GEORGE CHESTER HALL, Died peacefully on Thursday, March 9th. George was born in Decatur, Texas in 1922, one of six children. In 1939 he lied about his age to join his oldest brother, Howard, in the Texas National Guard. He, along with his brother, brother-in-law, and most of the 2nd Battalion, 131st Field Artillery, became prisoners of war when the Dutch surrendered the Island of Java to the Japanese in March of 1942. Save for the year he and a small group of prisoners spent lost and starving in the Burmese jungle, he was in a Japanese prison camp, first in Java, and then in Burma for 42 months. There he and the rest of his Battalion worked to build the Burma-Siam Death Railway, made famous in the film The Bridge Over the River Kwai. When he returned to Texas, he was admitted to a military hospital in San Antonio where he met his sister Grace's friend, Betty Jean Campbell. They were married October 26th, 1945. Except for his long, frequent trips to the grocery store to do her bidding, they were together until Betty died in 1988. George and Betty lost an infant son, Ricky in 1946, a son-in-law, Stephen Blanton in 1977, and another son, Robert in 1996. George worked for GTE for over 35 years, as the only telephone man in Carrollton, Texas when he and his family moved there in 1959, and then as a test board operator. In 1988 a co-worker of George's learned that he had never applied for the awards and commendations he was set to receive. On July 5th, 1988, months before his wife, Betty, died George was presented his awards in a surprise ceremony at his office. U.S. Rep. Dick Armey, R-Denton was there to present the awards, including a purple heart and five bronze stars. Surrounded by his family, George told the Dallas Morning News that "stubbornness" had kept him going during his horrific years in the war. He was a lifelong Methodist and labor liberal Democrat, serving as a Divisional Union Steward for CWA for many years. He is survived by his daughters, Patti Scott, the Reverend Doctor Georjean Blanton and her husband Doctor Mike Renquist, and Janette Hall; his grandchildren, Reese and Kristi Cox, Barry and Cyndi Cox, Mandi and Chris Wilkins, Sonnet Blanton and Alex Wettreich, his devoted baby, Calei Hall and her partner, Elliott Munoz, and Christopher and Jon Renquist; and his great-grandchildren, Tyler, Hannah, and Madison Wilkins, and Kaitlynne Cox; his brother, Hugh T. Hall, and his faithful sister-in-law, Christa Hall. A military service is at Restland at 2pm on Tuesday, March 21st, with memorial service to follow at 4pm at Preston Hollow United Methodist Church, 6315 Walnut Hill Lane Dallas, TX. In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to the Disabled American Veterans.   Restland.

The Dallas Morning News - March 19, 2006
Submitted by Edward Lynn Williams