Robert Hall (National Guard officer)

Robert K. Hall was an officer in the North Dakota Army National Guard. During the 1930s, as a Captain, in the part time National Guard, he was known for his serious attitude towards training. "Hall's experience in WW I impressed men, as did his serious demeanor and taciturn nature". As a Lieutenant Colonel, he commanded 3rd Battalion, 164th Infantry during the Battle for Henderson Field in the Guadalcanal Campaign. His regement, part of the Army Americal Division, had only just arrived on Guadalcanal as an emergency reinforcement, and would become the first U.S. Army unit to see action during WWII. It was the middle of a dark and rainy night on 24 October 1942, when, under close combat conditions, he and LtCol Chesty Puller, commander of 1st Battalion, 7th Marines made the decision to place Hall's men among the understrength Marines, rather take their own place on the 7500 ft line. Puller and Hall personaly placed the soldiers with Marines in existing positions. The soldiers, armed with the new M-1 rifles, added considerable firepower to the Marines who were armed with the older M1903 Springfield rifles. "With daylight Puller and Hall reordered the lines putting (Hall's) 3rd Battalion , 164th into it's own positions to Puller's left". The command relationship between Hall and Puller, and their merged battaloin is still studied in military schools. After the battle, the 164th Infantry was informally called "The 164th Marines", and members were welcomed at Marine reunions for many years.

References

• The Story of the U. S. Marine Corps, J. Robert Moskin, Paddington Press, 1979
• The Battle for Guadalcanal, Samuel B. Griffith II, Lippincott 1963
• Marines in WW II Commemoritive Series, First Offensive, The Marine Campaign for Guadalcanal, Henry L. Shaw, Jr, via Google
• Citizens as Soldiers:A History of the North Dakota National Guard, Jerry Cooper with Glenn Smith, via Google
• Copyrighted draft prepublished on internet, Terry L. Shoptaugh, MN State Univ, Moorhead.