D. Clarke Evans Photographer

Floyd Hill

Private First Class, USMC
1942-1945

PFC Floyd Hill
Okinawa, 1945

They’re dropping mortar rounds on the beach and I remember this sergeant walking up and down yelling, ‘Get up off of your ass you sons of bitches! You want to live forever? We’ve got to move!

I was born in 1923 in Kennedy, Texas. I went to high school in Alice and graduated in 1940. Just before the war I was the chief usher at the Majestic Theater in San Antonio. In May, 1942 I decided to join the Marine Corps, but I was only nineteen. It took me six months to get my parents’ permission. I was sworn in on November 2, 1942.

At boot camp, the only trouble I had was that I couldn’t swim. Every night I had to take swimming lessons. I wasn’t afraid of the water; I just couldn’t swim. They finally gave up on me. I went into radio school. I volunteered for a new combat communication company called JASCO—Joint Assault Signal Company, and wound up on a naval gunfire team in the 2nd Battalion, 22nd Marines.

We were held as floating reserves at the attack of Kwajalein Island. We went to Enewetak Atoll to take Engebi. They had a seaplane base on it. We came out of the LSTs and Amtraks and formed our line to hit the beach. I’ve got that 38lb. radio, my pack, my M-1, my steel helmet… I didn’t want to jump in that water. I can’t swim. Fortunately, it wasn’t deep. We hit the beach and I’m lying there scared to death. They’re dropping mortar rounds on the beach and I remember this sergeant walking up and down yelling, “Get up off of your ass you sons of bitches! You want to live forever? We’ve got to move!” I guess my worst day would have been my first beachhead. Later on, you know what to expect.

We took Parry Island  in February, 1944. They took the M-1 away from the radio operators and gave us carbines. On Parry Island a Jap was charging me with a spear. I qualified as an expert with my rifle. I swear I hit him every time I fired and he didn’t slow down. The M-1 guy next to me leans over, and with one round blows him away. As soon as I could, I threw that carbine away and found me an M-1.

We were the first provisional Marine brigade and the third Marine division to assault Guam in July, 1944. I had some narrow escapes, mostly from mortars. I got my purple heart from a mortar shell hitting me on Okinawa. I bled and they had to dress it, so I got written up. They were trying to knock out my radio with mortar shells and I was standing up. I bent over to tune my radio and we had an air burst and the lead detonator came whizzing through right where my head had been.

We were on Guam in the summer of ’45 training to make a beachhead in Japan when we heard the war was over. The next morning we learned Nimitz had ordered the 4th Marine regiment to be the first American troops in Japan. Some of us were chosen to go with them. We landed in Tokyo Bay and accepted the surrender of that battleship before the surrender was signed.

I was in the Pacific 28 months. I got out of the Marines December 26, 1945. My rank was PFC and they would have made me a corporal if I had stayed in. I came back to San Antonio and my job was waiting for me at the Majestic Theater. I had that job seven years. I left and went to work for Handy Andy from 1951 to 1981. I got married to Ethel May Harmon in 1960. We were married 53 years. I still miss her.
{01-09-2019 • San Antonio, TX}