On April 8th, 1942, USMC Private Donald Wayne Hill, 21, of Elmhurst, Illinois; beloved son of Clarence & Laura Hill; assigned to Fleet Marine Force Pacific (FMFPac) aboard the Northampton-class cruiser USS HOUSTON (CA-30), perished in Japanese captivity.
Pvt. Hill had participated in the battles of Makassar Strait and Sunda Strait; when the HOUSTON sank in the latter engagement, Hill managed to survive but was captured by Japanese forces.
Sailors and Marines from the HOUSTON were held in a movie theater in Serang, Java, under dangerously unsanitary conditions. Diseases began to run rampant among them, exacerbated by malnutrition. Vitamin deficiency had especially painful consequences, leading to agonizing skin conditions, organ failure, and ultimately death. Due to contaminated drinking water Private Hill contracted amoebic dysentery and lacked the physical strength and will to fight.
Delirious toward the end, he could not stop mumbling, over and over again, "This is not the way my mother made bread". Private Hill was carried out of the movie theater and layed in the sunshine in the courtyard where he died on April 8th, 1942.
Donald Hill was reportedly buried in the Serang Cemetery, but the precise location is unknown. Post-war investigations failed to find his remains, but this young Marine has more than earned the right to return home to family and friends, to be buried in American soil with full military honors.
Today, USMC Pvt. Donald W. Hill is memorialized on Walls of the Missing at Manila American Cemetery and Memorial in the Philippines. HE IS NOT FORGOTTEN.
He is one out of nearly three thousand Marines still missing from the Second World War. FREEDOM IS NEVER FREE.
Contributor: Don Knighten (49898444)
Pvt. Hill had participated in the battles of Makassar Strait and Sunda Strait; when the HOUSTON sank in the latter engagement, Hill managed to survive but was captured by Japanese forces.
Sailors and Marines from the HOUSTON were held in a movie theater in Serang, Java, under dangerously unsanitary conditions. Diseases began to run rampant among them, exacerbated by malnutrition. Vitamin deficiency had especially painful consequences, leading to agonizing skin conditions, organ failure, and ultimately death. Due to contaminated drinking water Private Hill contracted amoebic dysentery and lacked the physical strength and will to fight.
Delirious toward the end, he could not stop mumbling, over and over again, "This is not the way my mother made bread". Private Hill was carried out of the movie theater and layed in the sunshine in the courtyard where he died on April 8th, 1942.
Donald Hill was reportedly buried in the Serang Cemetery, but the precise location is unknown. Post-war investigations failed to find his remains, but this young Marine has more than earned the right to return home to family and friends, to be buried in American soil with full military honors.
Today, USMC Pvt. Donald W. Hill is memorialized on Walls of the Missing at Manila American Cemetery and Memorial in the Philippines. HE IS NOT FORGOTTEN.
He is one out of nearly three thousand Marines still missing from the Second World War. FREEDOM IS NEVER FREE.
Contributor: Don Knighten (49898444)
On April 8th, 1942, USMC Private Donald Wayne Hill, 21, of Elmhurst, Illinois; beloved son of Clarence & Laura Hill; assigned to Fleet Marine Force Pacific (FMFPac) aboard the Northampton-class cruiser USS HOUSTON (CA-30), perished in Japanese captivity.
Pvt. Hill had participated in the battles of Makassar Strait and Sunda Strait; when the HOUSTON sank in the latter engagement, Hill managed to survive but was captured by Japanese forces.
Sailors and Marines from the HOUSTON were held in a movie theater in Serang, Java, under dangerously unsanitary conditions. Diseases began to run rampant among them, exacerbated by malnutrition. Vitamin deficiency had especially painful consequences, leading to agonizing skin conditions, organ failure, and ultimately death. Due to contaminated drinking water Private Hill contracted amoebic dysentery and lacked the physical strength and will to fight.
Delirious toward the end, he could not stop mumbling, over and over again, "This is not the way my mother made bread". Private Hill was carried out of the movie theater and layed in the sunshine in the courtyard where he died on April 8th, 1942.
Donald Hill was reportedly buried in the Serang Cemetery, but the precise location is unknown. Post-war investigations failed to find his remains, but this young Marine has more than earned the right to return home to family and friends, to be buried in American soil with full military honors.
Today, USMC Pvt. Donald W. Hill is memorialized on Walls of the Missing at Manila American Cemetery and Memorial in the Philippines. HE IS NOT FORGOTTEN.
He is one out of nearly three thousand Marines still missing from the Second World War. FREEDOM IS NEVER FREE.
Contributor: Don Knighten (49898444)
Pvt. Hill had participated in the battles of Makassar Strait and Sunda Strait; when the HOUSTON sank in the latter engagement, Hill managed to survive but was captured by Japanese forces.
Sailors and Marines from the HOUSTON were held in a movie theater in Serang, Java, under dangerously unsanitary conditions. Diseases began to run rampant among them, exacerbated by malnutrition. Vitamin deficiency had especially painful consequences, leading to agonizing skin conditions, organ failure, and ultimately death. Due to contaminated drinking water Private Hill contracted amoebic dysentery and lacked the physical strength and will to fight.
Delirious toward the end, he could not stop mumbling, over and over again, "This is not the way my mother made bread". Private Hill was carried out of the movie theater and layed in the sunshine in the courtyard where he died on April 8th, 1942.
Donald Hill was reportedly buried in the Serang Cemetery, but the precise location is unknown. Post-war investigations failed to find his remains, but this young Marine has more than earned the right to return home to family and friends, to be buried in American soil with full military honors.
Today, USMC Pvt. Donald W. Hill is memorialized on Walls of the Missing at Manila American Cemetery and Memorial in the Philippines. HE IS NOT FORGOTTEN.
He is one out of nearly three thousand Marines still missing from the Second World War. FREEDOM IS NEVER FREE.
Contributor: Don Knighten (49898444)
Gravesite Details
Entered the service from Illinois.
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