This Military Service Page was created/owned by
SPC Steven Ryan (LoneWolf)
to remember
Hill, David, L. (Tex) (DSC,SS,DFC), COL.
If you knew or served with this Soldier and have additional information or photos to support this Page, please leave a message for the Page Administrator(s) HERE.
Contact Info
Home Town Texas
Last Address Kwangju
Date of Passing Oct 11, 2007
Location of Interment Fort Sam Houston National Cemetery (VA) - San Antonio, Texas
David Lee "Tex" Hill was a fighter pilot and flying ace in World War II, with later service in Korea. Before WWII he served in the United States Navy, and during WWII he saw combat with the famed "Flying Tigers." After the deactivation of the Flying Tigers in July 1942, Hill was one of only five Flying Tigers to join the US Army Air Forces. He was promoted to major in the Army Air Corps, and activated the 75th Fighter Squadron and was later to command the 23rd Fighter Group as a Colonel.
It is believed that he was the first to down a Zero with a P-51. Altogether, Hill destroyed 18.25 enemy aircraft. The .25 kill comes from an assist; he and 3 other pilots worked together to shoot down a Nate.
Recruited from the U.S. Navy into the AVG. Traveled to the Far East on the M/V Bloemfontein and was a member of the "Bloom Gang". Flight leader and later Squadron Leader of the 2nd Pursuit Sqdn "Panda Bears". Tex was credited with 12 1/4 enemy aircraft destroyed while flying with the Flying Tigers. Following the 4 July 1942 disbandment of the AVG, Tex commanded the Tiger Sharks of the 75th Fighter Squadron, 23rd Fighter Group, CATF. His call sign was "Shark One". Later, when he returned from assignments stateside, Tex commanded the 23rd Fighter Group of the 14th Air Force. Adding 6 more aerial victories, his WWII total stands at 18.25, making Tex a triple ace. He served for many years on the Board of Directors of the AVG Flying Tigers Association.
WWII - Asiatic-Pacific Theater
From Month/Year
December / 1941
To Month/Year
September / 1945
Description The plan of the Pacific subseries was determined by the geography, strategy, and the military organization of a theater largely oceanic. Two independent, coordinate commands, one in the Southwest Pacific under General of the Army Douglas MacArthur and the other in the Central, South, and North Pacific (Pacific Ocean Areas) under Fleet Admiral Chester W. Nimitz, were created early in the war. Except in the South and Southwest Pacific, each conducted its own operations with its own ground, air, and naval forces in widely separated areas. These operations required at first only a relatively small number of troops whose efforts often yielded strategic gains which cannot be measured by the size of the forces involved. Indeed, the nature of the objectivesùsmall islands, coral atolls, and jungle-bound harbors and airstrips, made the employment of large ground forces impossible and highlighted the importance of air and naval operations. Thus, until 1945, the war in the Pacific progressed by a double series of amphibious operations each of which fitted into a strategic pattern developed in Washington.
21 Named Campaigns were recognized in the Asiatic Pacific Theater with Battle Streamers and Asiatic Pacific Campaign Medals.
