Hill, George

SOLDIER DETAILS:

Hill, George
Private 15th Battalion 46585
September 26, 1916
Vimy Memorial, Vimy, France
Husband of Naomi Hill of Milton
Maple Leaf Legacy Project

Victoria Park Cenotaph
R. Laughton

Book of Remembrance
Parliament Buildings Ottawa

Vimy Ridge Memorial Commonwealth War Graves

Private Hill is remembered on the memorial at Grace Anglican Church and the Victoria Park Cenotaph in Milton ON.

Private Hill, like many soldiers of the Great War, has no known burial place. His name is instead subscribed on the Vimy Memorial in France.

Milton Soldiers on the Vimy Ridge Memorial (Google Earth).

Other Links:

	CEFSG Matrix Unit Information - 15th Bn
	Library and Archives Canada - 15th Bn
	Library and Archives Canada- War Diary
	Nicholson Chapter VI, Map 6 and Sketch 29

SOLDIER SUMMARY:

Private George Hill left his wife Naomi and 4 young children to attest to the 37th Infantry Battalion at Niagara Camp on May 26, 1915.

On June 20, 1916 Private Hill was assigned his regimental service number 46585 and assigned to the 17th Infantry Battalion. He was subsequently taken-on-strength by the active 15th Battalion (1st Division, 3rd Infantry Brigade) on September 6, 1915 in France.

Private Hill did a stint with the Railway Construction Battalion from July to September 1916, prior to being killed in action on September 26, 1916.

The war diary of September 26, 1916 reports the 15th in the trenches near Zollern Graben, at Thiepval Ridge, west of Courcelette, France. During this period there was an intense battle to take Regina Trench (Nicholson pages 176, 177). Casualties were high, but less for the 15th Battalion than the other battalions.

It would appear that it was a good coordinated attack with artillery and men. The records suggest that the 15th Battalion had an easier job moving up through the open spaces not covered by the German machine guns in Hessian and Kenora trenches. Sketch 30 from Nicholson shows the precise location of the 15th and the area when Private Hill met his fate. Since he is memorialized at Vimy, we must assume his body was never recovered.

Nicholson Sketch 30
Thiepval Ridge

The soldier pages contain information that is available from a number of resources. The following hyperlinks are active where the information is available:

	Soldier Name: Veteran Affairs Canada, Canadian Virtual War Memorial
	Soldier Number: Library and Archives Canada, Attestation Papers
	Cemetery: Commonwealth War Graves Commission, Debt of Honour Register
	Remembrance: Maple Leaf Legacy Project, Remembrance of Canada's War Dead

The summary of the service is taken from the soldier's service records, if they were available from Library and Archives Canada. A complete copy of the service record is available in electronic and paper format in the Alex Cooke Memorial Archives at the Milton Historical Society. Using that summary, combined with the key references, a summary of the events leading up to the death of the soldier has been prepared. The research information available is as noted on the Canadian Expeditionary Force Study Group web site Matrix Project as well as in the Library and Archives Canada On-Line War Diaries.

A summary of all the soldiers is contained on the Web Blog "Great War Soldiers of Milton, Ontario CANADA". Please also be sure to purchase your own copy of "Milton Remembers World War I - The Men and Women We Never Knew" by John Challinor II and Jim Dills, edited by Ken Lamb.