Charles B. Hall
Major, U.S. Army Air Forces

Charles B. Hall was born on 25 August 1920 in Brazil, IN.

Hall, a Tuskegee Airman, was one of the first 43 black pilots assigned to combat duty with the 99th Pursuit Squadron in North Africa in January 1943. During an attack mission on 2 July 1943 on Panelleria in the Mediterranean Theater of Operations, Lieutenant Hall became the first African-American pilot to earn official credit for destroying an enemy plane, a German Focke-Wulf 190, in WW II.

His valor in that action earned him the Distinguished Flying Cross from the U.S. Army Air Forces. His Squadron presented him with its own reward, a chilled bottle of Coca Cola, a precious commodity in the Mediterranean Theater.

After retiring from the Air Force as a Major, he became a popular insurance agent in Oklahoma City, OK.

Death and Burial

Major Charles B. Hall died on 22 November 1971. He is buried at Hillcrest Memorial Park in Ardmore, OK.