Dean Edward Hallmark, 0-431081, First Lieutenant
Pilot Crew 6
Graduated from Greenville High School, Greenville, Texas and attended Paris Junior College, Texas and Alabama Polytechnic Institute, Alabama for two years. Entered service on November 21, 1940 at Houston, Texas. Graduated as Pilot and commissioned as Second Lieutenant from Advanced Flying School, Stockton, California in July, 1941. Joined 95th Bomb Squadron at Pendleton, Oregon. Was captured by the Japanese and executed on October 15, 1942 at Kiangwan Prison, Shanghai, China. Decorations include the Distinguished Flying Cross, Purple Heart (posthumous), and the Chinese Breast Order of Pao Ting.
Born January 20, 1914, Robert Lee, Texas
Executed by Japanese firing squad, October 15, 1942
Executed at Kiangwan Cemetery, Shanghai, China
Cremated and remains taken to the International Funeral Home in Shanghai, China
Discovered after the war stored under the name “J. Smith”
The following images were submitted by Adam Hallmark.
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I've got some more stuff I'm about to scan and send to you and you may do with it what you will. I'll also be making copies to give to CV for the files at UT-Dallas. Last October I was able to visit Dean's niece and nephew in Dallas, as you know. We swapped stories of Dean, me passing along stories about him that the Raiders had pulled me aside and passed on to me and them telling me stories about him prior to the Army and how his death had affected the family; his father died a broken man and his sister forbade anyone to mention his name in her presence the rest of her life.
As we were about to say our goodbyes that day, Dean's niece produced a small cedar jewelry box that had belonged to her mother and she gave it to me for me to have (she and her brother are both married but never had children so they sort of took me in as their own). In it was all the paperwork that surrounded Dean's capture and subsequent execution; the letter from Hap Arnold, the letter Dean wrote in '39 and the Western Union telegram that I have already sent you came from that box. Those were what I deemed the most unique documents contained in it. You may have no need for the rest of what was in there but I'm going to send it to you anyway just so I'm not the only person hanging onto it all. There's also Bob Meder's "If I die" letter that he wrote the day Pearl Harbor was attacked. - Adam Hallmark 02/16/2010
This is a letter that someone wrote in response to a letter that Dean's mother wrote seeking information about his duty status, whereabouts and condition. There are three pages to this and it ends somewhat abruptly which makes me wonder if there was a fourth page or not. I have no idea who wrote it but they were apparently in China at the same time as the Raiders... no idea if who wrote it was a Raider themself but I sort of deduce that they weren't. But with a Washington, DC address they must have been involved with the military in some respect.
This is a letter written to Dean's mother from the set of MGM studios. No idea what year this letter was written but the author of it, "Lee," unknowingly wrote it either THE day Dean was executed or on the anniversary of it sometime during the war. And Lee speaks of Bill Fitzhugh in it. I know of no Raider named Lee so it's got to be either a close mutual friend or a Raider spouse. Christy Glaze seems to think that Jack Sims' wife was named Lee but she isn't sure. And I also wonder if this letter was written from the set of Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo?
Obituary for Dean's father, Ollie, who passed away in 1955 at the age of 66.
This article was most likely from the Dallas Morning News since that's where his parents were living at the time.
This is an article from the Greenville Banner in 1966 about the 20th anniversary of the VFW lodge there which was named for Dean in 1946. Dean's mother is in the photograph. Unfortunately, the author inflated what really happened to Dean and his crew after the ditched off the coast of China. I couldn't fit the whole article on the scanner but what portion that speaks of Dean is visible.
I guess back in the day if you showed up in a newspaper Western Union would send you the down and dirty of it to you as a means to advertise their services. These are printed on really heavy, thick paper... almost like cardboard. The "front" is actually three separate pieces, I just scanned them together. The "back" tells you what the picture was about. I'm guessing this showed up in the Dallas Morning News and it's apparent it was during the war as well... and it probably corresponds to the same time she received a letter from Lee in Hollywood since that letter makes mention of her being sick.
This is the wedding announcement for Dean's sister, Mozelle. Now, I only included this simply cause the story behind it is interesting. Dean's sister happened to marry a B-17 pilot during the war. After they married, they got pregnant (Dean's niece who gave me the cedar box) and he shipped off to Europe. He was eventually shot down over Romania after bombing oil fields in Ploesti and, you got it, became a POW under the Nazis. So Mozelle had a brother captured by the Japs and a husband captured by the Nazis and didn't know the status of either them until the war ended. Her husband survived... he actually broke his back as a result of his parachute jump and the Nazis left him tied to a board for, LITERALLY, a solid year and lying on his stomach. Amazingly he died of old age and it had nothing to do with his war injuries. The family joked that his back was "as straight as a board."
Unfortunately, his and her war experiences took a toll on their marriage and they divorced in the late 40s/early 50s. She remarried again and had a son.
This is a response from the War Dept., dated 2 April 43, about Dean's active duty pay basically being paid to his mother.
Death Benefit Paperwork
You know those letters that C.V. always references that Dean, Bill and Harold wrote before they were executed? Well here's the paper trail in regards to Dean's. Unfortunately, the letter itself was not in the box so I can't help but wonder if his parents ever received a copy of it or not. More importantly, where are those letters at nowadays? They've got to be stored somewhere. I only ask cause I would like to see the letter in its entirety cause all the references to it only partially quote it and I would like to see the whole thing. - Adam Hallmark
This is a letter from a family friend back in Greenville that was invited to the award ceremony for Dean's Distinguished Flying Cross at Love Field in Dallas on December 7, 1942. - Adam Hallmark
This is an interview with Frederick Opper of the Shanghai Evening Post. - Adam Hallmark
Arlington National Cemetery
Memorial Drive
Arlington, VA 22211
703-695-3250
Section 12 Grave 158
Interment 1/17/1949
Inducted Texas Aviation Hall of Fame, Galveston, TX
Three of the Raiders: Hallmark, Farrow and Spatz, were executed at this cemetery near the Kiangwan Prison, Shanghai, on Oct. 15, 1942. They were made to kneel, tied to small crosses and shot.
