MOH

Medal of Honor: Lewis Hall – World War II – Guadalcanal – January 1943

When ordered to withdraw from a collapsing position, he chose instead to stand and fight. In a jungle firefight on Mount Austen, he turned refusal into sacrifice and loss into victory.

January 13, 2026

Name: Lewis Hall
Rank: Technician Fifth Grade
Organization: U.S. Army
Unit: Company M, 35th Infantry Regiment, 25th Infantry Division
Place: Mount Austen, Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands
Entered Service At: Obetz, Rural Station 7, Columbus, Ohio
Born: 1895, Bloom, Ohio

Summary of Action

On 10 January 1943, during the brutal fighting on Mount Austen, Guadalcanal, Technician Fifth Grade Lewis Hall served as leader of a machine-gun squad assigned to protect advancing battalion elements against determined Japanese resistance.

His position came under attack by a numerically superior enemy force. In the opening moments of the engagement, Hall’s gunner was killed, his assistant gunner wounded, and a neighboring machine-gun crew was completely put out of action. With his section shattered and the enemy pressing forward, Hall was ordered to withdraw from the exposed and increasingly untenable position.

He refused.

Instead, Technician Hall rushed forward to the disabled machine gun. Joined by one other soldier, he physically lifted and steadied the weapon by its tripod to widen its field of fire. Standing fully exposed to enemy fire, the two men opened fire directly into the advancing Japanese, inflicting heavy casualties and halting the assault at a critical moment.

While maintaining this desperate defense, both Technician Hall and the soldier beside him were killed at their post. Their refusal to abandon the position and their final stand under overwhelming odds proved decisive, enabling the battalion’s continued advance and directly contributing to the success of the attack on Mount Austen.

Medal of Honor Citation

HALL, LEWIS

Rank and organization: Technician Fifth Grade, U.S. Army, Company M, 35th Infantry, 25th Infantry Division.

Place and date: Mount Austen, Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands, 10 January 1943.

Entered service at: Obetz, Rural Station 7, Columbus, Ohio.

Birth: 1895, Bloom, Ohio.

G.O. No.: 28, 5 June 1943.

Citation:

For gallantry and intrepidity above and beyond the call of duty. As leader of a machinegun squad charged with the protection of other battalion units, his group was attacked by a superior number of Japanese, his gunner killed, his assistant gunner wounded, and an adjoining guncrew put out of action. Ordered to withdraw from his hazardous position, he refused to retire but rushed forward to the idle gun and with the aid of another soldier who joined him and held up the machinegun by the tripod to increase its field of action he opened fire and inflicted heavy casualties upon the enemy. While so engaged both these gallant soldiers were killed, but their sturdy defense was a decisive factor in the following success of the attacking battalion.