Walter Newell Hill

He led his Marines through two days at Veracruz

Walter Newell Hill was born in Haverhill, Massachusetts, on 29 September 1881. Educated at Noble and Greenough School and Harvard, he entered the Marine Corps as a second lieutenant in 1904. His career developed during a period when Marine detachments served both aboard warships and ashore at overseas stations. Early postings took him to the Caribbean, the Philippines and China, giving him experience well beyond the brief operation for which he became best known.

By April 1914, Hill was a captain commanding a company during the American occupation of Veracruz, Mexico. American forces entered the port on 21 April and continued fighting the next day. In this difficult urban operation, his responsibility was to lead his men forward while maintaining their organization and control under fire. The Medal of Honor citation recognized his conduct throughout both days, for his leadership.

It described him as "leading his men with skill and courage" and emphasized that he remained at the head of his company during the fighting. The citation was published in General Orders 177 of 4 December 1915, and is reproduced by the Congressional Medal of Honor Society (https://www.cmohs.org/recipients/walter-n-hill). Hill's recognition reflects sustained company leadership in battle, a role requiring him to expose himself while directing the movement of others.

Veracruz did not end his overseas service. Over a career spanning four decades, he served in the West Indies, the Philippines, China and France during the First World War. In December 1918 he was assigned to the First Provisional Brigade in Haiti, where he remained into 1921. His Haitian service earned American campaign and expeditionary recognition as well as Haiti’s Médaille militaire.

He remained continuously on active duty until 1938. Recalled during the Second World War in 1942, he returned to duties at Marine Corps Headquarters involving the Naval Examining Board. He retired again in 1945, having reached brigadier general. He died at St Albans Naval Hospital in New York on 29 June 1955 and was buried at Arlington National Cemetery. His life therefore extended from the small overseas detachments of the early twentieth-century Marine Corps to senior service during another global war.