Letter To Editor

Wednesday, June 06, 2007

Dear Editor:
My name is Rebecca Orders and I work at the Child Development Center in Vicenza, Italy.
I am writing to you tonight in reference to SPC Blake Hall and a program I have created in his honor called “Hallway Heroes”. Here in Vicenza we just began another deployment cycle and are being told that this will be a very long one- 15 months.
Through the Hallway Heroes program, the children in my class create care packages to send to single soldiers down range, we send them to a different soldier each week.
This program was created in order to help the children in our community cope with the deployment as well as to honor Blake and the many soldiers just like him who have given their lives for our country.
I met Blake while bartending at the club on post during my husband’s first deployment shortly after he arrived in Vicenza. I remember him as being extremely polite and mild mannered as he kept to himself.
One day, I saw him walking in the snow wearing only his over-alls and a white t-shirt. The next time I saw him at my work I asked him about it and he explained to me that it was all that he had. I don’t think his household goods had arrived yet.
I asked him what made him join the Army, I don’t remember his exact answer but I do remember the look in his eyes and I could tell that to him, there was nothing greater than being a soldier.
He and I weren’t more than acquaintances but his innocence and dedication struck me and that is why I decided to name our pro-gram after him, in his honor, in order to keep the memory of unsung heroes, like himself, alive.
Below is a copy of the letter I have passed out to the parents of the children in my care explaining the program to them as well as it’s benefits. It is my goal not only to help the children of our community cope with this deployment but to also honor the memory of SPC Hall.
Thank you for your time,
Rebecca Orders
Vicenza, Italy

East Prairie man, 20, dies in combat in Afghanistan

By Sabrina Harris
As a little boy growing up in East Prairie, Blake Hall dreamed of being in the Army.

On Sunday, August 21, 2005 at 1:05 a.m. (Afghanistan time) SPC Blake Hall died for his country in Afghanistan, fulfilling his dream as a member of the 173rd Airborne Division of the United States Army.

While patrolling in a Humvee with other soldiers a homemade bomb was set off underneath a bridge and SPC Hall and three others died and three others were wounded in the explosion.

1st Lt. Joshua M. Hyland, 31 of Missoula, Montana, Sgt. Michael R. Lehmiller, 23, of Anderson, South Carolina and Pvt. Christopher L. Palmer, 22 of Sacramento, California were also killed in the explosion.

These men were all soldiers assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 503rd Infantry Regiment, 173rd Airborne Brigade, of Vicenza, Italy.

According to the Department of Defense, the soldiers were supporting Operation Enduring Freedom when they died near Baylough, Afghanistan, during patrol operations.

On Sunday, August 21, 2005 a Sergeant from Ft. Leonard Wood traveled to East Prairie to the home of SPC Hall’s parents, Glen and Vickie Hall to give them the devastating news, that their son had been killed.

SPC Hall will be remembered as a fun loving, overall-wearing young man who died for his country, an East Prairie Home Town Hero.

SPC Hall joined the Army before he even graduated from high school. After his 2003 East Prairie High School graduation, he left for Basic Training at Ft. Benning, Georgia on June 21, 2003. While at Ft. Benning he attended Basic Training and Airborne Training.

Hall’s father said his goal was to be either an FBI or CIA agent and guard the President of the United States.

Hall signed on for six years with the Army and had planned to get his degree in criminal justice when he got back home.

SPC Hall was stationed in Vicenza, Italy for one year and four months before being deployed to Afghanistan. His mom said he called them on Easter Sunday, March 27, 2005 to tell them that he would be leaving for Afghanistan at any time. He left Italy on March 28, 2005.

SPC Hall was home in East Prairie for the last time in December of 2004. He spent his 28-day leave with friends and family and he returned to Italy on January 2, 2005.

He wasn’t able to call home very often after leaving for Afghanistan.

On Sunday, July 10, 2005 he called home for the last time and then he sent his last e-mail on July 23rd that was the final contact he had with his family.

SPC Hall had lived in East Prairie his entire life before joining the Army. He was born in Charleston on October 20, 1984. He and his family, his mom and dad and an older sister, Tara, and older brother, Coy, lived at Mt. Level until he was 13 and then they moved into East Prairie.

Hall started working on his 1965 Plymouth Valiant, which he restored and painted Bonzi blue. He had the car ready by the time he turned 16. His parents said he loved that car which was rear ended when he was 17. The car was totaled. They said he walked around with the emblem in his hand while the police were doing the accident report. They still have the emblem from his first car.

"Blake could make anyone laugh, he could take anything and turn it around to be a joke," commented his dad Glen, who said Blake had a great sense of humor. "He was a wonderful person".

Hall was the prom king his senior year at EPHS and when he was asked what he was going to wear he said he was going to buy some black overalls. According to his parents, he only wore overalls, white t-shirts and Red Wing lace up work boots. He had 17 pairs of overalls and at school they called him "OverHall."

As a teenager he worked at IGA in East Prairie for about three years; his older brother worked there first and he followed in his footsteps.

He played little league ball and was the 11 - 12-year-old All Star Catcher. He played baseball his senior year of high school.

Hall enjoyed making things out of wood. He made a gun cabinet, straight- backed chair, a lamp table, and a baby crib for his sister. Those items will be cherished by his family.

Hall’s lifelong dream was to be in the military. He told his older brother and his dad that he thought he was doing the right thing for our country and he knew he was needed over there.

SPC Hall had spent time training in Germany on the Polish Border, he had trained with the Italian Army and had also been to Austria for training. Hall had told his parents how beautiful it was in Austria; he loved the mountain views.

Hall’s dad, Glen said that Blake had a lot of respect for the adults in East Prairie that he grew up around and they always had good things to say about him - even before his death.

Hall’s mom, Vickie, said that he was always close to his older brother, Coy. They are only 15 months apart and they were always together growing up and with her daughter, Tara. She said that he was also close to his nephew, Trea, who is three years old now.

They said when Blake left for Basic Training they were afraid Trea wouldn’t know him when he came home but he didn’t forget his uncle. He went right to him.

Sgt. Phillips, also of Ft. Leonard Wood came to see the family on Monday. He is a casualty assistance officer who handles all the paperwork and the funeral arrangements for the family.

Hall’s body will be transported from Afghanistan to Germany where he will then be flown to Virginia and from there he will be flown home. Hall will be escorted the entire trip with an honors guard.

It will take three to nine days for him to be brought back home to East Prairie where he will be given a full military funeral with a Military Chaplain and an Army General will also be present. Shelby Funeral Home of East Prairie will be handing the arrangements and burial will also be held in East Prairie.

Hall’s survivors include his parents Glen and Vickie Hall of East Prairie; his brother, Coy Hall, 22, of East Prairie; his sister, Tara Cade, 24, of East Prairie, and her husband, Tommy Cade II; one nephew, Trea Cade, three years old; his grandparents, Cora and Arvil Hall of East Prairie, Eunice Henry of East Prairie and Ray Bell of Lone Oak, Kentucky; his great-grandmother Esther Henry of East Prairie and many aunts, uncles and cousins.

Vickie Hall is employed with Beauton Drug in East Prairie where a scholarship fund has been set up in honor of SPC Blake Hall. You can make a donation at Beauton or at First Security State Bank.

Everyone in East Prairie is honoring the Hall family with flags flying at half staff and almost every sign in East Prairie says "In Memory of Blake Hall" or "Glen and Vickie Hall are in our prayers."

SPC Blake Hall will be remembered by all as an East Prairie Home Town hero who died for his country.


EDITOR'S NOTE: Please visit the WEBSITE of 3rd Platoon http://battlehard.com

The following story ran in the East Prairie Eagle Newspaper on Thursday the 6th day of July 2006

By: JoAnn Emerson

An Independence Day to Be Proud

Here is a story of a brave young man that will make you proud to be an American, and on Independence Day, no less.
On February 13 of this year, the East Prairie High School Auditorium hosted an important event in the history of our county, of our state, and of our nation. But there was no basketball game that day and no pep rally. It wasn’t graduation day or a holiday assembly.
They were there, with me and the man I invited to join us: the Special Agent in Charge of the St. Louis Federal Bureau of Investigation. He was present to confer an honor on another individual, named Blake Hall.
That Monday, Blake Hall received a plaque honoring him from the FBI, a rare occasion, since the FBI of course rarely recognizes Americans who are not FBI agents.
What is the extraordinary thing about Blake Hall? Well, there are lots of extraordinary things about him. He has a wonderful family - they were right there in the front. He loves his country. He is a standout member of our community. It has always been his dream to serve others, and his ultimate goal is to be an agent of the FBI, that he may continue to serve his country in that way. Hence, the FBI Special Agent in Charge drove all the way down I-55 to be with us, to recognize Blake.
But the most extraordinary thing is that we were all there for him that day, and he was not, in person, there with us. Blake Hall has been laid to rest.
Blake is a member of the U.S. Army who died serving our country in Afghanistan. He lost his life for an honorable cause, in a land far from his Mississippi County home. But he also died protecting that Missouri home and fighting for the ideals and beliefs of our nation that he holds so dear. And that is why, when I asked him to send someone, the Special Agent in Charge of the St. Louis FBI told me he did not need to send someone, he would come personally.
Recognition from the FBI is the legacy of this one man from Mississippi County, and it is an important ceremony to signify something that should be repeated each time one of our sons and daughters in uniform comes home wrapped in our flag. In peacetime or in war, these soldiers strive to serve in a way that can only be understood by a military family. The rest of us can only reflect on their selfless deeds and try to live up to their noble examples.
I think a lot about Blake Hall. I think a lot about a man who cared so much about service that the way we honored him for sacrificing his life for our country was to talk about how Blake would have continued to serve upon his safe arrival home from Afghanistan. We took a day to honor his potential and the powerful future he put on hold.
We invited his family and friends to join us, and we honored Blake in a way that would have been important to him.
This is America; this is our independence. We do not have to do anything together. We do not have to march to the beat of the same drum or adhere to the same religious teachings or subscribe to the same newspaper or adopt the same political philosophy. We have freedoms to be different from one another in reality and in philosophy. But, sometimes, there is one thing all of us Americans must do together.
We must all vote together. We must all love our country, respect our flag, and honor the men and women who serve both. And when one of them falls, far from home, leaving a dream unfulfilled, we must carry that dream forward. That is the nature of our independence.
God bless you, Blake Hall. Happy Independence Day.