The funeral services were held in the little Protestant Chapel five
miles down the valley while the guns roared in a fierce battle raging
for the possession of Hartmanns-Weilerkopf. At the conclusion of the
ceremony Hall’s citation was read and the _Croix de Guerre_ was pinned
to a fold of the tri-color that wrapped his coffin. At the head of the
grave was placed a wooden cross with the simple but all sufficient
inscription, “Richard Hall, an American who died for France, December
25, 1915.” The Alsatian women heaped flowers on the grave, and after
kept it decorated and cared for. When the United States formally
entered the war there was a further ceremony, when a French General
laid a palm on the grave in the presence of Louis Hall and the American
Corps.
But Richard Hall was one of those fortunate servants whose service and
humanity did not end with death. Very soon after he was killed, as a
tribute to his memory a new ambulance car was sent to France to be
driven by Louis Hall. It was the gift of a lady. Another followed, the
gift of a New York gentleman, and a third ambulance was sent by Dr.
and Mrs. Louis P. Hall, who also kept a memorial bed in the American
Ambulance Hospital at Neuilly until the end of the war. In addition
to that they established a Loan Fund of $2,000 in the University of
Michigan (Ann Arbor was Dick’s birthplace, his father a professor in
the University) and $500 was given to Dartmouth. In the same spirit of
carrying on Dick’s work his parents’ efforts resulted in the sending
of $18,000 to the “Fatherless Children of France” and ten thousand
garments to the children of the Frontier.
An editorial in the Philadelphia _Press_ had this to say of Richard
Hall:
“Much more glorious is the death of this man than is that of the
fighting soldier. His was a devotion, not to country and fireside
and altar, but to an abstract conception of duty. There can be a
selfishness, of a refined kind, to be sure, in even the greatest
bravery shown by the soldier who is fighting for the preservation
of his native land. Thoughts of his near and dear ones in that land
inspire his actions and nerve his body and will for them. To the alien
nurse, physician, hospital attendant there is no such inspiration.
For them the inspiration must come from the depth of their humanity,
and cannot be tinged with the slightest touch of self. German or Hun,
Briton or Serb or Frenchman are all the same in their eyes if they are
suffering from wounds or disease. Americans have a right to be proud of
a fellow countryman like Richard Hall.”