RICHARD NELVILLE HALL '15

The hearts of all Dartmouth men thrill with mingled grief and pride at the story of the heroic death of Richard Nelville Hall '51, member of the American Ambulance Service, who was killed in the mountains of Alsace early on Christmas morning. Hall, young and full of hopes and ambitions, nevertheless gave up his life freely in the service of his fellowmen, and adds another name to the honored list of Dartmouth alumni who have died for noble causes.

So far as is known, Hall was the first-American to die in the Ambulance Service. He had entered the Ambulance Service immediately upon his graduation from Dartmouth last June, together with G. B. McClary '14, P. D. Smith '15, and L. V. Tefft '17. McClary and Smith have since returned to America; Tefft remains in the service in France. Hall's time was up in November, but he had remained on duty, waiting until his brother, Louis P. Hall, Jr., '11, should complete his period of enlistment. He had planned to return home and take up special work in the University of Michigan at the beginning of the second semester.

"Dick" Hall was born in Ann Arbor, Michigan, on May 18, 1894, the youngest son of Dr. Louis P. Hall, Professor of Operative and Clinical Dentistry in the University of Michigan. He attended the public schools of Ann Arbor, graduating from the High School in 1911 and entering the University of Michigan the following autumn. At the beginning of his sophomore year, he transferred to Dartmouth, graduating with the class of 1915. In college he was held in high respect by all who knew him. He was a member of Alpha Delta Phi fraternity, and in his senior year was captain of the college rifle team. "But," says a writer in the Michigan Alumnus, to whom we are indebted for many of the details recorded in this article, "above and beyond all else, he was home-loving, full of affection for his family and obedient to the ideals of home obligations. The closing sentence in the last letter received from him is, 'Make a big fire in the fireplace for me'. Nothing can show better the fine spirit with which he entered the Ambulance Service than the following quotation from a letter to his father and mother, dated May 28, 1915:

" 'I am sorry I appear so apathetic about the war in general, and the Ambulance in particular. As a matter of fact, I am intensely interested in both, but I can't see that there is much to discuss about them. Most discussions I have heard about the war here have been so fruitless that I have kept out of them. I follow the papers and the magazines pretty closely, however. As for the Ambulance work, the greatest inducement to going over is the opportunity for humanitarian work. When I first heard of the plan of getting Dartmouth men to go, I did not consider this side of it. I only thought of the thrilling times and experiences and then I thought of the other side, the awful side, and decided that the latter overruled the first, so I did not think of going at all for a time. Then I began to think more on the subject, being around with George McClary quite a bit, and I finally determined to go, so I wired you. That is why I took you so much by surprise. I had taken myself by surprise. Still seeing the thrilling side, of course, I realized that while one would meet with much that might dishearten him, he would always have the comfort, the reassurance, of the fact that he was doing his share, however small, in helping to better the condition of others.'"

The most complete account of the death of Hall comes from Professor A. Piatt Andrew, inspector general of the American Ambulance in the field, who was present at the funeral held in the little Alsatian valley where Hall was killed.

"Hall was killed", writes Professor Andrew, "by a stray shell at a lonely turn in the road up the mountain which German guns try intermittently to reach. His car was demolished and swept off the road. The shell struck him several hours before daybreak and a number of his comrades crawled in ambulances up and down the mountain past the spot before the morning revealed the occurrence.

"Hall was buried with honors of war in an Alsatian valley which once more belongs to France and in which our American Ambulances are working among mountain villages torn by shells and swarming with soldiers. Simple mountain people in the only part of Germany where foreign soldiers are today, brought to the grave many wreaths of native flowers and Christmas greens. His grave, in a crowded military cemetery, is next that of a French officer who fell the same morning. It bears the brief inscription: 'Richard Hall, an American who died for France'. I was told by at least three families that they will keep flowers on the grave until the end of the war when they hoped Hall's parents could visit it.

"The funeral service was held in a little Protestant chapel, five miles down the valley, usually attended by many officers and soldiers and natives of the valley, but on the day reserved for Hall and his comrades, the soldiers were on duty on the mountain crest where a fierce fight for Hartmannsweilerkopf was being waged.

"At the conclusion of the service, Hall's citation was read and the cross of war pinned on the flag that covered the coffin. The body was then carried to the cemetery by Lovering Hill, who commands his section, a French officer, an English officer, and Stephen Gallati, R. Matter, and Allyn Jennings, his comrades. His brother, Louis Hall, walked directly behind the coffin, and sixteen soldiers belonging to a battalion on leave from the trenches, marched in file on each side with arms reversed."

The following brief eulogy, delivered at the funeral service by a medical officer, himself a veteran of the war of 1870, in its simplicity and deep feeling is worth recording here:

Monsieur le Médecin Divisionnaire, Messieurs, Camarades:

C'est un supreme hommage de reconnaissance et d'affection que nous rendons, devant cette fosse fraichement creusée, a ce jeune homme—je dirais volontiers—cet enfant—tombe hier pour la France sur les pentes de l'Hartmann-weierkopf. . . Ai-je besoin de vous rappeler la douloureuse emotion que nous avons tous ressentie en apprenant hier matin que le conducteur Richard Hall, de la Section Sanitaire Americaine No. 3, venait d'être mortellement frappe par un eclat d'obus, pres du poste de secours de Thomannsplatz ou il montait chercher des blesses.

A l'Ambulance 3/58 ou nous eprouvons pour nos camarades americains une sincere amitié basée sur des mois de vie commune pendant laquelle il nous fut permis d'apprécier leur endurance, leur courage et leur dévouement, le conducteur Richard Hall etait estime entre tous pour sa modestie, sa douceur, sa complaisance.

A peine sorti de l'université de Dartmouth, dans la générosité de son coeur d'adolescent, il apporta a la France le precieux concours de sa charité en venant relever, sur les champs de bataille d'Alsace, ceux de nos vaillants soldats blesses en combattant pour la patrie bien-aimée.

Il est mort en "Chevalier de la Bien-faisance"—en "Americain" pour l'accomplissement d'une oeuvre de bonte et de charité chrétienne!

Aux etres chers qu'il a laisses dans sa patrie, au Michigan, a ses parents desoles, a son frere aine qui, au milieu de nous, montre une si stoique douleur, nos hommages et l'expression de notre tristesse vont bien sincères et bien vifs!

Conducteur Richard Hall, vous allez reposer ici a l'ombre du drapeau tricolore, aupres de tous ces vaillants dont vous etes l'émule. . . Vous faites a juste titre partie de leur bataillon sacré! . . Seul, votre corps glorieusement mutilé disparait—Votre âme est remonte trouver Dieu—Votre souvenir, lui reste dans nos coeurs, imperissable! . . . Les Français n'oublient pas!— Conducteur Richard Hall—ADIEU !

Louis Hall has returned to America, bringing with him as a sacred relic for the Alpha Delta Phi fraternity at Dartmouth the steel helmet which his brother wore when he met his death. Robert Bacon, president of the committee of the American Hospital at Neuilly, has received a personal letter of condolence from General Joffre.

"The death of this young man,"—we quote again from the Michigan Alumnus—"in the service of humanity, the first fatality in the American Ambulance Service, has brought home to hundreds of American families the facts of this war as nothing else could. Letters have poured in upon Dr. and Mrs. Hall from all over the country, from friends and acquaintances of the boy, associates in the Ambulance Service, and from unknown sympathizers, and have made in a way his death a consecration of the wonderful work America is doing for the wounded. Just before his death the women of Ann Arbor had raised funds to equip a hospital car, which is to be dedicated as a memorial to Richard Hall. But of all the tributes which have been received from all over this country and from Europe, nothing is finer as an evidence of his unselfishness and the simplicity with which he regarded his work and the cheerful philosophy and courage which kept him up under the real hardships of life almost on the battle front than his own letters home. The spirit in which he entered upon this service he maintained throughout. There is no word of bitterness or criticism of any of the combatants in his letters. * * * *

"Of the hundreds of tributes which have come to Dr. and Mrs. Hall since Richard's death has become known, two may be given here. One is a letter from an associate of his in the Ambulance Service. 'His kindness towards all and his consideration were boundless. The pains and trouble he took with a little nurse to see that she was comfortable and at ease about the submarines (on the way over) is but one case of many.

" 'What better ideal can we have ? A strong spirit driving on a frail body to unselfish work for others, no thought of self, danger or privation, and a truly glorious end. We saw death a thousand times and became, I believe, hardened, even when our good French friends and comrades went, but I know that is not so, and only hope that the college will appreciate him as he deserves so richly'.

"Another associate in the Ambulance said: 'This week I have seen two fellows who were with us last summer in Alsace, both of whom jonied me in saying that Dick was the most refined, likable, and conscientious fellow in the section * * * * He was immediately liked by the French people for his sympathy shown, and respected by the Ambulance for his efficient work. In short, we who knew him well agreed that he was one of the whitest men we ever met'."

The editor of the MAGAZINE is in receipt of the following verses from the pen of Melvin F. Talbot, Harvard '16, a driver in the Vosges section of the American Ambulance through the months of July, August, and September. In sending this tribute, he writes: "Richard Hall was a friend and comrade in the work I did. I not only served with him back of the lines in Alsace, but drove one of the convoy of ambulances, of which he drove another, from Paris out to Alsace. It was the day after Christmas when I was at my home in Portland, Maine, that I read of Richard's noble death. The sad news brought back vividly our work together last summer. As I thought of my own happy Christmas and of my friend's deatn there on the outskirts of a foreign war, I wrote the verses I send to you."

In memory of Richard Hall, Dartmouth '15, of the American Volunteer Ambulance, killed at his post in Alsace by a German shell, on Christmas morning, 1915.

The village vanished up the bend, We saw him smile and wave good-bye To us, who left him there to die, When we were glad at home again.

Music for us, and to its swell Moved the fair figures of the dance — 'Twas Christmas Eve; and there in France A Red Cross Knight, our hero, fell.

We drank to them on Christmas Day. The wine of France gleamed in our glass, While raged the battle in Alsace, And in the snow our hero lay.

Embattled mountains fringe the sky. Where march our friends in sorrow mute, And wondering Alpine troops salute, As slow the gun-cart rumbles by.

Knight of the Cross, Crusader true, Two banners mourn a noble friend, And o'er thy bier their colors blend In Friendship's badge, red, white, and blue!

Portland, Maine, December 26, 1915

RICHARD NELVILLE HALL '15

Mr. Hall was killed on Christmas Day while on duty in the Vosges Mountains

HALL IN UNIFORM BESIDE HIS AMBULANCE

Mr. Hall was killed on Christmas Day while on duty in the Vosges Mountains