PDA

View Full Version : Body in Florida is Marine veteran's



thedrifter
03-13-08, 07:19 AM
Thursday, March 13, 2008

Body in Florida is Marine veteran's
Jeffersonville man disappeared on Feb. 3

By Ben Zion Hershberg
bhershberg@courier-journal.com
The Courier-Journal

A body found last weekend in a Florida drainage culvert was identified yesterday as that of Eric Hall of Jeffersonville, who was severely wounded while serving with the Marines in Iraq three years ago and suffered from post traumatic stress disorder.

A memorial service will be held today for Hall, 24, in Punta Gorda, Fla., and his family has vowed to help other military veterans who suffer mentally and emotionally from their combat experiences.

"We can't fight for him any more," Kevin Hall, said of his son, who had been missing since Feb. 3. "But we can fight for the others."

"Nobody should have to go through this," said Becky Hall, Eric's mother, who has been in Florida since two days after her son vanished.

Eric Hall was last seen running from his aunt's house in Charlotte County, where he had been visiting his grandmother. Witnesses said he believed the house was surrounded by enemies.

Hall's motorcycle was found the day he disappeared lying on its side on a road with the engine still running. The location was near where his body was found Sunday after a volunteer searcher smelled a strong odor coming from the culvert.

The Charlotte County sheriff's department had the culvert pipe excavated and cut open, revealing the remains.

The 2-foot-wide pipe had been searched before but not far enough, Kevin Hall said. He said the remains were found about 50 yards inside the pipe.

Eric Hall had pulled some rocks over the entrance, probably to shield himself from a fire that had begun near the culvert, his father said.

The cause of death hasn't been determined.

While Eric Hall was in Iraq, a roadside bomb in Fallujah tore a basketball-sized chunk of flesh from his left hip, broke his left leg and damaged a nerve in his right arm. A friend of his was killed by the bomb.

"There were 16 weeks of surgery" after the explosion, Kevin Hall said. "The surgeons did a top-notch job" with the physical injuries.

But he said he believes the military let his son down in dealing with the severe and disabling mental and emotional wounds. The problems included anxiety and hallucinations.

Kevin Hall said his son sometimes spent weeks waiting for appointments with counselors.

"When you fight for your country and you come back home and you're scared to death, it's not right," Kevin Hall said.

Patti Smith, a family friend of the Halls, said Eric was a quiet child growing up and, like other young boys, "was mischievous at times."

When he graduated from Jeffersonville High School and joined the Marines, Smith said, "he seemed to find himself. He was a Marine through and through."

He was leading the patrol when the bomb went off, Smith said. "He felt like he should have been the one taken."

Kevin Hall said he and his wife are planning a national effort to raise awareness of post traumatic stress. From his experience with his son's suffering, he said, he believes more research is needed to understand the disorder and more help must be given to veterans afflicted with it.

"I'm going to do everything I can" to obtain such help, he said.

But first, he said, "I've got to get through my grieving pain."

The memorial service is planned for noon today at the Faith Lutheran Church, 4005 Palm Drive in Punta Gorda. About 500 veterans and others who were touched by Eric Hall's plight have told organizers they plan to attend, Kevin Hall said.

Becky Hall said she and her husband plan to return to Jeffersonville tomorrow with their son's ashes.

Tentative plans have been made for a visitation at Coots Funeral Home in Jeffersonville on Sunday, and a memorial service at 11 a.m. Monday at Faith Lutheran Church on Allison Lane in Jeffersonville.

Ultimately, she hopes to inter her son's ashes at Arlington National Cemetery, Becky Hall said.

Smith said people who want to help the Hall family with expenses incurred during the lengthy search can contribute through Faith Lutheran Church in Jeffersonville or to the Eric Hall Fund at any Your Community Bank branch.

Reporter Ben Hershberg can be reached at (812) 949-4032.

Ellie