Commodore Norman B. Hall, USCG, whose last assignment was that of inspector in chief, retired on November 1, with the rank of rear admiral, with 40 years of service. Commodore Hall was born in New York, N. Y., on September l, 1S86. He received his early education in Brooklyn, N. Y., where he was graduated from high school in 1903. Enrolling at Webb Academy of Marine Engineering and Naval Architecture, New York City, he took a complete course at that institution and was graduated in June 1906.
For the next 15 months he was employed as a general draftsman by the Tietjen ;& Lang Dry Dock Co., Hoboken, N. J. Appointed a cadet engineer in the United States Coast Guard on October 21, 1907, he received a commission as an ensign (E) on September 4, 1908.
His first assignment was on the Mohawk. Detached from this ship in November 1908, he served on the Apache until 1911, when he was transferred to the Bear. During a year of duty on the Bear he made one Alaskan cruise, and then was transferred to the Tahoma on which he made two more cruises in Alaskan waters. From April to August 1914, he was attached to the Mohawk, and then served until April 1916 on the Onondaga. During his assignment on the Onondaga, he served temporarily on the Itasca from October 1914 to February 1915.
Transferred to duty in connection with aviation at Norfolk, Va., in April 1916, he was detached in November of the same year for inspection duty concerning the manufacture, installation and operations of planes and plane motors at a Hammondsport, N. Y plant. From May to September of 1917, he served on inspection duty with the superintending constructor of aircraft, United States Navy, at a Buffalo, N. Y., plant, and then became the assistant inspector of engineering material in connection with aircraft inspection at Brooklyn, N. Y.
In October of 1917 he was assigned to duty as inspector of engineering material, United States Navy, for the Brooklyn Aeronautic District (New Jersey, southern New York, and Connecticut). While serving in this capacity, he also organized and built a naval training camp for carpenter's mates. Released from duty with the Navy in January 1920, he was assigned as engineer officer to the cutter Seminole. From October 1923 to April 1924, he was engineer officer on the Ossipee, and then returned to shore duty as assistant to the Engineer in Chief at a Buffalo, N. Y., company where he carried out inspection duty in connection with the manufacture of engines for the Coast Guard.
Transferred to Coast Guard headquarters, Washington, D. C, in June 1925, he was placed on duty in the office of the Engineer in Chief. Leaving headquarters in December of that year, he served until March 1927, at Section Base 2, Staten Island, N. Y., and on a patrol vessel in connection with machinery experiments and oil reclamation.
Returning to Coast Guard headquarters for further duty in the office of the Engineer in Chief, he served as head of aviation activities for 5 years beginning in April 1928. He was designated a Coast Guard aviator on March 2, 1931.
From June 1933 to January 1935, he was attached as engineer officer to the Sebago, and then served in the same capacity aboard the cutter Pontchartrain.
In March 1935, he returned once again to Coast Guard headquarters, where he was placed on duty in the office of the Inspector in Chief. Designated Inspector in Chief in September 1940, his assignment was changed in June 1942 to that of Chief of the Port Security Division. In August of the same year his duties were expanded to include an assignment as Coast Guard liaison representative to cooperate with the Facility Security Division, Office of the Petroleum Coordinator for War. He also was designated a member of the Merchant Marine Council in July of 1943. Reassigned to new duties at Coast Guard headquarters in December 1944, he became Vice Chairman of Merchant Marine Inspector Division, and in January 1946, reappointed Inspector in Chief, United States Coast Guard.