Evening star., 1916-01-02
Richard Hall, Ambulance
Driver, Buried in Tri-Color
With Military Honors.
SIMPLE MOUNTAIN FOLK
DECORATE HIS GRAVE
Will Keep It Green Until Parents
of U. S. College Man Can
Visit Scene.

PARIS, January 1.-The cross of war
was pinned upon the French flag which
covered the body of Richard Hall,
Dartmouth graduate, who was killed
early on Christmas morning by Ger
man shell while driving an American
ambulance on a steep, shell-endanger-
Cd road near Hartmans- Weilerkopf.
letter of coincidence from Gen.
Joffre. the French -chief.
has been sent to Robert Bacon. presi-
dent of the committee of the Ameri-
can Hospital at Neuilly.
A. Piatt Andrew, inspector general
Of the American ambulance in the
field, has returned to Paris from Alsace.
where he attended the funeral of the
young volunteer
Buried With Honors.
Hall was buried" Prof. Andrew
said, with honors of war in an Alsa-
tian valley which once more belongs
to France. and in which our American
ambulances are working among great
green mountains and picturesque viii
lagos torn by shells and swarming
with soldiers.
His grave. in "a crowded military
cemetery, is next that of French of
bears the brief inscription: Richard
Hall. an American who died for
France"
Simple mountain people in the only
part of Germany where foreign SOL
diers are today brought to the grave
many wreaths of native flowers and
Christmas greens. These people nave
lived now for nearly a year and half
in danger of their own lives and in
daily contact with the dead and dying.
But the sacrifice of this modest, de-
voted young American has found
place in their heart and j was told by
at least three families that they would
keep flowers on the grave until the end
of the war. when they hoped Halls
parents could visit it.
Killed by Stray Shell.
Hall was killed by stray shell at
q lonely turn in the road up the noun
tain which German guns try intermit-
tently to reach His car was de-
molished and swept off the road. The
shell struck him several hours be-
fore daybreak and a number of his
and down the mountain past the spot
before the morning revealed the oc-
currence.
Luke Doyle. who at first was report
ed wounded at the same time, was. in
fact. struck in the arm by a shrapnel
splinter four days before. The first
aid station where he and other MEM
bers of the ambulance were stationed
was under fire and everybody was
forced to seek safety in a bombproof
shelter, through the door of which a
nearly spent splinter OF a she'll en-
tered.
Funeral in Little Chapel.
The funeral service for Hall was
held in little Protestant chapel, five
miles down the valley. usually attend
ed by many officers and soldiers and
natives of the valley, but reserved for
Hall and his comrades, the soldiers
were on duty on the mountain crest
where a fierce fight for Hartmans-Wei
erkopf still was waging.
"At- the conclusion of the services
Halls citation was read and the cross
of war pinned on the coffin. The body
was then carried to the cemetery by
Lowering Hill. who commands his Sec
tion, a French officer, an English Of
fekr and Stephen Gallati, r. Matter
an6 Allyn Jennings, his comrade. His
brother, Louis Hall, walked directly be-
hind the coffin, and sixteen soldiers, be-
longing to a battalion on leave from
the trenches, marched in file on each
side with arms reversed"
Louis Hall has returned to Paris on
his way back to the United States. He
will take with him the riddled canvas
side of the automobile ambulance which
had been presented by Dartmouth stu
dents and to the Alpha Delta Phi, the
fraternity of which his brother was a.
member. the steel helmet which he
wore when killed.