Corporal Archie Eugene Hill / United States Army

“He was in his 40s when I was born and none of us kids thought to talk to him of his years in the war. It wasn’t something families talked about during Sunday dinners,” said daughter Beverly Hill of her father. This is not surprising as many WWII vets talked little about their service in their later years. But if there was ever a family that epitomized a slice of mid-century Americana, the Hill family was it.

As a child growing up in Nashua, Hill grew up on what his daughter, Beverly, described as “…the back side of Holman Stadium, before it was a stadium.” This was 39 Amherst St. The back yard faced the old Artillery Field, that would become Holman Stadium in 1937; and the front faced Amherst St. When he enlisted in the US Army on June 6, 1944, along with 10 other young men from the Nashua area, his address was 66 Amherst St. in Nashua, NH, on the “front” side of the stadium. Interestingly enough, he enlisted on D Day, America’s march through France that started in Normandy on that very morning. It marked the beginning of the end of the war in the European Theater.

His records show that he spent four months as a Private and a basic infantry man. He spent 12 months as a Private First Class rifleman and another four months as a Corporal. For 10 months he served with Company E, 363rd Infantry Regiment in the E.T.O (European Theater of Operations) and was part of a rifle squad of 11 men.

Hill’s discharge papers also states that he served with the British 8th Army in the Po Valley in Italy. The Po Valley is located in northern Italy, extending from the Western Alps to the Adriatic Sea. In this capacity he was the assistant to the automatic rifleman in the squad. This probably indicates that he carried and helped feed ammunition into the gun.

The Battle of the Po Valley in World War II was fought in Italy from February 1945 to May 1945, and was part of the final Allied offensive in Italy. Allied forces pushed across the Po River Valley on 5 April 1945 and made rapid advances which ended with the surrender of the German forces in Italy on 2 May 1945.

Perhaps in anticipation of the assault on the Po Valley, Hill and probably other soldiers from his group were training with a bazooka. In a letter to his wife, Ann, dated January 25, 1945, Hill wrote, “We just came in from firing the bazooka gun. I pretty damn near hit the target too.”

Hill apparently was somewhat of a religious man. In the same letter he wrote, “Your sister sent me a Catholic medal and asked me to wear it as a favor to her. I have it on now and intend to keep it on until I get home.”

At some point, Hill had some time off in Venice. Italy. In a letter home, he noted that he took a ride in a gondola, but the canals “really smelled.” He also noted that there were a lot of souvenir type things for sale, but the “prices were rather high.”

During his service, Hill received a Commendation. It reads:

For heroic achievement on the field of battle.
In a sustained drive unsurpassed in modern warfare, the 91st Infantry Division in eighteen days breached the defenses before Bologna, destroyed the enemy in the Po Valley, and forced the surrender of his beaten, demoralized and disorganized troops in the Alps.

He was also awarded the Combat Infantry badge, infantry sharp shooter badge, the Army Commendation Medal and two good conduct ribbons. The Army Commendation Medal is awarded to any member of the Armed Forces of the United States other than General Officers who, while serving in any capacity with the Army after 6 December 1941, distinguished himself by heroism, meritorious achievement or meritorious service.

Corporal Hill was given an Honorable Discharge from his military service on March 3, 1946, mustering out at Fort Devens in Ayer, MA., the same place he started from in 1944.

After the war, according to his daughter, Beverly Hill, he worked at Nashua Manufacturing and then worked at IMPCO as a welder until he retired.

As a young man, Hill married Antosa Milenavich. They eventually moved from 66 Amherst St. to 7 Farley St. and raised five children, Bill, Diane, Dick, Sue and Beverly. In a Nashua Telegraph article by staff writer, Dom Himsel, dated March 3, 2015, Hill’s daughter Sue was quoted as saying, “We lived at the stadium… all of us. His kids were his priority.” She remembered him bringing them to the pool in the summer, playing in the water fountain, and her father pushing them on the merry-go-round. Sue continued, “Everybody knew everybody. There were no fences. Every night we’d play out in the yards.”

Daughter Sue continued about her father, “He really was an incredible guy. He would snow-blow everybody’s driveway, even when he was 80-something years old.” Hill was a very patriotic man. So every year, for Father’s Day, daughter Sue would buy him a new American flag. He would always fly it proudly.

Archie and Ann were married for 72 years. He died on April 10, 2011, only five weeks after Ann passed away.

Thanks to Archie Hill’s daughter, Beverly Hill for this information

US Service Personnel Profiles
By Gary Ledoux February 14, 2025