Corporal Clifford F Hill
Clifford Frederick Hill was born on August 27th, 1919 in Sioux City, Iowa to Roy and Ella Hill as their second child. Shortly after, the family moved to King, Washington where he completed High School up to the 4th Grade and began working as a truck driver. With tensions rising in the US with World War Two raging abroad, Clifford decided to enlist in the Marine Corps on July 9th, 1941 and completed training with the 1st Recruit Battalion in San Diego before joining the Marine Barracks, Naval Air Station in Alameda on September 7th. Japan launched their surprise attack on Pearl Harbor just a few months later, plunging the United States and Hill into the war. As the country began bolstering their army, Hill was promoted to Private First Class at the beginning of 1942 and later joined the 9th Marines, 2nd Marine Division on March 27th as a clerk. However, this was not to be his home for long. In June, PFC Hill transferred to the newly constituted Company M, 3rd Battalion, 22nd Marines, 3rd Marine Brigade and shipped off aboard the SS Lurline on July 18th for American Samoa.
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Samoa
The island was considered in danger of Japanese attack, so the 22nd Marines quickly manned defenses across the coast and took the opportunity to conduct valuable jungle warfare training which continued when they moved to Uvea, Wallis Island in August. After thirteen months, PFC Hill transferred to HQ Company of the 3rd Battalion as their Bn-4 clerk and left for Hawaii on the SS Mormac Port, arriving on October 25th. Although they did not see action in the Samoas, their move to Hawaii was for further training and reinforcements for the upcoming Battle of Eniwetok Atoll in the Marshall Islands. Due to PFC Hill’s specialty as a clerk, he was allocated to the rear echelon which stayed behind in Hawaii while the rest of the regiment assaulted Eniwetok on February 18th, 1944, capturing it and two surrounding islands in just six days. With the battle over, Hill traveled to Guadalcanal in March to await their return and reverted back to their forward echelon in April. Although he did not directly participate in the battle, he received credit for the actions of his unit and benefited from the lessons learned in combat as they trained for their next; Guam.
Recapture of Guam
The 22nd Marines boarded the USS Fayette on June 3rd and returned to Kwajalein briefly to consolidate with the 1st Provisional Marine Brigade before continuing towards Guam in July. By the morning of July 21st, they were ready. At 8:22 AM, the navy unleashed a thunderous barrage of shells at the landing beaches while the assault forces crept to the beach, only letting up when they were 1,200 yards offshore. The 22nd Marines were tasked with landing at Yellow Beach 1 and 2, the far left, with the 4th Marines at their immediate right. PFC Hill’s 3rd Battalion was to land directly in between Yellow Beach in reserve. Japanese defenders were not terribly damaged by the naval fire and unleashed heavy mortar and artillery fire at the approaching LVTs, and hidden pillboxes caused trouble when they landed. Regardless, the Marines pushed off the beach with heavy casualties and began advancing on Agat Village. PFC Hill’s 3rd Battalion was waiting offshore for many hours without radio communication, finally landing at 12:36 PM and missing the remainder of the day’s action. By nightfall, the 22nd Marines had secured Agat and repulsed Japanese infiltration parties until morning. At 8:45 AM, the 22nd Marines advanced northwest, dug in, and on the 23rd continued towards Orote Peninsula to cut the troops there off from the rest of the island. They quickly met strong resistance from multiple hills lodged between rice patties that made fighting difficult. Heavy casualties weakened the already diminishing 22nd Marines, causing many clerks and cooks like PFC Hill to fill gaps in the line. On the 24th, the 3rd Battalion swung right from the 2nd Battalion towards Apra Harbor, and at 12:00 PM, the entire regiment began a simultaneous advance to the O-2 line. Hill’s 3rd Battalion quickly overcame the defenses that caused trouble the previous day but were still 400 yards short of their objective by night. Regardless, the regiment’s efforts had sealed off the enemy in Orote Peninsula and it was time to root them out.
Clearing Orote
The attack began on July 25th with the 22nd Marines quickly running into stiff resistance. PFC Hill’s 3rd Battalion advancing towards Apra were forced to push through well camouflaged machine gun nests without cover to the edge of a mangrove swamp. The brigade’s attack was able to confine the remaining Japanese into an eight square mile area, and it was clear that there was no escape. The Japanese commander knew it too, and readied his troops for their banzai assault. Shortly before midnight, PFC Hill’s 3rd Battalion were swarmed by hundreds of screaming enemy soldiers. Frantic calls for artillery support were answered by every unit within range, and while effective, the battle quickly devolved into desperate hand to hand combat. After a few hours, their efforts were successful in beating back the attack with heavy casualties, and by morning, 256 enemy dead lay in their lines. With no time to rest, the 22nd Marines resumed their attack at 8:00 AM and cleared the swamp ahead of them. For the next few days, PFC Hill’s unit made rapid attacks against repeated enemy delaying actions, eventually overrunning the crucial airfield by July 29th and being relieved for mop up operations. Orote Peninsula was now declared secure. The 22nd Marines were later allocated to help capture the remaining areas of Guam, but remaining resistance was nothing compared to what they had experienced already. On August 10th, Guam was declared secure, and on the 23rd, PFC Hill’s regiment left aboard the USAT Aconcagua for rest at Guadalcanal and to join the newly formed 6th Marine Division.
This was the last action PFC Hill would see in the Pacific. On October 8th, he began his return to the United States to join the US Naval Retraining Center in San Diego in January of 1945, after a month's leave, was promoted to Corporal. It was here that he heard of Japan’s unconditional surrender, ending WW2, and on October 6th, he was honorably discharged from the Marine Corps. Clifford returned to King, Washington and married Velma Hix in 1947. In his civilian life, he worked at a local grocery store and the US Postal Service to support his wife and child, sadly passing away on January 6th, 1977.
The island was considered in danger of Japanese attack, so the 22nd Marines quickly manned defenses across the coast and took the opportunity to conduct valuable jungle warfare training which continued when they moved to Uvea, Wallis Island in August. After thirteen months, PFC Hill transferred to HQ Company of the 3rd Battalion as their Bn-4 clerk and left for Hawaii on the SS Mormac Port, arriving on October 25th. Although they did not see action in the Samoas, their move to Hawaii was for further training and reinforcements for the upcoming Battle of Eniwetok Atoll in the Marshall Islands. Due to PFC Hill’s specialty as a clerk, he was allocated to the rear echelon which stayed behind in Hawaii while the rest of the regiment assaulted Eniwetok on February 18th, 1944, capturing it and two surrounding islands in just six days. With the battle over, Hill traveled to Guadalcanal in March to await their return and reverted back to their forward echelon in April. Although he did not directly participate in the battle, he received credit for the actions of his unit and benefited from the lessons learned in combat as they trained for their next; Guam.
Recapture of Guam
The 22nd Marines boarded the USS Fayette on June 3rd and returned to Kwajalein briefly to consolidate with the 1st Provisional Marine Brigade before continuing towards Guam in July. By the morning of July 21st, they were ready. At 8:22 AM, the navy unleashed a thunderous barrage of shells at the landing beaches while the assault forces crept to the beach, only letting up when they were 1,200 yards offshore. The 22nd Marines were tasked with landing at Yellow Beach 1 and 2, the far left, with the 4th Marines at their immediate right. PFC Hill’s 3rd Battalion was to land directly in between Yellow Beach in reserve. Japanese defenders were not terribly damaged by the naval fire and unleashed heavy mortar and artillery fire at the approaching LVTs, and hidden pillboxes caused trouble when they landed. Regardless, the Marines pushed off the beach with heavy casualties and began advancing on Agat Village. PFC Hill’s 3rd Battalion was waiting offshore for many hours without radio communication, finally landing at 12:36 PM and missing the remainder of the day’s action. By nightfall, the 22nd Marines had secured Agat and repulsed Japanese infiltration parties until morning. At 8:45 AM, the 22nd Marines advanced northwest, dug in, and on the 23rd continued towards Orote Peninsula to cut the troops there off from the rest of the island. They quickly met strong resistance from multiple hills lodged between rice patties that made fighting difficult. Heavy casualties weakened the already diminishing 22nd Marines, causing many clerks and cooks like PFC Hill to fill gaps in the line. On the 24th, the 3rd Battalion swung right from the 2nd Battalion towards Apra Harbor, and at 12:00 PM, the entire regiment began a simultaneous advance to the O-2 line. Hill’s 3rd Battalion quickly overcame the defenses that caused trouble the previous day but were still 400 yards short of their objective by night. Regardless, the regiment’s efforts had sealed off the enemy in Orote Peninsula and it was time to root them out.
Clearing Orote
The attack began on July 25th with the 22nd Marines quickly running into stiff resistance. PFC Hill’s 3rd Battalion advancing towards Apra were forced to push through well camouflaged machine gun nests without cover to the edge of a mangrove swamp. The brigade’s attack was able to confine the remaining Japanese into an eight square mile area, and it was clear that there was no escape. The Japanese commander knew it too, and readied his troops for their banzai assault. Shortly before midnight, PFC Hill’s 3rd Battalion were swarmed by hundreds of screaming enemy soldiers. Frantic calls for artillery support were answered by every unit within range, and while effective, the battle quickly devolved into desperate hand to hand combat. After a few hours, their efforts were successful in beating back the attack with heavy casualties, and by morning, 256 enemy dead lay in their lines. With no time to rest, the 22nd Marines resumed their attack at 8:00 AM and cleared the swamp ahead of them. For the next few days, PFC Hill’s unit made rapid attacks against repeated enemy delaying actions, eventually overrunning the crucial airfield by July 29th and being relieved for mop up operations. Orote Peninsula was now declared secure. The 22nd Marines were later allocated to help capture the remaining areas of Guam, but remaining resistance was nothing compared to what they had experienced already. On August 10th, Guam was declared secure, and on the 23rd, PFC Hill’s regiment left aboard the USAT Aconcagua for rest at Guadalcanal and to join the newly formed 6th Marine Division.
This was the last action PFC Hill would see in the Pacific. On October 8th, he began his return to the United States to join the US Naval Retraining Center in San Diego in January of 1945, after a month's leave, was promoted to Corporal. It was here that he heard of Japan’s unconditional surrender, ending WW2, and on October 6th, he was honorably discharged from the Marine Corps. Clifford returned to King, Washington and married Velma Hix in 1947. In his civilian life, he worked at a local grocery store and the US Postal Service to support his wife and child, sadly passing away on January 6th, 1977.