Harley Hall, a Vietnam War casualty from Vancouver, got a jet-powered salute Wednesday from his old team.
The U.S. Navy’s Blue Angels did a low-level flyover of the Harley H. Hall Building as several of Hall’s family members watched the six F-18 Hornets zoom over their heads. A seventh aircraft accompanied the formation, taking photographs.
“It’s just awesome,” Gwen Hall Davis, one of the Navy pilot’s sisters, said after the here-they-come/there-they-go display.
And the family had a lot of support. Crowds of people gathered in open spots around Stockford Village in anticipation of the flyover.
The family wasn’t expecting that kind of tribute for a man who hasn’t been seen in public since 1973, Davis said.
“They know who he is, and they still care,” Davis said after the 6:25 p.m. flyover.
Some of the people who showed up are veterans, and some are Hall’s Vietnam War contemporaries.
One of those veterans, Ray Kutch, flew transports during the Vietnam War and said he still is active in organizations that support the Navy.
The Blue Angels are in the Portland-Vancouver area for this weekend’s Oregon International Air Show in Hillsboro, Ore. Davis had been in contact with team leaders to see if the Blue Angels could work some sort of salute to Hall into their visit.
Hall, a 1955 Evergreen High School graduate and a 1957 Clark College grad, commanded the U.S. Navy’s flight demonstration team in 1970 and 1971.
Hall was deployed to Vietnam and was shot down on Jan. 27, 1973 — the last day of combat operations — in an air strike against an enemy supply center. In 1980, federal officials declared that Hall was “presumed killed in action.”
The building at 10000 N.E. Seventh Ave. in Hazel Dell was named in honor of the pilot by fellow Clark College alum Larry Pruitt. A display area in the first floor of the building showcases memorabilia, photographs and medals reflecting Hall’s flying career.
As part of the flyover’s preliminary work, the team needed the building’s precise GPS coordinates, as well as its height — 70 feet — and height of the flagpole on top of the top the structure, 30 feet.
The Blue Angels will perform on Saturday and Sunday. A squadron spokesman told Davis that Sunday’s air-show performance will be dedicated to Hall. The air show opens at 7:30 p.m. Friday, but the Blue Angels won’t fly that night because they don’t do twilight performances.
The Hillsboro event officially is called the Intel Oregon International Air Show Presented by Standard TV & Appliance.
