FREDERICKSBURG, VA, USA U.S. Army 1LT, COMPANY D, 2D BATTALION, 503D INFANTRY, VICENZA, ITALY ASADABAD, AFGHANISTAN 07/31/2007
When 1st Lieutentant Benjamin Hall graduated from Ranger school, he looked at himself in uniform in the mirror and said to his dad, “This was 13 years in the making.” His father, John Hall, a retired Army colonel told his son that Rangers were the Army elite, and he heeded his father’s words. The military was in Halls’ blood. Both of Hall’s grandfathers served in World War II; his great-grandfather in World War I; and his great-great-grandfather was a Union soldier in the Civil War. As an Army brat, he made many places his home. “Everything he knew was the military,” John Hall said. “His mother told him to be anything other than a soldier he said he wanted to serve his country.”
The second of four children, Hall ran cross country at Hylton High School in Woodbridge, Virginia and majored in political science at Michigan Technological University. He was top of his cadet class in ROTC and was commissioned in 2005.
Hall, described as funny and outgoing, but never boastful, always handled chaos well, his father said. “He was a dynamic young man,” John Hall said. “He was so adept at [handling tense situations]… he was a giver.” Last year, he painted the house of the woman who lived across the street from his parents. Hall was a family man too, his father said. His 10-year-old brother, Joe, was one of his best buddies. “He never once worried about not being cool,” John Hall said. “He was always picking [Joe] up, kissing him. He was his.”
While stationed in Vicenza, Italy, Hall and his buddies explored Italy and other nearby countries. In 2006, he also ran with the bulls in Spain.
“He was just a beautiful young man I’m so proud of him. We all are,” John Hall said. “We’re going to miss him.”