Marshall V.S. Hall

Born and raised in rural eastern Kentucky, I remain a Kentuckian at heart in spite of having lived in many diverse communities in and outside of the U.S.A. The last decade or so I have returned to my passions of hunting and fishing. The rigors of hunting have caused me to slow down some and turn to fishing more. There is just no better pastime than fishing whether that is in the Patagonia of Argentina, a river in Alaska, or a creek in Kentucky.

Today, I reside in a suburb of Albany, N.Y., planning a fly-fishing trip on the nearby Batten Kill. My daughters often join me. My wife, Marlene, does not, but she has stuck around for nearly 50 years. Perhaps my fishing gives her a break from the Kentuckian.

My book, A Kentucky Boy Goes to Sea as a Naval Officer: A Memoir, focuses on my 21-year atypical career as a naval officer. It begins in 1965 when I was a midshipman on a training cruise aboard an old WWII aircraft carrier based in Rhode Island. It ends when I retire in 1989 as a Commander from my final post as a naval attaché at the U.S. Embassy in Madrid, Spain. From midshipman to attaché and all the assignments in between, my Navy years have been challenging but never dull.