Marvin Hill was born in November 1925 in Louisa County, Virginia, the only male child of six children. His father was farming in the country, but moved the family to Richmond, Virginia where he took a job as a grave digger. His mother, a homemaker, managed his father's meager income well and he doesn't remember being hungry during the Great Depression. All of Hill's schooling was local, and he was very interested in world affairs. He knew of the ongoing conflicts in Europe and the Far East but recognized that as yet the United States was only involved to the point of Lend-Lease and the supply of materials and munitions. He was in a soda shop on the Sunday afternoon that the news broke of the Pearl Harbor attack, and he was anxious to sign up. After much reluctance on the part of his parents, and much urging on his part, he was eventually permitted to enlist, underage, in 1943. Hill didn't like the Army way of life as he had seen it portrayed, and decided to join the Navy. After the war he married a girl from his old neighborhood; it was a 39-year relationship that only ended when she died in 2012. The couple was childless. When asked about his Navy experiences, Hill never said much, and avoided talking about the things that were too grisly, but he clearly remembers cleaning up after Kamikaze attacks and seeing body parts strewn about. He chuckles as he recalls that they Navy would feed the sailors bologna sandwiches during these missions.

Marvin Hill went to the Parcel Post building in Richmond to enlist, and underwent a physical. He was rejected, and told to return after a week of abstinence from soda pops. Hill's second attempt was successful. He went to Maryland for boot camp where they taught the inductees to swim, interpret signals, and tie knots for seven and a half weeks. Hill waited in an outgoing unit while a new destroyer [Annotator's Note: the USS Harry E. Hubbard (DD-748)] was completed and commissioned, and served on that ship from June 1944 until his Navy career ended on 12 December 1945. Hill went to radar training in Honolulu where he learned how to read a radar screen, and differentiate between enemy and friendly craft. Hill then shipped out into the Pacific where their assignment was to assist two destroyers working Okinawa's radar picket stations. The day Hill's ship arrived, the destroyers had shot down 28 enemy aircraft, and Hill's ship proceeded to down three more. The ship was later credited with another one and a half kills, the Combat Air Patrol taking the other half credit. The encounters with Kamikazes were scary, mostly because of the way the Japanese carried out their attacks in pairs, one feinting attack from the front, the other attacking from the rear. Hill distinctly remembers seeing the face of one Kamikaze pilot as he splashed into the water.

When the war ended, Marvin Hill was still serving in the Pacific, and was sent first to Darian, Manchuria to assist in the recovery of American prisoners. While there, his ship was host to the victims of an explosion who were brought aboard for medical care. In Pusan, Hill did some policing of the thousands of Japanese prisoners who were sitting on the dock, waiting for transportation home. Hill hated the Japanese at the time, because they had killed some of his friends on other ships. In his opinion they were crazy, and his reaction to their tactics was to raise his guard. Fortunately, there were no casualties on his ship. After Korea, the ship ran mail service, and Hill had liberty in Shanghai for a day. He had his first rickshaw ride, and though he found it an interesting place, he also thought Shanghai scary, slummy and riddled with crime. He had heard of the rape of Nanking on the radio, and believed the accusations to be true. [Annotator's Note: The Nanking Massacre or Rape of Nanking, which was preceded by a tough battle at Shanghai during the summer of 1937, was an episode of mass rape and murder committed by the Japanese Imperial Army against the residents of the then capital of China during the Second Sino-Japanese War of 1937 to 1938.] He also recalled going ashore once in Okinawa, but not on leave. He helped with a mail run and was appalled by the destruction. There were Japanese dead in the tunnels and caves, and the whole place had a very unpleasant odor. From the ship, the sailors could watch the natives commit suicide by jumping off the cliffs.

Marvin Hill had a famous bandleader aboard his ship [Annotator's Note: the USS Harry E. Hubbard (DD-748)]. Eddie Duchin was a great pianist who had an orchestra in New York. Hill, whose duties as a radio operator included bringing messages to the officers and guests, found Duchin less than receptive, and did not like him. Recalling a typical day aboard ship, Hill said he worked four-hour shifts in the radio shack, except in combat, when his job was to load shells into one of the ship's eight 40mm antiaircraft guns. The ship had a doctor on board, which was handy because Hill often suffered from seasickness, especially during the two typhoons he experienced while serving on his small ship in the rough seas of the Pacific. At one time, it was another ship that needed remedial attention; Hill's ship had to tow the Hadley [Annotator's Note: USS Hugh W. Hadley (DD-774)] back into a recovery area. Hill was in Okinawa Harbor when he heard about the atomic bomb. He was amazed at the damage one bomb could do, and felt terrible for the many who were killed in a flash, but he was elated that the war was going to soon be over. He recalled that all the ships in harbor started firing their guns into the air. Hill went inside because he didn't want to be killed by friendly fire right after the war was over. Hill had enough points for discharge, and was taken by another ship, the Conner [Annotator's Note: USS Conner (DD-582)], out of Tsingtau, China to San Francisco. He then went by train to Little Creek Naval Amphibious Base for discharge. Hill was issued a 100 dollar bill, and sent on his way. He was sick of being sea sick, and sick of Navy life. Hill thumbed a ride back to home.

Marvin Hill can recall many anecdotes from his military career, ranging from boot camp to discharge. He had no difficulty adjusting to civilian life after the war, and sometimes talks with his friends about his days in the service. Hill feels that the Navy gave him opportunities to travel that he would not have otherwise had. His most memorable experiences of World War 2 were shooting down Kamikazes, being seasick, and being on a ship with 330 other guys for many months. His reasons for enlisting were twofold: peer pressure and a desire to do his duty. Hill feels that more recently veterans are getting more attention, and knows that World War 2 was a sad experience for many whose loved ones perished. He comments that museums like The National WWII Museum are important in keeping memories alive, and can be useful in explaining to future generations how America was involved in helping other nations in Europe, and how we defended ourselves against Japan. He glowingly recounts the grandeur of the many Navy ships that are now in museum status.