A public celebration of the incredible life of Lieutenant Commander Henry “Nobby” Hall (ret) will be held at the Shoalhaven Entertainment Centre on Wednesday, July 5 at 1pm.

One of the area’s most enduring characters, LCDR Hall MBE OAM, of Currarong,  passed away at home, surrounded by family on Sunday, June 25, aged 95 and a half.

It is the end of an era in local naval circles and the wider Shoalhaven community.

One of the Shoalhaven’s most decorated ex-servicemen, Nobby as he was universally known, served 43 years in the navy, 20 of which were at sea. He rose from the rank of ordinary seaman to Lieutenant Commander.

He was born in Sydney in 1922 and joined the Royal Australian Navy in 1938 as an ordinary seaman 2nd class.

After completing initial training he served on HMA Ships Vampire, Australia, Adelaide, Mildura, Canberra, Hobart, Shropshire, Penguin, Kuttabul, Kanimbla, Sydney and Cerberus.

He was involved in the battle of the Savo Island, Balikpapan, Brunei Bay, Tarakan and Phillipines.

He was also at the Japanese surrender in Tokyo Bay.

He is believed to be if not the last, one of the final survivors from the original Canberra which was heavily damaged and sunk during the Battle of Savo Island in August 1942.

He earned the title of The Unsinkable Henry after one of his ships [Hobart] was torpedoed and two others [Adelaide and Mildura] were involved in collisions.

“Blokes reckoned if they were drafted on a ship with me they would try and get to another ship,” he once joked.

A quirk of fate prevented him from going down with HMAS Sydney II in November 1941 off Western Australia.

After signing up in 1938, he was assigned to a group of about 20 recruits to the Sydney.

An inoculation went wrong and Mr Hall ended up with “vaccination fever”, collapsed on the parade ground and woke up 10 days later. It was decided to assign him to another class and so he avoided serving on the ill-fated ship.

Sydney’s entire crew of 645 men were lost following a fierce engagement with the German raider HSK Kormoran.

In 1943 he was mentioned in dispatches for his skill, resolution and coolness during operations in the Solomon Islands.

In 1948 he transferred to the new Air Branch, which later became the Fleet Air Arm, and was promoted to Petty Officer Airman Meteorological and then Chief Petty Officer in 1953.

He commissioned in early 1957 and served in Albatross, Penguin, Harman, Melbourne, Kuttabul, Creswell (Beecroft Range) and navy headquarters.

He was a former Flight Deck Officer and Aircraft Control Room Officer on HMAS Melbourne.

He transferred to the retired list in 1981.

A regular at Anzac Day and naval functions he was even mentioned by the then Prime Minister Tony Abbott at the commissioning of the RAN’s new, Landing Helicopter Dock (LHD) HMAS Canberra at Garden Island, where he was a special guest.

In 2010 he was awarded the OAM for his service to veterans and their families through the Nowra-Greenwell Point RSL sub-branch.

He had previously been awarded the MBE in 1979 for his exemplary service as Beecroft Range manager.

He met Ethel, who would become his wife while based in England. The courted in Cornwell and Wales and married at the end of the war. Ethel and her mother emigrated to Australia shortly after.

As a father of two, Gwyneth and Jen, he arrived in the Shoalhaven in 1951 to take up a posting at HMAS Albatross.

His community work dated back to the 1950s with the NSW Spastic Centre Council, for which he served terms as secretary and president of the Nowra branch.

He was also a committed Legatee and for many years was the face of the Currarong Anzac Day service since 1968, often leading the parade.

He was also well known for his work with the naval association, RSL, men’s peer health, U3A and Currarong Bowling Club just to name a few.

He had a love of classical music and Gilbert and Sullivan Musicals, but also adapted to listen to “modern” music.

The family would like to thank all the medical professionals who supported Nobby over the years, many becoming personal friends.

He had a special affinity and connection with the ladies at Woolworths and IMB in Nowra.

Nobby was the beloved husband of Ethel (dec) and partner of Joyce.

He was the adored father and father-in-law of Gwyneth and Mal (dec) and Jen and Chris and loved poppy to Lucy and Tim and their partners Alijah and Ali and great grandson Hendrix.

His family hopes his many friends will join them for a celebration of his life at the Shoalhaven Entertainment Centre on Wednesday, July 5 at 1pm.