James Goodwin Hall/ "Jim"/ "Jimony" Hall

7 December 2005, 05:45 AM

I came across an old thread with quearies re: James Goodwin Hall:

James Goodwin Hall

One of the posters asked for photos, and I wanted to let them know that my father has photos of a "Jimony"/"Jim" Hall who flew with his Great Uncle in France.

References to this James Hall can be found in the book of letters my father published:

Allen Peck's WWI Letters Home-- 1917-1919

(US Army WWI Pilot Assigned to France) ISBN: 0595362230

He didn't publish the photos in this edition, but if you contact me perhaps can get scans from my Dad and post them or other means. There are 2 photos, one from April 4, 1918 of 14 fliers and "Jimony" Hall and a May 2 1918 photo of "Jim" Hall and "Maj" Davis with the remains of a propellor of of Maj's machine which he crashed with Jim riding with him.

Jim Hall first appears in the letters on 10 Nov. 1918 "Jim Hall is a member of this squadron now and my room-mate. This would have been after Peck was transferred over from the French to US squadron in Oct. 1918.

Subsequent letters re: Hall are after Hall's return to the states, when the family sends Peck his press clippings, and letters about Halls' visit to Peck's family in Washington DC in which he has shown them war souvenirs.

one of my emails at which I can be reached: mosesrawlings@yahoo.com

FliegerJG1 · 7 December 2005, 06:45 AM

Wow! Can't believe I'm reading this. I was just thinking of Hall this morning. A friend of mine is a former World War 2 P-38 pilot who served with Hall in Great Britain. Hall was his CO. They were in the 13th Photographic Reconnaissance Squadron stationed at Podington then Mount Farm. This squadron was sent to Britain in 1942 and around August 1943 it was broken up to form the 7th Photorecon and Mapping Group. The book Eyes of the Eighth: A Story of the 7th Photographic Reconnaissance Group 1942-1945 contains material about James G. Hall.

This next book also has information on his WW2 work.

The Mighty Eighth: A History of the Units, Men and Machines of the US 8th Air Force (Paperback) by Roger A. Freeman

This covers World War 2 but I have been unable to find very much on his activity in WW1.

Very Best Regards,

FliegerJG1

ONEALM · 7 December 2005, 11:30 AM

Mosesr -

I replied to the request for info with all I had on James G. Hall at the time but still have not come up with any photos of him.

Absoultely any and all photos relevant to his time in service before during or after WW I would be greatly appreciated. Hall is just one of more than 740 NJ natives who served as aircrew during the war and I simply love when folks like yourself just pop up out of the ether and add to the project.

If the internet had been invented in 1977 when I started this project, I would have been done already............

Please feel free to contact me directly is need be. I'll be happy to cover all postage, copy charges, etc. Meanwhile I will take a look at the Peck book.

FliegrJG1 - check the thread Mosesr posted - it's got all I know about Hall from WW I on it. If you are interested in Hall, drop me a note and if I come up with more doc, I'll be happy to share it.

Thanks,
Mike O'Neal

NJAVIATORS@AOL.COM

FliegerJG1 · 7 December 2005, 12:02 PM

Thanks Mike for the offer. I just remembered something that *might* help with your project. My friend, I believe, said he received a call from a nephew of Hall last summer and they visited about old times. Would you like me to inquire further about this?

FliegerJG1

ONEALM · 8 December 2005, 06:48 AM

FliegerJG1 -

Any contact with family would be appreciated if they are amenable to that.

Any chance the nephew is in Texas ?

-Mike

11 December 2005, 06:36 AM

I'm going to see if the photos can be scanned into the computer and transmitted/posted electronically--

Do I have your address? If the photos can't be scanned I can perhaps send copies.

One of my email addresses: mosesrawlings@yahoo.com

11 December 2005, 06:42 AM

Not confirmed yet that this is the same James Hall but it seems likely.

One of the group photos w/ Hall in it has caption written "Jimony Hall, Washington, D.C."

One of the letters mentions receiving Jim Halls press notices. So this may mean there is a newspaper record somewhere -- likely a Washington paper.

11 December 2005, 11:01 AM

I picked up copies of the photos from

Peck

's scrapbook this a.m. and someone said they could prob. scan them for me tomorrow.

Wanted to let you know that in the group photo, where their locales of origin are captioned, there is a New Jersey in there:

"Bud Sumers Jersey City N.J."

This group photo of 14 US pilots went out in a letter dated 4 April 1918.

Bud Sumers appears in another photo sent June 1918 -- a photo of a group of pilots I think were together in Paris on leave, and the note about Sumers is: "Pilot now with Escadrille br. 129".

A letter dated "October 9, 1918" reports that Sumers and his observer were sent to Clermont as instructors, and burnt to death in an accident:

"Another man, and a tough one in our crowd was the case of "Bud" Sumers and his observer, "Bud" Buckley, who were taken from the front and sent to Clermont as instructors there. About a week later when they were flying they came down in a vrille and were burnt to death. They sure were in hard luck to be killed in a school after pulling through the front".

What is a vrille?

I am guessing since this is about the time that the US pulled all its fliers from their French squadrons, and placed them in US units, that this is what happened, unfortunately, to the two Buds.

ONEALM · 12 December 2005, 06:09 AM

Mosesr -

Thanks for the updates. I had not head of Sumers before, but will take a peek at a few things to see where he was from and if he's on the NJ list. His name is not familiar. If he was indeed killed in an accident it makes it doubly important for me to ensure he's included in the NJ compilation. I'll attempt to discover what his story is.

I'm sure I am still missing a few pilots and I am positive I am, missing most of the observer/gunners. I do not know of a comprehensive list of the obs/gunners as was published for the pilots.

I'd appreciate any NJ photos, scanned or otherwise. If you cannot send them to my email, you could certainly post them snail mail to:

Michael O'Neal
3 Woodland Ave.
North Brunswick, NJ 08902

A "vrille" is a spin. Guess the English word for this was not exotic enough for the fliers so we ended uop with lots of French in the flying lexicon.

Let me know what I can do for you in return for the assist with this. All your efforts are very much appreciated.

Keep at it,
Mike

12 December 2005, 06:43 AM

I am now uncertain about the identity of the James Hall I have photos of, because he is from Washington, D.C., according to the notes and letters.

It could be that the correspondent spelled Sumers incorrectly, but he is consistant in the spelling to the name.

I am just very grateful for this forum to be able to correspond w/ people interested in WWI and WWI aviation and to be able to learn from live people instead of just books!!