Branch of Service

Army

Conflict

World War II (1939-1945)

Date of Enlistment

17/07/1940

Place of Enlistment

Paddington NSW

Gender

Male

Date of Birth

17/05/1917

Place of Birth

Footscray, Victoria

Address (at enlistment)

Dirrawan Gardens, Reid, Canberra ACT

School(s) Attended

Ainslie Primary School, Telopea Park Intermediate High School [original Canberra High School].

Occupation

Clerk

Next of Kin

One of four sons of William James Hall, clerk, and Bessie Louisa Hall, of Dirrawan Gardens, Reid, Canberra ACT, three of whom served in the RAAF and survived the war.

Burial Place

Port Moresby (Bomana) War Cemetery, Papua New Guinea: grave B7.F.4. (Kokoda War Cemetery, grave E.A.5, on AWM Roll of Honour circular)

Service Number

NX57864

Final Rank

Lieutenant

Final Unit

2/2 Infantry Battalion AIF

Died 20 October 1942 aged 25 years, killed in action in the Owen Stanley Ranges, Papua New Guinea

AWM Roll of Honour, Canberra ACT: Panel 29.
Plaque on interior wall in foyer of Manuka Swimming Pool inscribed: "To honour the memory of Members of the Canberra Amateur Swimming Club who gave their lives in the 1939-45 War", listing 9 names.
Canberra High School Memorial Tablet

Hall arrived in Canberra in 1927 with his family and went to school at Ainslie and Telopea Park where he was noted for his athletic ability - he held the record for the 100 yards at 11 seconds. After school he worked for the Commonwealth Bank in Canberra, Queanbeyan and Darwin though his ambition was to be an actor. He was interested in Shakespearian plays but also performed locally in burlesque and comedies. He joined the 53/3 Battalion (militia) in November 1936.

Hall enlisted in Darwin on 7 June 1940 though the nominal roll records the date and place as 7 July 1940 in Sydney. Commissioned as a lieutenant in April 1941, Hall arrived in the Middle East on 31 July 1941 and served in a training battalion before joining the 2/2 Battalion in February 1942. The 2/2 Battalion embarked in March 1942 and spent several months on garrison duties in Ceylon before arriving back in Australia in August 1942. They were sent to Papua in September 1942 to meet the threat of the Japanese along the Kokoda Track.

Hall served on the Kokoda Track as commanding officer of 10 Platoon, B Company. The Battalion entered the Track on 4 October 1942 but it wasn't until 20 October 1942 that they finally confronted the Japanese. At 8am the Battalion moved out from Templetons Crossing led by guides from 3 Battalion. They followed the right hand side of the Eora Creek gorge where "nothing could be seen from the track except the rain forest pressing in." It was broken "by upward rearing ridges which cut across it at right angles as it made its way over the torn side of the mountains before it fell steeply down again to the water."

At 11am B Company "went into the attack, moving deliberately down the slope over broken ground and through thick bush." After about 200 yards 10 Platoon met the Japanese outpost positions and quickly overran them. "A further 100 yards and the attackers were against the first of the main enemy positions - about 15 pits around perhaps four light machine gun posts." The pits were well concealed and it wasn't until they began firing that the Australians realised that they were there. "Hall fell dead but his men encircled the position and gradually rooted the defenders out of their holes."

Wallace Hall is buried at Port Moresby (Bomana) War Cemetery, Papua New Guinea: grave B7.F.4. (Kokoda War Cemetery, grave E.A.5, on AWM Roll of Honour circular).

Description (1936) - height 5 feet 7 inches, weight 148 pounds, chest 33.75-36 inches, Presbyterian.

Australia. Department of Veterans' Affairs. World War 2 nominal roll. <http://www.ww2roll.gov.au/>
Commonwealth War Graves Commission. Debt of Honour Register. <http://www.cwgc.org/cwgcinternet/search/>
AWM Roll of Honour and Roll of Honour Circulars <http://www.awm.gov.au/database/roh.asp>
Manuka Swimming Pool plaque described above.
Canberra High School. Roll of Honour 1939-1945. [Plaque in school]
Canberra High School. Albums compiled for student project researching names on School Roll of Honour, 1985.
Canberra High School. Unveiling of Memorial Tablet. Friday, 25th April 1947. [Programme]
'Purple Over Green: The History of the 2/2 Australian Infantry Battalion 1939-1945', 1977 (p.223, 224)
Margaret Barter, 'Far above Battle', 1994 (p.188, 189)
Dudley McCarthy, 'South-west Pacific area - first year : Kokoda to Wau', AWM, 1959 (pp. 282, 283)
ACT Electoral Rolls 1916 to 1967 http://canberraheritageportal.org/default.php
The Canberra Times - 23 November 1942, 27 November 1943
NAA RecordSearch - Series B883 (Second Australian Imperial Force Personnel Dossiers, 1939-1947)