Jack Earl Hill
PFC Jack E. Hill served with Dog Company, First Battalion, 6th Marines.
He was killed in action at the battle of Tarawa on 22 November 1943.
Branch
Marine Corps Reserve
Service Number 360091
Current Status
Accounted For
as of 26 June 2020
Recovery Organization
History Flight 2019 Expedition
Read DPAA Press Release
History
Jack Hill was born in Billings, Montana on 11 March 1922. He was the first child born to Earl and Nellie Hill; the family eventually grew to include a younger sister, Betty Jean. During Jack’s childhood, the family moved several times, and he attended schools in Billings, Forsyth, and Custer, Montana. His reputation as an athlete traveled with him, and in 1941 he played on the championship Custer High School football team.
In 1940, Jack and Earl were living in Custer while Nellie and Betty Ann resided in Casper, Wyoming. They made frequent visits, and shortly before the war, Jack made Casper his permanent residence.
Jack enlisted in the Marine Corps on 10 February 1942 from a recruiting station in Denver, Colorado. He spent his twentieth birthday at Marine Corps Recruit Depot San Diego, and was assigned to Company D, First Battalion, 6th Marines immediately after completing boot camp.
Hill trained as a heavy machine gunner, and served with the crew of a water-cooled Browning M1917 weapon during training in California and New Zealand, and in combat on Guadalcanal.
PFC Jack Hill landed on Betio in the Tarawa atoll on the night of 21 November 1943, and spent the following day attacking in sweltering heat. That night, they helped fend off a Japanese counterattack that left the field covered with dead combatants.
The machine gunners of Company D were particularly hard hit. In the morning after the attack, Private Wayland Stevens recalled burying several of his buddies close together: Elden Baumbach, Jacob Cruz, John Gillen, Clarence Drumheiser, and Jack Hill. The former football star died from shrapnel wounds to his chest, stomach, and groin. News of his death was delivered to his parents in Casper a few days after the New Year’s holiday, 1944.
Jack Hill’s remains were buried in Grave #30, Row D, East Division Cemetery on Betio, This mass grave was lost in the years after the battle, and Hill was declared non-recoverable in 1949.
Row D was discovered by non-profit research group History Flight in the spring of 2019. Jack Hill’s remains were among those recovered, and he was identified by the DPAA on 26 June 2020.
The identification was officially announced on 18 March 2021.
Decorations
Purple Heart
For wounds resulting in his death, 22 November 1943.
Next Of Kin Address
Address of mother, Mrs. Nellie Hill.
Location Of Loss
PFC Hill was killed during a Japanese counterattack near Betio’s Black Beach.
I am pleased to share that my 2nd Cousin, PFC Jack Earl Hill, not only is no longer MIA (77 Years), but identified and coming home to family this Saturday, November 6, 2021. His military honor service will be on Veterans Day, 11/11/21 at 1pm Veterans Section of Seattle’s Evergreen Washelli Cemetery, Seattle WA. The same cemetery as his maternal Grandpa, Grandma, Aunt, and Uncle are buried in. His Father, Earl Nisson Hill, Marine WWI Veteran, is buried in Kennewick, WA. His Mother, Nellie T. Lane Hill Speisser is buried in Casper, Wyoming. His younger Sister Betty Jean Hill Alm is buried in Portland, OR. His only known surviving relatives are 14 Cousins on his maternal side, 12 of them living in the State of Washington. Welcome home Cousin!