LORAIN — His legs cramping in the scorching Afghanistan heat, U.S. Marine Lance Cpl. David Hall volunteered to sweep for bombs around an abandoned compound in Helmand Province on Aug. 31, 2009.
From left, Lance Cpl. David Hall’s parents, Lulu and Delmar Hall, at the podium, sisters Wendy Dull, Tracey “Terasa” Holmes and Lora Hall attend a ceremony that revealed a sign in his honor. (CT photo by Chuck Humel.)
Hall knew the area around the compound might be booby trapped, but if the Marines couldn’t find a water pump in the compound, two members of Golf Company who had collapsed from heat exhaustion might die. Those two Marines survived, but Hall didn’t.
“My legs are cramped bad, but I’ll go,” were among Hall’s last words before he was killed by a bomb, according to a journal entry from fellow Marine Lance Cpl. Chris Ventura. “Then he looked at me and said, ‘Ventura, reach in my pack and grab my sweeper.’ ”
Click here to view more photos.
Hall’s sister, Lora Hall, on Tuesday read from the journal during a ceremony dedicating a stretch of Interstate 90 west and state Route 2 east in Lorain as David R. Hall Highway. Hall’s family wiped away tears as one of the signs was unveiled during the ceremony at Lakeview Park.
Lora Hall, 41, said her brother’s fateful decision typified his courage and selflessness. Hall was not a gung-ho teenager when he enlisted in 2006. At 28, he had a well-paying job at the Ford plant in Avon Lake and knew the risks.
The Shiite-Sunni civil war in Iraq — where Hall served his first tour of duty training Iraqi police — was full blown when he enlisted and President George W. Bush was about to escalate American involvement. Lora Hall recalled begging her brother to reconsider.
“I said, ‘David, do you understand you could be dead in a year?’” she said. “His only response to me was, ‘This is something I have to do.’ ”
After surviving Iraq, Hall deployed to Afghanistan in June 2009 as part of President Barack Obama’s escalation of the war. Hall’s father, Delmar Hall, said his son believed he was making Afghanistan safer for Afghans, but Americans were increasingly at risk.
“He told me, ‘Dad, this is a big surge,’” said Delmar Hall, 60. “I don’t know if I’m going to make it back or not.”
Since his death, family members said they’ve tried to cope by remembering Hall’s Christian beliefs and positivism.
“There’s not a day that goes by that I don’t think about you,” said Hall’s sister, Terasa “Tracy” Holmes, 41. “I know that you’re guiding me, pushing me, prodding me, everything that you need to do with my stubborn self.”
Hall was one of 1,657 U.S. soldiers killed in Afghanistan through Tuesday morning. With the Afghan government mired in corruption and the Taliban resurgent as the war approaches its 10th anniversary next month, Lora Hall said she understands why polls show the majority of Americans support rapid withdrawal. Hall’s mother, Lula Hall, is among them.
“I’m torn, because after losing him I just wonder if the war is doing any good,” said Lulu Hall, 60. “The war’s been going on long enough.”
Nonetheless, Lora Hall believes abruptly leaving an unstable Afghanistan would negate her brother’s sacrifice.
“Tell me how we’ve won, not when we’re going to leave,” Lora Hall said. “Because my brother’s life was sacrificed for that mission.”
Community service
U.S. Marine U.S. Marine Lance Cpl. David Hall’s family is organizing a volunteer effort to refurbish a park on Fairless Drive in Lorain near Southview Middle School. Volunteers will be asked to donate at least four hours time and can sign up through a website that goes online Sunday.
For more information, email Lora Hall at lhall@ieduglobal.com or visit http://serveloraincounty.org.
Contact Evan Goodenow at 329-7129 or egoodenow@chroniclet.com.
