Wayne O. Hill was born in Spirit Lake, Idaho in August 1923. His father worked in a logging village as a railroad man. He graduated high school in 1941. His mother was a housewife. His father was unemployed for two years during the Depression [Annotator's Note: Great Depression; a global economic depression that lasted through the 1930s]. It was horrible during the Depression. It made him want to get into some sort of employment that would be secure. He was a mediocre student in school. They moved to Spokane, Washington because of the Depression. He had one older brother and one younger brother. By the time he was finishing high school, Hill’s father was doing much better financially. Hill was aware of what the Germans were doing. They kept track of what Hitler [Annotator's Note: German dictator Adolf Hitler] was doing. They read the newspapers and listened to the news on the radio. He was well aware of what was going on with the Japanese. They were selling scrap iron to go to Japan before they attacked. Hill remembers it was a Sunday when his friend came over and said the Japanese had attacked Pearl Harbor [Annotator's Note: the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on 7 December 1941]. Hill and his entire graduating class thought that they were going to go to war. The National Guard was offering high school students to serve. A lot of kids were doing this.

Wayne O. Hill thought it was his patriotic duty to go to war. He had to join the Army because of his eyesight. He learned how to deal with ordnance and became an ordnance expert. They boarded the Queen Elizabeth to head overseas. There were 20 thousand of them on board. There were ice chunks all over. They left out of New York Harbor. They had to be on alert for German submarines. They traveled in a zig-zag formation [Annotator's Note: a naval anti-submarine maneuver]. They landed in northern Scotland and boarded a troop train. They learned how to dismantle German bombs. The British were good at dismantling the bombs. They had to get rid of the bombs by detonating them. He was at the Aberdeen Proving Grounds [Annotator’s Note: Aberdeen, Maryland] for three months. They had to learn about the fuses inside the bombs. [Annotator’s Note: Hill discusses the insides of the bomb and explosives.] Hill finished his basic training and took a lot of tests.

When Wayne O. Hill was in Belgium, the people were starving. They tried to help them with the harvest. They went to see if they could open the harbors for safe travel. They were still in charge of dismantling bombs. They were strictly on military rations. The cities were badly damaged. They did not have living quarters. [Annotator’s Note: Hill describes how to stop the fuses from reacting.] They had some accidents. They had one corporal who died because the bomb fell on him as they were pulling it out of the hole. They were a small unit of 10 to 12 people. Their welfare was handled by the 8th Air Force. The napalm bombs were made of plywood. Strapping those into the airplanes was difficult.

Wayne O. Hill would come in after the first responders to remove bombs. [Annotator’s Note: Hill discusses a Smithsonian article about bomb fuses.] He did not have any close calls. He had close friends in his crew. He caught a ride on a B-17 [Annotator's Note: Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress heavy bomber] to go home. They flew from England to the mid-Atlantic and then on to the United States. He went to Washington for rest and recovery. The war in Europe was over, and they were going to prepare to go fight the Japanese. On his birthday in 1945, the Japanese surrendered. They were stuck on a train. Several days later, they celebrated. He was discharged in October 1945. He did not like the military that much. He went to college. They knew the war was winding down because of newspapers. He was in London [Annotator’s Note: London, England] on VE-Day [Annotator's Note: Victory in Europe Day, 8 May 1945] and the people's joy was outstanding. He used the G.I. Bill [Annotator's Note: the G.I. Bill, or Servicemen's Readjustment Act of 1944, was enacted by the United States Congress to aid United States veterans of World War 2 in transitioning back to civilian life and included financial aid for education, mortgages, business starts, and unemployment] to go to a prestigious university.

Wayne O. Hill remembers how important the G.I. Bill [Annotator's Note: the G.I. Bill, or Servicemen's Readjustment Act of 1944, was enacted by the United States Congress to aid United States veterans of World War 2 in transitioning back to civilian life and included financial aid for education, mortgages, business starts, and unemployment] was to them. The entire United States came together to help with the war effort. He went to school full-time all year. He graduated college in two years. He grew up fast during the war. They had warm relations with their band of brothers. Many of the men in his unit are dead now, much like from his high school graduating class.