Late Delavan man was World War II POW
By Vicky Wedig
Editor
Former Beloit man Ray Hallett was born after his uncle of the same name – a World War II prisoner of war from Delavan – died.
As his uncle’s namesake, Hallett, who now lives in Germany, inherited the military accouterments bestowed upon his uncle, whose life was cut short in a car crash on Highway 50 west of Lake Geneva in 1953 at the age of 36. He had never married or had children.
Hallett, who was born two years after his uncle’s death, is creating a military-style shadow box to contain his uncle’s artifacts, which include a Silver Star Medal awarded to Ray Hallett for bravery in World War II.
Before relocating from Beloit to German in October for Hallet’s wife, Cindy’s, civilian job with the Air Force, Hallet visited the Webster House Museum in Elkhorn to see whether the Walworth County Historical Society was interested in his uncle’s memorabilia.
“We were really impressed,” he said. “The quality of their set-up there was really nice.”
The Historical Society purchased the former Betts Funeral Home next to the Webster House Museum and established Heritage Hall where war memorabilia is displayed.
Hallett said he is working on the shadow box, which will include his uncle’s patches, stripes, dog tags and Silver Star Medal as well as civilian artifacts such as bowling and golf trophies. He plans to donate it to the Historical Society during a visit to Wisconsin this summer.
The late Delavan historian Gordon Yadon wrote a column about Ray Hallett in the Enterprise.
It read, in part:
“Raymond Hallett graduated from Delavan High School in 1937 and enlisted in the Army nine months before Pearl Harbor. During World War II, he won the Silver Star for bravery, was captured during the Battle of the Bulge and survived more than four months in various POW camps.
He entered U.S. Army service March 21, 1941, at Camp Grant, Ill. At Camp Berkeley, Texas, he was assigned to the 201st quartermaster Medical Detachment. After infantry training, he joined a company in the Seventh Armored Division, which went overseas Nov. 17, 1943. After several months in England, his unit landed on the continent and saw action in France and Holland before moving into Belgium.
As a front-line medic, he was in the center of the action on Dec. 16, 1944, when 25 German divisions overran the American lines held by six divisions. Although Hallett’s Seventh Armored Division at St. Vith and the 101st Airborne Division at Bastogne made courageous attempts to hold the line, the German Fifth and Sixth Panser Armies broke through and inflicted heavy casualties on U.S. forces and took many prisoners.
For six days, Hallett’s company was engaged in intense combat in the Bulge area. On Dec. 22, his unit was ordered to withdraw, and, although it meant certain capture and possible death, Hallett volunteered to stay with three wounded infantrymen who could not be evacuated. A short time later, German troops advanced, and Hallett and his wounded comrades became prisoners of war.”
The younger Ray Hallett said Yadon’s column contained details about his uncle that he had never known and wonders if other Delavan area residents remember the first Ray Hallett.
“Apparently, from the stories I’ve heard of him, he was a popular guy and very well liked,” he said.
Hallett said when the last of his uncle’s generation died – Hallett’s brothers Harold and Oren and his sister, Helen – the quest for gaining information about his late uncle intensified.
“With my dad and my aunt passing on, I really missed a source of information about my uncle,” he said. “If anyone remembers uncle Ray or has stories to tell about him, I would love to hear from you.”
Ray Hallett can be reached at [email protected].
