FINLEY E. HALL, CDR, USN
Finley Hall '29
Lucky Bag
From the 1929 Lucky Bag:
FINLEY ELLIOTT HALL
Tupelo, Mississippi
"Pete" "FE" "Pedor"
AFTER brief sojourns at most of the prep schools in Dixie, "Pete" joined the Navy to settle down, bringing with him the jargon of the Mississippi swamps and a sense of the ludicrous that has helped to make many a tedious hour more bearable for us. He attains his best form in an argument, manipulating his monosyllabic, twenty-six word vocabulary with such convincing logic that he could persuade the devil himself to forsake the fiery regions for a better life, or sell refrigerators to the impoverished Esquimaux of the Bering Straits.
It took Plebe year to convince "FE" he was not ordained to be an athlete, Youngster year to show him the futility of the Radiator Club, and Second Class year for him to blossom out as the politician and committeeman for which fate intended him. Often unforseen circumstances kept him from social functions, but at those which he attended, he could always be found working his persuasive powers on some fair damsel, and usually with victorious results.
In this Southerner the traits of keenness of perception, contagious good humor, and unruffled front are incorporated in such a way that he goes to the fleet fully equipped to lead divisions to the acquisition of excellency trophies or landing forces into the mouths of cannons.
Baseball 4. Black N**. Hop Committee. Lucky Bag Assistant. Buzzard 2, 1.
FINLEY ELLIOTT HALL
Tupelo, Mississippi
"Pete" "FE" "Pedor"
AFTER brief sojourns at most of the prep schools in Dixie, "Pete" joined the Navy to settle down, bringing with him the jargon of the Mississippi swamps and a sense of the ludicrous that has helped to make many a tedious hour more bearable for us. He attains his best form in an argument, manipulating his monosyllabic, twenty-six word vocabulary with such convincing logic that he could persuade the devil himself to forsake the fiery regions for a better life, or sell refrigerators to the impoverished Esquimaux of the Bering Straits.
It took Plebe year to convince "FE" he was not ordained to be an athlete, Youngster year to show him the futility of the Radiator Club, and Second Class year for him to blossom out as the politician and committeeman for which fate intended him. Often unforseen circumstances kept him from social functions, but at those which he attended, he could always be found working his persuasive powers on some fair damsel, and usually with victorious results.
In this Southerner the traits of keenness of perception, contagious good humor, and unruffled front are incorporated in such a way that he goes to the fleet fully equipped to lead divisions to the acquisition of excellency trophies or landing forces into the mouths of cannons.
Baseball 4. Black N**. Hop Committee. Lucky Bag Assistant. Buzzard 2, 1.
Loss
Finley was lost on November 24, 1943 when USS Liscome Bay (CVE 56) was torpedoed and sunk by a Japanese submarine. He was the ship's executive officer.
Other Information
From researcher Kathy Franz:
Finley was appointed to the Naval Academy by Congressman John E. Rankin.
He married Jane Topp, also from Tupelo, and they had a daughter Mary and a son William. Both children were born in California. The family lived in Honolulu from 1934 through 1936.
He was promoted to lieutenant commander in November, 1941.
On September 6, 1942, Finley left Pearl Harbor for San Francisco. His address was listed as 737 Tolita Avenue, Coronado, California.
Finley’s brother William was awarded the Navy Cross in 1943 for shooting down a four-engined Japanese flying boat in the Solomon Islands.
Their father Finley was a retail grocery merchant in 1920 Tupelo. In 1910, the family lived in Frederick, Oklahoma, where his father was an agent for an express company.
On December 7, 1941 then-LT Hall was commanding officer of USS Swan (AM 34), which was in drydock in Pearl Harbor.
His wife was listed as next of kin. He has one memory marker in California and another in Mississippi.
Silver Star
From Hall of Valor:
The President of the United States of America takes pride in presenting the Silver Star (Posthumously) to Commander Finley Elliott Hall (NSN: 0-62532), United States Navy, for conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity as Executive Officer of the U.S.S. LISCOME BAY (CVE-56), during action against enemy Japanese forces off Makin Island, Gilbert Islands, on 24 November 1943. When his ship was struck by a hostile torpedo in the early morning darkness and left exploding and blazing, Commander Hall immediately and skillfully supervised the evacuation of personnel from his battle station in the radar plot and, completely disregarding his own safety in the face of continuous ammunition explosions, tremendous structural damage and raging fires, voluntarily remained aboard the rapidly sinking vessel in a gallant effort to search for other wounded and trapped shipmates. His great personal valor and self-sacrificing efforts under extreme perilous conditions were in keeping with the highest traditions of the United States Naval Service.
General Orders: Commander in Chief Pacific: Serial 02267 (June 2, 1944)
Service: Navy
Rank: Commander
Related Articles
Henry Mullinnix '16, Irving Wiltsie '21, Lester Kern '23, Charles Ostrom '30, and George Williams '40 were also lost in Liscome Bay.
The "Register of Commissioned and Warrant Officers of the United States Navy and Marine Corps" was published annually from 1815 through at least the 1970s; it provided rank, command or station, and occasionally billet until the beginning of World War II when command/station was no longer included. Scanned copies were reviewed and data entered from the mid-1840s through 1922, when more-frequent Navy Directories were available.
The Navy Directory was a publication that provided information on the command, billet, and rank of every active and retired naval officer. Single editions have been found online from January 1915 and March 1918, and then from three to six editions per year from 1923 through 1940; the final edition is from April 1941.
The entries in both series of documents are sometimes cryptic and confusing. They are often inconsistent, even within an edition, with the name of commands; this is especially true for aviation squadrons in the 1920s and early 1930s.
Alumni listed at the same command may or may not have had significant interactions; they could have shared a stateroom or workspace, stood many hours of watch together… or, especially at the larger commands, they might not have known each other at all. The information provides the opportunity to draw connections that are otherwise invisible, though, and gives a fuller view of the professional experiences of these alumni in Memorial Hall.
July 1929
October 1929
January 1930
April 1930
LT James Carney '21
LT John Jones '21
LTjg William Davis '22
LT James Craig '22
LTjg Matthias Marple, Jr. '23
LTjg Theodore Marshall '24
LTjg Walter Dey '24
LTjg James McDonough '24
LTjg John Waldron '24
October 1930
LT Paul Thompson '19
LT Irving Wiltsie '21
LTjg Matthias Marple, Jr. '23
LTjg Robert Larson '24
LTjg James McDonough '24
LTjg John Waldron '24
LTjg Charles McDonald '24
LTjg Richard Moss '24
January 1931
LT Paul Thompson '19
LT Irving Wiltsie '21
LTjg Matthias Marple, Jr. '23
LTjg Robert Larson '24
LTjg James McDonough '24
LTjg John Waldron '24
LTjg Charles McDonald '24
LTjg Richard Moss '24
LTjg John Duke '26
April 1931
LT Irving Wiltsie '21
LTjg Matthias Marple, Jr. '23
LTjg Robert Larson '24
LTjg James McDonough '24
LTjg John Waldron '24
LTjg Charles McDonald '24
LTjg Richard Moss '24
LTjg John Duke '26
LTjg James Averill '27
LTjg William Potts '27
July 1931
LT Irving Wiltsie '21
LTjg Matthias Marple, Jr. '23
LTjg Robert Larson '24
LTjg James McDonough '24
LTjg Charles McDonald '24
LTjg Richard Moss '24
LTjg Carlton Hutchins '26
LTjg Charles Signer '26
LTjg John Duke '26
LTjg William Potts '27
October 1931
January 1932
April 1932
October 1932
January 1933
April 1933
July 1933
October 1933
April 1934
July 1934
October 1934
January 1935
April 1935
October 1935
January 1936
April 1936
July 1936
LT Charles McDonald '24 (Torpedo Plane Squadron (VT) 2B)
LT Richard Moss '24 (Bombing Plane Squadron (VB) 2B)
LTjg Elmer Cooper '27 (Bombing Plane Squadron (VB) 2B)
LTjg Gerald Dyson '27 (Bombing Plane Squadron (VB) 2B)
LTjg Leonard Southerland '27 (Fighting Plane Squadron (VF) 6B)
LTjg William Pye, Jr. '28 (Fighting Plane Squadron (VF) 6B)
LTjg Ford Wallace '31 (Fighting Plane Squadron (VF) 6B)
LTjg Edward Blessman '31 (Scouting Plane Squadron (VS) 2B)
LTjg Albert Gates, Jr. '32 (USS Saratoga)
LTjg George Bellinger '32 (Fighting Plane Squadron (VF) 6B)
LTjg Edwin Hurst '32 (Bombing Plane Squadron (VB) 2B)
ENS Wendell Froling '34 (USS Saratoga)
ENS Maurice Fitzgerald '35 (USS Saratoga)
January 1937
LT Ralph Smith '26 (Bombing Plane Squadron (VB) 1B)
LT Seymour Johnson '27 (Fighting Plane Squadron (VF) 3B)
LTjg Lorenz Forbes '31 (Bombing Plane Squadron (VB) 3B)
LTjg Leo Crane '31 (Fighting Plane Squadron (VF) 5B)
LTjg Alfred Tucker, III '31 (Bombing Plane Squadron (VB) 1B)
LTjg Robert Strickler '32 (Fighting Plane Squadron (VF) 5B)
LTjg William Widhelm '32 (Fighting Plane Squadron (VF) 5B)
LTjg Earle Schneider '33 (USS Ranger)
ENS Milton Ricketts '35 (USS Ranger)
ENS John Daub, Jr. '36 (USS Ranger)
April 1937
LT Ralph Smith '26 (Bombing Plane Squadron (VB) 1B)
LT Seymour Johnson '27 (Fighting Plane Squadron (VF) 3B)
LTjg Leo Crane '31 (Fighting Plane Squadron (VF) 5B)
LTjg Albert Gray '31 (Bombing Plane Squadron (VB) 1B)
LTjg Robert Strickler '32 (Fighting Plane Squadron (VF) 5B)
LTjg William Widhelm '32 (Fighting Plane Squadron (VF) 5B)
LTjg Earle Schneider '33 (USS Ranger)
ENS William Hulson '36 (USS Ranger)
ENS John Daub, Jr. '36 (USS Ranger)
September 1937
LT William Ault '22 (USS Yorktown)
LTjg James Averill '27 (Fighting Squadron (VF) 5)
LT John Collett '29 (Torpedo Squadron (VT) 5)
ENS Hubert Harden '35 (USS Yorktown)
ENS Webster Johnson '36 (USS Yorktown)
ENS Bethel Otter '37 (USS Yorktown)
July 1938
January 1939
October 1939
LT John Huntley '31
LTjg George Bellinger '32
LTjg Martin Koivisto '32
LTjg Daniel Gothie '32
LTjg Albert Major, Jr. '32
LTjg John McCormack, Jr. '33
LTjg Archibald Stone, Jr. '34
LTjg Wendell Froling '34
1LT James Crowther '35
LT John Yoho '29 (Training Squadron (VN) 5D8)
CAPT Paul Moret '30 (Training Squadron (VN) 3D8)
LTjg Robert Strickler '32 (Training Squadron (VN) 5D8)
LTjg George Ottinger '32 (Training Squadron (VN) 5D8)
LTjg Dewitt Shumway '32 (Training Squadron (VN) 1D8)
LTjg William Widhelm '32 (Training Squadron (VN) 5D8)
June 1940
LT Lance Massey '30
LT Charles Ostrom '30
LTjg George Bellinger '32
LTjg Martin Koivisto '32
LTjg Daniel Gothie '32
1LT Floyd Parks '34
LTjg Charles Ware '34
LTjg Jack Ferguson '35
LTjg Joel Davis, Jr. '35
LTjg Francis Maher, Jr. '35
LTjg John Powers '35
LTjg Frank Robinson '36
LTjg Robert Strickler '32 (Training Squadron (VN) 5D8)
LT William Townsend '32 (Training Squadron (VN) 5D8)
LTjg Dewitt Shumway '32 (Training Squadron (VN) 1D8)
LTjg William Widhelm '32 (Training Squadron (VN) 5D8)
November 1940
CDR William Sample '19
LT William Pennewill '29
LT John Yoho '29
LT Lance Massey '30
LT George Bellinger '32
LT Martin Koivisto '32
LT John Spiers '32
LT Daniel Gothie '32
LT Dewitt Shumway '32
LT Albert Major, Jr. '32
LTjg John Phillips, Jr. '33
ENS Frank Peterson '33
LTjg Charles Brewer '34
LTjg Walker Ethridge '34
CAPT Floyd Parks '34
LTjg Charles Ware '34
LTjg Frank Whitaker '34
LTjg Philip Torrey, Jr. '34
LTjg George Nicol '34
LTjg Victor Gadrow '35
LTjg John Powers '35
LTjg Allan Edmands '35
LTjg Roy Krogh '36
LTjg Porter Maxwell '36
LTjg Richard Hughes '37
LTjg Frank Henderson, Jr. '37
LTjg John Thomas '37
LTjg John Boal '37
ENS Harry Howell '38
ENS Eric Allen, Jr. '38
ENS James Ginn '38
ENS Oswald Zink '38
ENS Frank Case, Jr. '38
ENS Howard Fischer '38
ENS Edmundo Gandia '38
ENS Charles Reimann '38
ENS Howard Clark '38
ENS Roy Hale, Jr. '38
ENS Leonard Thornhill '38
ENS Osborne Wiseman '38
ENS John Eversole '38
ENS Jep Jonson '38
ENS Roy Green, Jr. '38
ENS Marion Dufilho '38
2LT James Owens '38
ENS William Brady '38
ENS Charles Anderson '38
ENS Carl Holmstrom '38
ENS Charles King '38
2LT John Maclaughlin, Jr. '38
ENS William Tate, Jr. '38
2LT Douglas Keeler '38
ENS Harry Bass '38
ENS John Kelley '38
ENS John Erickson '38
ENS William Lamberson '38
ENS Donald Smith '38
ENS Frank Quady '38
ENS Richard Crommelin '38
ENS Robert Seibels, Jr. '38
ENS Alphonse Minvielle '38
April 1941
LT William Pennewill '29
LT John Yoho '29
LT William Sisko '31
LT George Bellinger '32
LT Martin Koivisto '32
LT John Spiers '32
LT Archibald Greenlee '32
LT Daniel Gothie '32
LT Albert Major, Jr. '32
LTjg John McCormack, Jr. '33
LTjg John Phillips, Jr. '33
The "category" links below lead to lists of related Honorees; use them to explore further the service and sacrifice of alumni in Memorial Hall.
