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| Sgt. Oren Hill was a sergeant in the 3rd Marine Division during the Battle of Guam. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/14063915/oren-ralph-hill https://warfarehistorynetwork.com/daily/wwii/liberating-guam/ |
Oren Ralph Hill never had a chance to reach 100 years old today. Instead, he sacrificed his life for our freedom.
He was born on May 3, 1919 in Walker, Oklahoma. His parents William and Kate were born in Texas and Tennessee, respectively. His father worked as a farmer. He later worked as a draying laborer in Texas. Oren had four older brothers, two younger sisters, and a younger brother. By 1940 Oren had completed four years of high school and worked as a clerk while living with his parents.
He enlisted in the US Marine Corps on September 10, 1940. He was first sent to Iceland where he was stationed for nine months. He reached the rank of platoon sergeant in the Headquarter's Company, 1st Battalion, 21st Marine Regiment, 3rd Marine Division.
The 3rd Marine Division was sent to the Pacific in January 1943. By June it was training on Guadalcanal for the Battle of Bougainville, which happened by the end of 1943. It next prepared to recapture the island of Guam.
Sgt. Oren landed on Guam on D-Day, July 21, 1944. He was wounded in action and died that day. It may have been in the process of the contested landing, or maybe during the night when the Japanese infiltrated through the American lines. Over the next 21 day of the battle, the Americans would lose 3,000 men killed in action. Japanese loses were six times as many.
His grave is at Ridgeview West Memorial Park in Frisco, Texas.
Last year on this date I profiled Silver Star hero and medic Maurice Nies who served with the 28th Infantry Division in the Hurtgen Forest. You can read about Maurice here.
On behalf of the fallen, if you would like to see more people become aware of this project to honor the WW2 fallen, be sure to share with others on Twitter, Facebook, etc. Thanks for your interest!
I created this video to explain why I started this project: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vXt8QA481lY.
Please consider joining the public Facebook group to increase the exposure of this project. Go to: WW2 Fallen 100
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