ROLL OF HONOUR.

New Zealand Illustrated Sporting & Dramatic Review, Issue 1483, 26 September 1918, Page 14

ROLL OF HONOUR.

DEATH OF SECOND-lIEUTEHANT W. J. R. HILI*.

Sincere regret was expressed throughout Auckland and in other parts of of the Dominion when it became known that Second-Dieutenant W. J. R. Hill (whose portrait appears on our "Clubman” page), son of Mr. S. (“Sam.”) Hill, of Auckland, had died of wounds received in the recent fighting in France. The late "Billy” Hill, as he was popularly known in racing and athletic circles, was highly esteemed by a large number „of acquaintances, whom he had made in his capacity as an athletic, football and racing scribe on several leading papers of the Dominion,. and much sympathy is extended his relatives in the sad loss they have sustained through the paths of glory cutting short a career so full ot promise. The late Lieutenant Hill, who was 36 years of age at the time of his death, was born at Hillsborough, Egmont Road, Taranaki, and was educated at the Egmont Road School, Fitzroy, and later at the Central School, New Plymouth. Upon leaving school he joined the Post and Telegraph Department at New Plymouth, subsequently being employed by the New Plymouth Borough Council. He then migrated to Wellington, joining the Government Valuation Department, being later transferred to Christchurch by that branch of the service, eventually returning to Wellington in the same employ. Later he joined the literary staff of the “Wellington Post and after considerable service with that paper he took up the position of athletic, football and racing correspondent on the “New Zealand -Herald in Auckland, being employed as such when he forsook civilian life for that of a soldier. __ , The late Lieutenant Hill always took a keen interest in military matters, and when in New Plymouth was a member of the Taranaki Guards. He endeavoured to enlist for service in the Boer War, but was rejected at the time on account of his youth. Prior to the present war he was in a railway accident at Mercer, having a miraculous escape on that occasion, whilst he met with another mishap at Hastings, sustaining a broken collarbone. He was a member of the Advance Guard of the New Zealand Expeditionary Forces which went to Samoa, and upon his return to the Dominion left for active service with the Fifth Reinforcements. He served at Gallipoli, being wounded at Suvla Bay, being transferred to England on a hospital ship, later returning to Gallipoli, where he sustained serious injuries a,s the result of slipping while carrying boxes of ammunition, necessitating his removal to Aotea Hospital in Egypt, where he underwent an operation. He recovered sufficiently to proceed with the New Zealanders to France, and it was during the first memorable Battle of the Somme that he gained his sergeant’s stripes. He returned last year to the Dominion to take up a commission, subsequently leaving as a lieutenant in the Thirty-third Reinforcements, to which he was attached at the time of his death. Mr. “Sam.” Hill, :U :' r of deceased, has received many : ages of sympathy from al; Dominion at the loss of so t: a son. Another Aon. Lleukiiani Leslie Hill, well known as one <:f Taranaki’s crack Rugby footl.o Hers, being a member of the team wtik!. wrested the Ranfurly Shield from Auckland in 1913 at Alexandra Park, left New Zealand as a member of the Main Body. He was wounded at Gallipoli, but proceeded to France, returning later to New Zealand for his commission, subsequently leaving with the Twenty - eighth Reinforcements. The late Lieutenant - Hill comes of a famous fighting stock, being a, grandson of the late Mr. James Hill, of the 57th Regiment, known as the . “Die Hards.” '