Eugene J. Hill Jr.

Private First Class

C Company
1st Battalion
52nd Infantry Regiment
198th Light Infantry Brigade

Entered the Service from: New Jersey
Born: May 18, 1948
Died: August 23, 1968

Awards: Bronze Star, Purple Heart

Panel 47W, Line 443
Vietnam Veterans Memorial

Private First Class Eugene John Hill Jr., who was known as Genie by his family and friends, was born on May 18, 1948. He was an outgoing boy and enjoyed spending his summers with his aunt and uncle, Dolly and Ron McCloskey and seven cousins. He made friends wherever he went and had good friends in both Philadelphia, PA and at home in Blackwood, NJ. He attended St. Francis De Sales Grammar School in Runnemede, NJ. While there, he lived with Aunt Dolly and Uncle Ron.

Gene spent some of his happiest days at Triton High School. His love of sports won him double letters in football and track. He held two track records, one, the half-mile, went undefeated for years. Gene graduated in June 1967.

After graduating, Gene lived with his mother and worked as a linesman trainee for the Philadelphia Electric Company. After working there for seven months, he left Blackwood, NJ, and enlisted in the US Army, much to his family’s dismay.

Gene was sent to Fort Dix in February 1968, for Basic Training. He managed to earn weekend passes and was able to get home every weekend.

When Gene completed his Basic Training, he was sent to Fort Gordon, GA. After training there, he had a 30-day leave and was home for the month of July. He was asked to go to Non-Commissioned Officers training, but for some reason turned it down. It could have been that some of his friends did not make it, and he did not want to leave them. He attained the rank of Private First Class.

On August 4, 1968, Gene was sent to Vietnam to serve as a Rifleman. He was assigned to Company C of the 1st Battalion, 52nd Infantry, 198th Light Infantry Brigade. Gene was stationed at a base camp near Chu Lai. It was here that he was wounded when his base camp came under hostile mortar attack. Gene died at 3:00 A.M on August 23, 1968, at the age of 20. He had been in Vietnam only 24 days.

In Gene’s last letter to his Aunt Dolly, he told her that he was “in a safe area and not to worry.” However, in a letter sent to a priest friend, he told him that his camp was surrounded and that he had no regrets going to Vietnam. Gene was proud to serve his country and thought it was his duty to do so. He was awarded the Purple Heart and the Bronze Star.

Gene wanted to become a teacher. He would have been a great one, as he loved people and had a wonderful sense of humor. People loved to be around Gene, especially his cousins. He delighted in teasing and entertaining them. Gene was full of life and fun, and to this day is missed not only by his cousins, aunt, uncle, and mother, but by all who knew him.

He is memorialized on Panel 47W, Line 443 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C.

Never Forgotten

Gene and I ran track and chased girls together in high school. I too was in Nam and when I returned to find him missing I’ve never gotten over it. I miss him and I will never forget him.

Ron Joseph
Ellabell, GA
January 04, 2003

Hill grew up in Philadelphia but moved to an aunt’s home in Runnemede, New Jersey, when his parents divorced. In 1967, he graduated from Triton High School, where he won double letters in both football and track. He became a lineman for Philadelphia Electric Company before entering the Army in January 1968, but he talked about wanting to become a teacher when he returned home from the service. The private first class, a rifleman, was shipped to Vietnam in July 1968 and assigned to Company C of the 1st Battalion, 52nd Infantry, 198th Light Infantry Brigade. He was proud to serve in Vietnam and thought it was his duty to do so. Hill died on August 23, 1968, at the age of 20. Survivors included his parents. Eugene lived on South 47th Street, in West Philadelphia.

Jack Newell
December 05, 2003
Source: Philadelphia Daily News, October 26, 1987