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Contact Info
Last Address Annapolis, MD
Date of Passing Jul 19, 1971
Location of Interment U.S. Naval Academy Cemetery and Columbarium (VLM) - Annapolis, Maryland
In September 1943, Admiral Hill became Commander Amphibious Group Two, Fifth Amphibious Force, and in that capacity participated in the capture of Tarawa, and later in operations against the Gilberts, Marshalls, Marianas, Iwo Jima, and Okinawa.
He relieved the Commander Fifth Amphibious Force at Okinawa in April 1945, and commanded the amphibious and support operations of that force until that island was secured at the end of June.
At the close of the war in August 1945, he commanded the Amphibious Force, which landed the Sixth Army in Southwestern Japan for occupation duty. On 1 November 1945, he assumed duty as Commandant of the Army-Navy Staff College, and in June 1946, Vice Admiral Hill established and served as Commandant of the National War College, the highest-level educational institution of the Armed Forces and the State Department.
In September 1949, he reported as Chairman of the General Board, Navy Department, and on 28 April 1950 became Superintendent of the Naval Academy and Commandant, Severn River Naval Command. He continued to serve as such after his retirement on 1 May 1952, until August 1952.
Independence Day dawned, foggy, windless and cold. The temperature was now three degrees below zero, and still the convoy had farther north to go. On the American merchant ships, the tattered Stars and Stripes were hauled down and clean new Ensigns were run up in their place. From the bridge of the British cruiser Norfolk, the daylight signaling lantern was flashing a Fourth of July greeting across the American cruiser Wichita: “Many happy returns of the day. The United States is the only country with a known birthday.”
Captain H. W. Hill, USN, made the reply, “Thank you. I think England should celebrate Mother’s Day.”
World War II/Asiatic-Pacific Theater/Attack on Pearl Harbor
From Month/Year
December / 1941
To Month/Year
December / 1941
Description The attack on Pearl Harbor, also known as the Battle of Pearl Harbor, the Hawaii Operation or Operation AI by the Japanese Imperial General Headquarters, and Operation Z during planning, was a surprise military strike by the Imperial Japanese Navy against the United States naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii Territory, on the morning of December 7, 1941. The attack led to the United States' entry into World War II.
Japan intended the attack as a preventive action to keep the U.S. Pacific Fleet from interfering with military actions the Empire of Japan planned in Southeast Asia against overseas territories of the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, and the United States. Over the next seven hours there were coordinated Japanese attacks on the U.S.-held Philippines, Guam and Wake Island and on the British Empire in Malaya, Singapore, and Hong Kong.
The attack commenced at 7:48 a.m. Hawaiian Time. The base was attacked by 353 Imperial Japanese fighter planes, bombers, and torpedo planes in two waves, launched from six aircraft carriers. All eight U.S. Navy battleships were damaged, with four sunk. All but Arizona were later raised, and six were returned to service and went on to fight in the war. The Japanese also sank or damaged three cruisers, three destroyers, an anti-aircraft training ship, and one minelayer. 188 U.S. aircraft were destroyed; 2,403 Americans were killed and 1,178 others were wounded. Important base installations such as the power station, shipyard, maintenance, and fuel and torpedo storage facilities, as well as the submarine piers and headquarters building (also home of the intelligence section) were not attacked. Japanese losses were light: 29 aircraft and five midget submarines lost, and 64 servicemen killed. One Japanese sailor, Kazuo Sakamaki, was captured.
The attack came as a profound shock to the American people and led directly to the American entry into World War II in both the Pacific and European theaters. The following day, December 8, the United States declared war on Japan. Domestic support for non-interventionism, which had been fading since the Fall of France in 1940,[19] disappeared. Clandestine support of the United Kingdom (e.g., the Neutrality Patrol) was replaced by active alliance. Subsequent operations by the U.S. prompted Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy to declare war on the U.S. on December 11, which was reciprocated by the U.S. the same day.
From the 1950s, several writers alleged that parties high in the U.S. and British governments knew of the attack in advance and may have let it happen (or even encouraged it) with the aim of bringing the U.S. into war. However, this advance-knowledge conspiracy theory is rejected by mainstream historians.
There were numerous historical precedents for unannounced military action by Japan. However, the lack of any formal warning, particularly while negotiations were still apparently ongoing, led President Franklin D. Roosevelt to proclaim December 7, 1941, "a date which will live in infamy". Because the attack happened without a declaration of war and without explicit warning, the attack on Pearl Harbor was judged by the Tokyo Trials to be a war crime.
