b. 04/10/1895 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. d. 07/12/1941 Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.
DATE OF MOH ACTION: 07/12/1941 Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.
Edwin J Hill MOH
Chief Boatswain Edwin Joseph Hill was born on October 4, 1894 to Edwin J and Mary Hill in Philadelphia. In 1912, Hill enlisted into the US Navy. During the Pearl Harbor Attack, he was serving aboard the battleship USS Nevada. Nevada was the only battleship to attempt to make it’s way out of Pearl Harbor.
Hill led the ship’s line handling detail in casting off along side Ford Island so the ship could get underway. People reported he dove off Nevada to climb onto the dock to release the ship and swam back on to the ship. Hill was attempting to drop anchor at the end of the battleships brief when enemy bombs struck and killed him and 46 other Nevada men.
The surviving Nevada crewman credited Hill for saving their lives during the attack. Chief Boatswain Hill received the Medal of Honor for his heroism during the Pearl Harbor Attack. A few year later, the US Navy named a destroyer escort USS Hill in his honor.
He is buried in the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Honolulu, Hawaii.
MOH CITATION:
For distinguished conduct in the line of his profession, extraordinary courage, and disregard of his own safety during the attack on the Fleet in Pearl Harbor, by Japanese forces on 7 December 1941. During the height of the strafing and bombing, Chief Boatswain Hill led his men of the line-handling details of the U.S.S. Nevada to the quays, cast off the lines and swam back to his ship. Later, while on the forecastle, attempting to let go the anchors, he was blown overboard and killed by the explosion of several bombs.
BURIAL LOCATION: NATIONAL MEMORIAL CEMETERY OF THE PACIFIC, HONOLULU, HAWAII.
SECTION A, SITE 895.
LOCATION OF MEDAL: FAMILY.
