HomeMy WebLinkAboutHenry Hilton, Brazos Valley Heroes
Life 'for Henry Hilton started in Bryan on Old College Road,
but he spent more than 50 years of his Hfe abroad before
coming back home to Brazos County and College Station a
few years ago. His first trip abroad was free of charge, cour-
tesy of the United States Marine Corps.
"I had enrolled at A&M in 1940, but when Pearl Harbor was
bombed, I enlisted in the Marine Corps that Christmas. We
were told by the commandant's office that we needed our
parents' permission to resign. I took off anyhow. I know that
made the commandant mad, but when one of my instruc-
tors asked a friend why I wasn't in class, my friend told him 1
had enlisted in the Marine Corps. When I returned to school
after the war; I di,scovered that instructor gave me an A even
though I hadn't completed the semester.
"I was sworn in at Houston and left on a train that day for
San Diego and boot camp. Sixty days later I wason a ship
headed overseas. Alii knew about soldering was how to fire
a rifle and to take orders."
Hilton ended up in the Samoas as part of a defense battal-
ion that stretched 1,000 miles across the American shipping
lanes to Australia. .
"We had 600 rifles and 21 machine guns. It was monotonous
and we didn't know We were just sitting ducks. We couldn't
have fought off a Japanese invasion if we had tried. We
stayed there two and half years before they brought us home
in July 1944. We arrived in the Samoa Islands in March of
1942 and it took until August of 1942 before we received any
mail. My folks didn't know where I was until then. It was im-
portant for them to make contact with me because it wasn't
until then that they were able to inform me that my brother
Lynn, who was in the Navy, had been killed in the Battle of
Coral Sea in 1942. He was the first Brazos CoUl"1ty boy to be
killed in World War II."
When Hilton returned in July 1944, it was to prepare for the
invasion of Okinawa and the Japanese mainland.
"One month of training after arriving back in the states, we
sailed toOkinawa., I was placed in a tank battalion. l' had
never seen the inside of a tank until then. I became the tank
gunner due to, my experience as a machine gunner. On our
way to Okinawa we stopped in Ulithi. There were so many
masts in the harbor it looked like a forest. We landed on Eas-
ter Sunday, April 1, 1945, which was also April Fools Day."
Hilton and his battalion encountered no resistance on land-
ing, but within two weeks the Japanese made themselves
well known. '
"On May 14, my tank received six hits, disabling our tank
and injuring most of us. At first I thought my leg had been
shot off because alii could see was one boot sticking out. I
couldn't tell if my foot was still attached. It's funny what you
remember when things like that happen, but the first thing
I thought of was - 'My Daddy will fix it'. They put me on a
stretcher Jeep and I remember asking another Marine who
had been injured and who was riding on the Jeep to the aid
station to hold onto my foot on the trip to the hospital so it
wouldn't fall off the Jeep.
"You can't imagine my relief when I woke up in the hospi-
tal and saw two feet sticking out of the casts they had on
both my legs. While I was is in the hospital my best friend
from Houston, Cordell Miller, got permission to check on me
to'see how I was doing. Cordell was killed two days before
Okinawa fell."
Hilton spent several months in various hospitals in rehabilita-
tion before being discharged.
"After I was discharged I re-enrolled at A&M and got my de-
gree in civil engineering in 1950. I went to work in Honduras
for a railroad company building railroads. That is where I first
met and later ~ my wife. We lived and worked on projects
all over the wofJii to include being the engineer in charge of
the constructior.l of the Air Force and naval base on the is-
land of Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean. I guess I'm finally
retired now, ~ause no one calls and asks me to go to work
anymore. I miss it.
"When I was in the service, I considered the Marine Corps my
home and the Marines my family. Even if there was someone
you didn't particularly care for personally, we wore the same
uniform and we looked out for each other. I will always con-
sider myself a Marine."
Henry Hilton's name can be found on the Brazos Valley Veter-
ans Memorial. For more information, to make a contribution,
or if you know a World War II veteran whose story needs to
be told, contact the BWM atwww.veteransmemorial,org or
Bill Youngkin at (979)260-7030.
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