James J. Hill was born in September 1920 in Chicago's [Annotator's Note: Chicago, Illinois] north side. He grew up in a good neighborhood there. He now lives in Skokie [Annotator's Note: Skokie, Illinois]. Times were different when he was young. Things were more innocent without the violence of today. He enjoyed athletics including softball. He had no problems even though the Great Depression [Annotator's Note: The Great Depression, a global economic depression that lasted from 1929 through 1945] was going on. His father had a job as a fur buyer and was good at his work. He received a good salary. There was always enough to eat and clothes on their backs. Hill attended public school and never got into big trouble. After graduation, he transferred to Wright Junior College [Annotator's Note: now Wilbur Wright College in Chicago, Illinois]. After graduation from the two-year college, he wanted to do something exciting. While walking on the street one day, he spotted a very good friend from high school who was dressed in Marine blues [Annotator's Note: the dress uniform for the Marine Corps]. Hill was impressed with the look and the more he spoke with his friend, the more he decided he wanted to join the Marines. When he went to enlist in the Marines, he did what he had to do to qualify. Hill tried to follow the path that his good friend had taken. After passing the physical, he was sent to New Orleans [Annotator's Note: New Orleans, Louisiana] to sign up. If Peterson [Annotator's Note: name of his friend; phonetic spelling; unable to verify identity] could become a Marine, Hill felt he could too.

James J. Hill took all the Marine courses with no problem [Annotator's Note: during Marine Corps boot camp in late 1941]. He became a Marine and almost immediately the country was at war. He had not planned on that happening. He stayed in the Marine Corps and unusual things happened. He was tasked with late night guard duty and thought that was for the birds. He was then ordered to join a Marine squadron as a second lieutenant. He was a part of a group of 28 Marines shipped overseas. They thought they would be assigned to different Marine squadrons but instead were kept together as a new fighter squadron. They trained together and were assigned to Pappy Boyington [Annotator's Note: later US Marine Corps Colonel Gregory "Pappy" Boyington] who was one of the 28 flyers in the group. They were told that they would fly the new Corsairs [Annotator's Note: Vought F4U Corsair fighter aircraft]. Hill had reached the point where he could fly anything. There was little training prior to entry into combat. The squadron got into all sorts of problems, but they were gung-ho. They shot down a lot of planes and were shot up also. It was a dream come true the way they started. Hill had received his flight training in Pensacola [Annotator's Note: Naval Air Station Pensacola in Pensacola, Florida]. He flew open cockpit SNJs [Annotator's Note: North American Navy SNJ, known in the Army as the AT-6, Texan advanced trainer aircraft]. Hill received good training and then went overseas to form up.

James J. Hill had Pappy Boyington [Annotator's Note: later US Marine Corps Colonel Gregory "Pappy" Boyington] as his squadron leader. Hill would follow him anywhere. Boyington was proud to have his own squadron [Annotator's Note: Marine Fighting Squadron 214 (VMF-214)]. After a few flights in the Corsair [Annotator's Note: Vought F4U Corsair fighter aircraft], the squadron found itself in combat. Boyington was the man needed for the time. He was also justified for his title as a party boy. There was no better CO [Annotator's Note: commanding officer] in combat. There was no better man to lead the squadron with its top plane, the Corsair. Some odd things happened out there. A good fighter pilot named Anderson [Annotator's Note: US Marine Corps Second Lieutenant Robert Anderson] attacked a friendly ship even after Hill had followed orders and held his fire during the dive on the vessel. The ship in turn fired on Anderson and shot him down. Hill does not understand why the flyer fired his .50 caliber machine guns [Annotator's Note: Browning ANM2 .50 caliber machine guns] on the friendly PT-Boat [Annotator's Note: patrol torpedo boat] and consequently killed several sailors before he was shot down by the boat. Odd things happened to some of the best pilots. Missions were not easy. Dog fights required maneuvering to get a shot at an enemy plane. The squadron escorted large bombers on some missions. They would fly cover over the bombers. The Corsairs would sometimes strafe enemy positions. Back at base, at night there would be harassing enemy flights overhead where a foxhole looked pretty good. Hill had to land on an airstrip behind enemy lines where there was room only for him. He had to pull his .45 [Annotator's Note: .45 caliber M1911 semi-automatic pistol] when he was disturbed late at night. It was only the wind. It could be tough getting sleep sometimes.

James J. Hill flew the F4F Wildcat [Annotator's Note: Grumman F4F Wildcat fighter aircraft] which was the best, until he received word that he would be flying a Corsair [Annotator's Note: Vought F4U Corsair fighter aircraft]. His was one of the first squadrons [Annotator's Note: Marine Fighting Squadron 214 (VMF-214)] to get the new fighters. They flew a couple practice missions to get used to the plane. It was easy to fly. Quickly, they were in combat. The plane was big and had more power. There were not many things it could not do. It was a wonderful plane. It was different from the Zero [Annotator's Note: Japanese Mitsubishi A6M fighter aircraft, referred to as the Zeke or Zero] but had a similar firing capability. Flying the Corsair was enjoyable. The squadron had to adjust to the new plane quickly because it was war. The squadron was made up of divisions of four planes each. Some men did not last long. Hill flew with an older, more experienced flyer who was shot down. The names of the flyers are hard to remember. [Annotator's Note: The shooting down of US Marine Corps Captain Robert T. Ewing of Marine Fighting Squadron 214 (VMF-214) is mentioned by the interviewer but Hill cannot recall the details.]

James J. Hill lived through one tough experience. It was the mission that Pappy was shot down [Annotator’s Note: later US Marine Corps Colonel Gregory “Pappy” Boyington] was shot down. Hill was leading a section of four [Annotator’s Note: Vought F4U Corsair fighters from Marine Fighting Squadron 214 (VMF-214)] within the second division flying on Pappy's wing. Approaching the dug-in Japanese, a fight was anticipated. Hill discovered his guns were not working nor was a wheel functioning properly. He could not do anybody any good, so he turned his section lead over to his wingman and returned to base. He hated to leave his formation. His next discovery was that the Corsair's compass was defective. Hill was going to get lost and have to bail out or ditch in the sea. As his fuel was running out, he decided to bail out when a Corsair flew in front of him. It was his wingman who could tell that Hill was lost. Pappy was shot down on that mission as was his wingman [Annotator's Note: US Marine Corps Captain George Malcom Ashmun]. Hill would have been the third downed pilot had he not turned back to base. Instead, Hill's wingman led him back home. He found out that Boyington had been lost on the mission. Shortly thereafter, VMF-214 was pulled back and given a rest.

James J. Hill was with 12 others [Annotator's Note: of Marine Fighting Squadron 214 (VMF-214)] over Rabaul [Annotator's Note: Rabaul, New Britain, Papua New Guinea] when he had his confirmed kill [Annotator's Note: 18 October 1943]. The Japanese were taking off from their airfield and made it easy to be attacked. The Americans peeled off and dove on the enemy. Hill fired on one plane until it broke apart and turned over and crashed. The Japanese had no cover overhead on that morning like they normally would have. [Annotator's Note: Some off camera discussion ensues about Hill's first mission but no details were confirmed.]

James J. Hill enjoyed the swimming opportunities near his base when not in action. There were ideal conditions for it. Once, he swam over a large fish that looked like a shark but it did not attack him. Hill and his mates also played a lot of cards. He was close to Chris Magee [Annotator's Note: US Marine Corps Captain Christopher Lyman Magee] who was a good pilot. Bob McClurg [Annotator's Note: US Marine Corps First Lieutenant Robert Wesley McClurg] was a buddy too. Hill got close to quite a few of the pilots. Pappy [Annotator's Note: later US Marine Corps Colonel Gregory "Pappy" Boyington] liked to wrestle when not in combat. Boyington was a great commanding officer during wartime. After VMF-214 broke up, Hill returned to the United States. [Annotator's Note: A voice off camera states that Hill returned for another combat tour on Midway Atoll.]

James J. Hill flew with VMF-211 [Annotator's Note: Marine Fighting Squadron 211 (VMF-211)] as the war ended. He learned that Pappy [Annotator's Note: later US Marine Corps Colonel Gregory "Pappy" Boyington] was a POW [Annotator's Note: prisoner of war]. There were Black Sheep [Annotator's Note: Black Sheep Squadron was the nickname of Marine Fighting Squadron 214 (VMF-214) that Hill had flown with first] reunions but Hill had to work. He was friends with Magee [Annotator's Note: US Marine Corps Captain Christopher Lyman Magee], McClurg [Annotator's Note: US Marine Corps First Lieutenant Robert Wesley McClurg] and Matt Matheson [Annotator's Note: later US Marine Corps Brigadier General Bruce J. "Matt" Matheson]. They would get together but Hill had to maintain his job. Hill went to some reunions but missed some due to work. Ed "Ollie" Olander [Annotator's Note: US Marine Corps Captain Edwin Lawrence "Ollie" Olander] was a nice, college boy. He had a lot of brains. Hank "Doc" Bourgeois [Annotator's Note: later US Marine Corps Lieutenant Colonel Henry "Hank" or "Doc" Bourgeois] was well known as a comedian. He was a good talker and frequented many reunions. Tom Emrich [Annotator's Note: later US Marine Corps Lieutenant Colonel W. Thomas Emrich] and Hill enjoyed airshows after the war. He got to know him better at that time. Emrich was a nice guy with a good sense of humor. He became a commercial pilot immediately after the war. The television show about the Black Sheep Squadron [Annotator's Note: "Baa Baa Black Sheep"; later syndicated as "Black Sheep Squadron"); American television series 23 September 1976 to 6 April 1978] was not very realistic even though it was a good show. After the war, Hill got his two-year college degree and went to work for a store in downtown Chicago [Annotator's Note: Chicago, Illinois]. Hill did stock work where his father had a good job making a lot of money. After a disagreement with management over promotion, he left the company and found another job. Hill was proud of his interesting days with the Black Sheep Squadron. He enjoyed his exciting time with them. He was with the right group of pilots at the right time. They got along well together and did a lot of flying together. It was different days and a great experience. The 28 pilots who formed a new squadron under Pappy Boyington flew under the ideal leader. He was the best CO [Annotator's Note: commanding officer] a pilot could ask for. He was like a father and his pilots were his sons. There were bad things said about Boyington and what he did as a civilian but Hill judges him based on what he did in time of war.