Colonel James F. Hill

Lieutenant Colonel (LTC) James F. Hill, U. S. Army (Retired), age 87 passed away October 24, 2013. In the course of his thirty-one year Army career, LTC Hill served in a variety of assignments and locations, including Germany, Japan, Korea, Taiwan, the South Pole and Vietnam. He was a distinguished Korean and Vietnam War veteran, and a highly decorated Army Master Aviator.

Colonel Hill was born April 5, 1926 in Long Beach, California to Horace D. and Nettie F. Hill. In addition to living in Long Beach, he grew up in Chattanooga and Cookeville, Tennessee. He attended Tennessee Technological University (then Tennessee Tech) and later the University of California San Francisco (then San Francisco State) where he received a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science. He also was awarded a Master’s of Public Administration from Georgia State University.

During World War II, Colonel Hill served in the U. S. Army Air Corps. He returned to active duty in 1949 as a Lieutenant with the 19th Infantry Regiment of the 24th Infantry Division, deployed to Japan and then Korea during the Korean War. In later years he was to serve multiple terms as the President of the 24th infantry Division Association. As an aviator, he was assigned as Commander of Felker Army Air Field, Ft. Eustis, Virginia and as the Executive Officer of the 12th Aviation Group, Saigon, Vietnam. He was additionally assigned as the Aviation Advisor to the Chinese First Field Army, Taipei, Taiwan. He was a rated Chinese Army Aviator and served with aviation units of the Nationalist Chinese Forces, located on the offshore islands of Formosa.

Before retiring from the Army, Colonel Hill was assigned as Chief of the War Plans Division of the Army Continental Command at Fort Monroe, Virginia and also U. S. Army Forces Command, Ft. McPherson, Georgia. Following his Army retirement, he worked for thirteen years at the Georgia Emergency Management Agency where he retired as the Chief of Plans.

Colonel Hill’s many military awards and decorations include the Legion of Merit with one oak leaf cluster, the Bronze Star with one oak leaf cluster, the Meritorious Service Medal with one oak cluster, the Air Medal with six oak leaf clusters, the Combat Infantry Badge, Master Army Aviator Wings, and the Vietnam, United Nations, Korean, and Antarctica Service Medals.

Colonel Hill was a life member of the Military Officer’s Association, and a member of the Army Otter Caribou Aviation Association, the Army Transportation Corp, the American Legion, the Disabled American Veterans’ Association, the Association of the U. S. Army, the 24th Infantry Division Association, Friends of the Depot, Cookeville, Tennessee, and the Northbrook United Methodist Church, Roswell, Georgia. He additionally served on the Executive Board of the Historical Society of the Georgia National Guard, Inc. Colonel Hill was an accomplished historian and writer. He was a noted expert in military warfare and wrote numerous Civil War articles, which were published in a wide variety of periodicals.

He is survived by his wife of 63 years, Sue Warren Hill of Roswell, Georgia, two sons; James Randolph Hill of Memphis, Tennessee and Captain David B. Hill, U. S. Coast Guard (Ret.) and his wife, Dorothy S. Hill of Washington, D.C.; five grand children: Shannon, James Larkin, Morgan, James Austin (Jimmy) and Daniel (Danny) and 4 great grand children: Emma, Reilly, Daniella and Tucker.

Funeral services will be held for Colonel Hill Friday, November 1, 2013 at 10 o’clock in the morning at Northbrook United Methodist Church. Burial with full military honors will be at Georgia National Cemetery in Canton following the service. The family will receive friends Thursday evening from 6 until 8 o’clock at Roswell Funeral Home.