Harley Hubert Hall 

Rank/Branch:  O5/US Navy
Unit:  Fighter Squadron 143, USS ENTERPRISE (CV-65)
Date of Birth:  23 December 1937 (Broken Bow NE)
Home City of Record:  Vancouver WA
Date of Loss:  27 January 1973
Country of Loss:  South Vietnam
Loss Coordinates:  165129N 1071023E (YO345650)
Status (in 1973):  Prisoner of War
Category:  1
Acft/Vehicle/Ground:  F4J

Other Personnel In Incident:  Philip A. Kientzler (released 1973)

REMARKS:  Kientzler told Hall was killed

SYNOPSIS:  CDR Harley H. Hall was the commanding officer of Fighter Squadron 143 onboard the aircraft carrier USS ENTERPRISE. On January 27, 1973 he and his Radar Intercept Officer (RIO), LTCDR Philip A. Kientzler, launched in their F4J Phantom fighter aircraft on an attack mission against North Vietnamese supplies and logistic vehicles 15 miles northwest of Quang Tri, South Vietnam. Hall and Kientzler were under the direction of an OV10 Forward Air Controller (FAC).

CDR Hall's aircraft came under intense anti-aircraft fire while attacking several trucks and was hit. He made an attempt to fly back out to the safety of the sea, but minutes later the aircraft caught fire on the port wing and fuselage.

Both Hall and his copilot, LCDR Philip A. Kientzler ejected at 4,000 feet and were seen to land 100 feet apart near a village on an island in the Dam Cho Chua and Cua Viet Rivers. CDR Hall was seen moving about on the ground, discarding his parachute. No voice contact was made with the men, and the probability of immediate capture was considered very high.

Numerous aircraft made several passes over the area for the next several hours and were unsuccessful in observing either of the downed crewmen. Several emergency beepers were heard intermittently the remainder of the afternoon and throughout the night, however, no voice contact was established. Active, organized search and rescue efforts were subsequently terminated. throughout the night, however, no voice contact was established. Active, organized search and rescue efforts were subsequently terminated.

Only Kientzler was released at Operation Homecoming in 1973. He reported that during parachute descent they received heavy ground fire, at which time he was hit in the leg. He last saw CDR Hall as they touched the ground. When he asked his guards about his pilot, he was told that he was killed by another.

No other returned POW reported having knowledge of Harley Hall, yet the Pentagon maintained him in POW status for over 6 years, and documents were obtained that indicated that he was indeed captured. The Hanoi government claims to have no knowledge of CDR Harley Hall. This former member of the famed Blue Angels flight team remains missing.

Harley Hall was shot down on the last day of the war and was the last Navy air casualty of the Vietnam War. He was the last American to be classified Prisoner of War in the Vietnam War.

Harley H. Hall was promoted to the rank of Captain during the period he was maintained as a prisoner.

Portland Oregonian
Monday, August 17, 1998
by: RICK BELLA of the Oregonian Staff
 
 

Summary: The government is criticized for not fully investigating inconsistencies in her brother's official Vietnam War records.

Gwen Davis feels as if an important chapter is being written in her brother's story, but that the tale is far from over. Davis is pleased that a new four-story office building in Hazel Dell will be named after her brother, U.S. Navy Capt. Harley H. Hall, whose fighter plane was shot down during the Vietnam War. But she is annoyed that the U.S. government has not fully investigated apparent inconsistencies in her brother's official records. Davis is sure the records were whitewashed and that her brother still might be alive-more than 25 years after he disappeared on a beach in South Vietnam. "I think it's wonderful that they're going to name the building after Harley," said Davis, 56, of Vancouver. "It'll remind people of him."

The building, offering 60,000 square feet of professional office space, is under development by Northwest Investments of Vancouver at Hazel Dell's Seventh Avenue Square. The complex, at 10000 N.E. Seventh Ave., will handle free parking for more than 200 cars. Construction is expected to begin next spring. The building was designed by Larry Swatosh and Dane Walla of DSP Architecture.

'A way to remember' Larry Pruitt, a principal in Northwest Investments, and Swatosh attended Clark College with Hall. "The building will provide a way to remember," Pruitt said. Hall, a Clark County native and graduate of Evergreen schools, entered the Navy in 1957, after finishing at Clark College. For two tours, he was commander of the Blue Angels, the Navy's elite precision flying squadron. At 32, he was the youngest man in the Navy to hold the rank of commander. Hall also was a candidate for the astronaut program and was named one of the nation's Outstanding Young Men. But in 1971, Hall began flying combat missions in Vietnam. His F-4 Phantom fighter was shot down over South Vietnam's Quang Tri Province on Jan. 27, 1973 -- just 10 hours before the Paris Peace Accords were signed, officially ending U.S. involvement in the war. His co-pilot, who blacked out during the crash, said soldiers later told him Hall was dead and had been buried on the spot. However, the fighter squadron's wing man reported that Hall had bailed out and parachuted safely onto the beach. The last he saw, Hall was running away. The discrepancies made Hall a symbol for the POW/MIA movement, which believes that American combatants are being held prisoner to this day.

Remains Recovered: Hall's mother, Ruby died in 1991, his father, Vernon, in 1993 -- both holding out hope to the end. Two weeks after his father died, U.S. officials said they had recovered. Hall's remains: three teeth and bone fragments. They said tests confirmed the identity. However, Davis said a forensic odontologist disputed the government's conclusions. Later, Davis said, refugees told POW/MIA groups that they had seen Hall paraded in Hanoi as a war trophy, wearing black pajamas, held up as the "Blue Angel boy." And last August, Hall's wife, Mary Lou of San Diego, found a strange document in her husband's file at the U.S. Department of Defense Prisoner of War/Missing Personnel Office in Washington, D.C. The document said Hall had been questioned by Soviet authorities in 1988.

"That would prove he was alive," Davis said. "And that would also prove they've been lying to us."

Davis said the issue is being investigated by a U.S. Russian commission. She said she hopes the findings can bring closure for Hall's family, which includes a brother, Dennis, and sister, Kay Crosby, both of Vancouver, as well as a sister, Linda Fisher of Murree, Pakistan.

"Our family is excited that this building will help focus attention on Harley's story," Davis said. "They're going to put a display case in the lobby, where we can put in whatever is appropriate and people will know why the building was named after him.