Cmdr. Harley Hall, shot down 40 years ago

“There has never been anything to prove that Harley died in Vietnam,” she said. “I think he was taken to Russia.”

After Hall bailed out of his damaged F-4J Phantom, another pilot reported seeing Hall unbuckle his parachute and take off running.

“We knew he was alive on the ground, because his wingman saw him,” Davis, 70, said.

Hall is the last American to be designated as a prisoner of war in Vietnam. In February 1980, federal officials declared that Hall was “presumed killed in action.”

Clues in his teeth

In 1993, the Vietnamese government returned three teeth and a few bone fragments to the United States. Jim Maslowski, a former member of the Blue Angels, accompanied Mary Lou Hall when she picked up her husband’s remains.

“Mary Lou was having some difficulty recovering them,” said Maslowski, now a retired admiral. “I was still on active duty. We said we were there to collect his remains, we got them, and we got out.”

Dental records confirmed the teeth were Hall’s. But they didn’t prove he was dead, Mary Lou Hall contended. They could have fallen out or been extracted. And there were indications of dental disease that could have only happened while Hall was alive, she said.

Gwen Hall Davis discussed the family’s frustrations a few days ago near a display case in Hazel Dell that’s a tribute to her older brother. It’s in the Harley H. Hall Building, 10000 N.E. Seventh Ave., named in honor of the pilot by fellow Clark College alum Larry Pruitt.

Some of the official information is contradictory, Davis said. At three different times, the family was told that Hall’s body was buried in three different places.

Some records they’ve been able to access indicate that Hall was moved through a series of POW camps, she said, and that he’d been interrogated by a Soviet officer.

If Hall is still alive, Davis said, he will turn 76 in December.

Christensen, who was part of that final mission, is not optimistic.

“A killing field’

“It was a killing field that day,” said Christensen. On the previous day, he explained, “I was working that same area and we caught two boats going across a river. We killed 12 to 14 of them, and they probably were really pissed with U.S. air.”

Philip “Al” Kientzler, Hall’s co-pilot, was taken prisoner after bailing out. After he returned home and recounted his time in captivity, “Al said this guy came into his hootch and said that his buddy killed (Kientzler’s) friend,” Christensen said.

Kientzler, who died in 2005, refused to talk to the family, Davis said.

“I think it’s anybody’s speculation,” said Maslowski, who was stationed on the USS Ranger that day. “Some say he was killed in his ‘chute. There are a lot of conflicting stories.”

Maslowski noted the indications of dental disease in the teeth that were returned.

“Before we deployed, everybody’s ivories were checked to make sure they were in good shape. If you go by that, he survived for some period of time.”

However, “I’m sure he isn’t alive today,” Maslowski said. “It’s common knowledge, from the POWs who came home, that it was a brutal experience for all of them.”

But that’s not the appropriate tone for observing the day, Hall’s friends say.

“Here’s the deal: Harley is one of the great human beings of all time,” Christensen said.

A hero to admirals

Christensen wound up as commander of the USS Ranger before retiring as a rear admiral. Maslowski retired as an admiral. And they both say that Hall was the superior pilot and better leader.

“He was going to be one of the top military leaders in the Navy, if not the armed forces,” Christensen said. “Harley was always one of my heroes. He will always be one of my heroes.”

Maslowski recapped the thoughts he’d offered for “Left Alive to Die,” a book about Hall: