#VeteranOfTheDay Navy Veteran William Edward Hall - VAntage Point

He enlisted in the U.S. Navy Reserve in 1938 after graduating from Redlands University in California. He completed flight training at the Naval Reserve Aviation Base in Long Beach, California, and at the Naval Air Station in Pensacola, Florida. After completing training and receiving the rank of ensign, Hall was assigned to Scouting Squadron 5 aboard USS Yorktown. In February 1942, he took part in American attacks on Japanese bases on the Marshall and Gilbert Islands in the Pacific Ocean. In the same month, he was transferred to USS Enterprise until April 1942.
While serving in the Pacific Theatre, Hall was a scout pilot attached to the aircraft carrier USS Lexington’s Scouting Squadron 2. In this position, he fought in the Battle of the Coral Sea in early May 1942, the first naval battle to include aircraft carriers on both sides and where no ships were directly fired on by enemy ships, but instead by aircraft launched from aircraft carriers.