ENGLISH SOCIETY</p>
<p>Made acquaintance/friends with British Empire "kids" and other leisure class
people enrolled.</p>
<br>
<p>Prime Benefactor, William (Bill)Coss. Retired U.S. Army Major who stayed in
the UK after WWII.</p>
<p>Bill was the officer in charge of the military police who guarded Herman
Goering at the Nurnberg Trial.</p>
<p>After Goering committed suicide, I believe it was sort of a forced
retirement for Bill.</p>
<br>
<p>BILL'S ENGLAND. Bill married Iris Gault, a wealthy (ship building) widow who
maintained homes in London and the South Down. (South Harting, Havant/Hants.)
Iris's father was a British Empire General in India (large red-coat painting of
him in her home.)</p>
<p>Iris's children (Bill's step children) David and Jennifer Gault are to
inherit large fortunes when they became of age (21).</p>
<br>
<p>INTRODUCTION. Bill and Iris introduced me to clearly upper class English
Society. Dinner/tea/museum visits, etc to Count and Countess Eric
Lewenhaupt</p>
<p>(Swedish &amp; United Kingdom Citizenship). The Count was very well Swedish
born/educated (St. Petersburg, Russia, etc.) conversant in English, Russian,
Swedish, Spanish and French. In his London home, he displayed faded framed
letters on the wall that consisted of correspondence in French between an
ancestral Swedish Count and Louis XVI and Marie-Antoinette. The Count authored
many books…most in Russian.</p>
<br>
<p>Countess Lewenhaupt (Dora) was English born into a family of great wealth
(things like shoe factories in Belgium, etc.) Dora was a very accomplished
painter. She was a respected member of all the Royal Societies of Art. Dora
often painted in the South-of-France… her favorite subject seemed to be
sunburned life-size nudes. The third floor of her London home was her studio.
By the way, their ancestral home is "Landsdown House"…an English historical
preservation home. Photographs of their "staff"(1920's must have been 20 or
more. At this time 1949/50 they had only two )2. I liked their French cook
(Marie) personality and food!</p>
<br>
<p>It turns out I guess, the reason I was introduced to the Lewenhaupts was
that they had as 18 year old daughter, Karin, very attractive and a product of
years of classical ballet training. I dated? (escorted) her a number of times.
One time toe Hatchetts Restaurant (near Forten and Massions). The Count had a
bodyguard accompany us (hc called him something else) as Karin was wearing her
mother's diamond and Sapphire necklace (100 carats?). The detective kept
"Tattler" (magazine) photographers away from us.
Earlier, the Tattler and London newspapers had headlines that read "Debutant
presented at two Courts"
with photos of Karin in London and Stockholm.</p>
<br>
<p>Another time at dinner at the Savoy Hotel (Strand) Karin introduced me to
Prima-Ballerina Margot Fontaine.</p>
<br>
<p>Bill and Iris Coss took me to a grand party in London's west-end. A
magnificent home; the hostess was Mary-Hanburry-Counard. This was a fun evening
except the young guys my age were very snobbish. Must have been 100 guests in
formal attire.</p>
<br>
<p>One night a dinner at the Lewenhaupt home was quite memorable. We sat around
a large round dining table with a top inlaid with signs of the Zodiac. I was
seated next to an Austrian Duchess, long name, they called her Alecia. All
dinner conversation was in French…Alecia later complimented me on my
conversational attentiveness. I told her I did not speak French..she was
amused. (Inherited her pre-WWI title). Later, after Karin and I helped Marie
(French Cook/server) with dishes (a lark), the time was about midnight and
Alecia's car did not come to take her home. The Count got on the telephone and
hired a Limo for "me" to take her home…then to drop me off at my flat in
Chelsea. By the way, this great home of the Lewenhaupt's was on Victoria Road
in Knightsbridge.</p>
<br>
<p>Another memorable night was attending the Christmas Special at London's
Palladium. Karin dance in the corps-de-ballet "Puss-in-Boots."

One Evening Bill and Iris took me to dinner at "Eastleigh House" near South
Harting. This grand 18th Century house was a gift to Lady Hamilton (from
Lord…..?). a silver and candle light event. Their
descendants still reside there.</p>
<br>
<p>When David Gault received his inheritance, he moved into "Telegraph House"…a
huge mansion on top of a hill at the end of an old Roman road…Telegraph house
was given it's name from the Napoleonic wars, as it then functioned as a
semaphore station….the ballroom in this house is a basketball court size…a herd
of sheep are used to trim the lawns.</p>
<br>
<p>Cherry-Tree Cottage in South Harting (on the Downs) was built before
Columbus discovered America. Upstair rooms were painted in stylized cherry
trees by Catholic Monks who were hidden from Cromwell&#039;s religious war
armies.</p>
<br>
<p>The head-master at the Chelsea School of Art ( I don't remember his name)
was high placed in the "Royal Academy of Portrait Painters. He secured us an
invitation to meet HRH Princess Margaret. I seem to remember it had something
to do at that time with the "Chelsea Pensioners."</p>
<br>
<p>Much more, but that all for now.</p>
<br>
Love Dad
<p><br></p>
<div><br></div>
<div><br></div>
more on the Lewenhaupt&#039;s here:
<div><br>
[^https://www.ausstage.edu.au/pages/contributor/409458]{br}
[^https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1755&dat=19750217&id=aOYeAAAAIBAJ&sjid=AGcEAAAAIBAJ&pg=3755,1073329&hl=en]{br}

After all these shenanigans were through he settled into management at ITT
Gilfillan for nearly 40 years. Married in 1955 to Donna Bahl and had 2
children, Kathy & Allen. They moved to Granada Hills out side of Los Angeles
and never left. {br}
More here [^https://www.facebook.com/TeenAgeAirWarrior]</div>{br}
[^http://teenageairwarrior.blogspot.com/]
Meta Keywords: Hall, 401st Bomb Group, 401st BG
Meta Description: S/SGT. Eugene H. Hall, USAAF 8th AF, 1st Air Division, 401st Bombardment Group (H), 612th Bomb Squadron, England, 35 Missions Over Germany In a B-17, 1944-1945
Change Comment:
Modified on 2024/01/30 16:15 by Administrator Categorized as Combat, Personnel