Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Early Life 

Private Archibald Jack Hill was born on the 18th of May 1899 in the city of Adelaide, South Australia. He grew up in Morchard, a small town located West of Orroroo in the state’s mid north. He lived there with his mother, Lucie Tucker, and his father, William Hill. He attended a school in Amyton, a town Northwest of Morchard and on leaving school he began working as a farm labourer in the local area.

Military Career 

Soon after his eighteenth birthday, Private Hill enlisted in the military to fight in the First World War. His date of enlistment was the 19th of August 1917 (18 years and 3 months old). Private Hill enlisted with the 27th Infantry Battalion with the service number 6913. After enlistment, Private Hill boarded embarked for service overseas on 30th October 1917 arriving at the English port of Devonport on 27 December 1917. Whilst in port he contracted mumps and confined to hospital. During his time spent in hospital, the 27th infantry battalion moved out, meaning that he had to be transferred to the 48th infantry battalion once discharged from hospital. After being newly transferred, his troop headed to Dover.  As the travel from Devonport to Dover involved travelling across the country, the 48th Battalion stopped at Sutton Veny along the way. While Private Hill was staying in Sutton Veny, he went absent without leave a day in Fovant, a small town near the area where the 48th Battalion was staying and was punished for this by losing two days of pay.  He was hospitalised again before departing for France.

After three weeks in and around Sutton Veny, the 48th battalion moved out to Dover headed for Calais, France. In Calais, the 48th battalion joined with an English Depot. Private Hill spent around a month in France with the 48th Battalion fighting along the French-Belgian fronts. 

Death 

On the third of May 1918, Private Hill moved to the trenches near Villers-Bretonneux with a small group of soldiers from the 48th Battalion led by Lieutenant Garland. During the time that the squad was there, the Germans were constantly bombarding the area. Private Hill moved into no man's land alongside Lieutenant Garland and sixteen other men. When they were around 50 yards from the trenches, they were struck by a 77mm German artillery shell. The rest of the men in the trench could not recover the bodies until August 12th, 1918, when they began to advance. Private Hill and the rest of the men that were killed were buried in an unmarked grave near the trenches that they were fighting at. One soldier left a rifle stuck in the ground with the names of all the men that had died inscribed on it. 

A quote from Private J. A. Burges reads: 

“I know that Jack Hill was killed on the 3rd of May. We went out of the trenches near Villers Bretonneux with a bombing raid under the command of lieutenant Garland. They were all blown to pieces by a shell when they were about 50 yards from the trench. Although they were so near, we could not get to where they were killed until August 12 when we began to advance. I was one of the parties left behind to bury him. Some of the bodies were unrecognisable. But I collected several parts of Jack Hill’s body. We had to do the job in a hurry to follow my company which was advancing so we buried the bodies in a shell hole and stuck up a rifle with an inscription attached with all the names we had recognised on it.” 

Lest we Forget