PVT Robert G. Hilton
Today we honor and remember PVT Robert G. Hilton of the 101st Airborne Division.
Private (PVT) Robert Goodale Hilton of Baker Battery, 81st Airborne Anti-Aircraft Battalion (AAA), 101st Airborne Division, was born in Ogden, Weber County, Utah, to Lalovi M. and Sarah Jane (Goodale) Hilton on October 10, 1922. He had three brothers, Don K., Clifford, and Laurence M. Hilton, and four sisters, Janet, Lou J., Joanne, and Marney Hilton.
As Robert was about to graduate from Ogden High School in May of 1940, his mother Jennie (Sarah Jane’s daily name) tragically passed away, leaving behind her husband Lalovi and five children. Robert's father remarried in August 1941 to Mary Hodgson Hilton, adding her three children to the family: Clifford, Laurence, and Marney.
After graduating from high school, Robert attended Weber College for some time before entering the military. At 19 years old, Robert worked for the U.S. War Department at Hill Field in Ogden, Utah, while also attending Weber College.
Robert enlisted into the United States Army in Salt Lake City, on December 23, 1942. After completing basic training at Camp Wolters, Texas, in 1943, he was assigned to Baker Battery of the newly activated 81st Airborne Anti-Aircraft Battalion.
On September 5, 1943, the 81st AAA deployed overseas to England, sailing on HMS Samaria with several other units of the 101st Airborne Division. After they arrived in Liverpool, the battalion settled at Basildon Park near Reading, Berkshire, just west of London. Here they would train for the upcoming invasion of France.
On June 6, 1944, PVT Hilton and the other men of Able and Baker Battery of the 81st, took off from RAF Aldermaston, ten miles southwest of Berkshire, England, as part of Mission Chicago.
They were transported in a serial of 44 CG-4A Waco Gliders, towed by Dakota C-47’s of the 434th Troop Carrier Group. PVT Hilton was one of the 155 personnel to land in gliders in Mission Chicago and was part of one of the 16 anti-tank gun crews in the serial. Their intended release time was 0400 AM, on a landing zone (LZ E) between Sainte-Mère-Église and Sainte-Marie du-Mont.
PVT Hilton was the gunner in his four-man crew and he was responsible for sighting and firing the weapon. It’s most likely he rode sitting next to his 57mm British anti-tank weapon in the belly of the wooden Waco glider as it landed in a Norman field outside Hiesville, a little to the south of Sainte-Mère-Église, right before the land invasion began.
Robert and the men of Baker Battery fought through their time on the line in Normandy. One of their operations was during the attack on Carentan, in which the 81st AAA men protected the bridges near the town and were employed during the attack itself. After the fall of Carentan, they took up defensive positions in the area around the city.
On July 10, 1944, the men left their bivouac area by foot at 5:00 AM, arriving at Utah Beach two hours later. They boarded an LST-509 that brought them back to England. After arriving at Southampton the next day at 11:30 AM, they entrained for Newbury at noon. From Newburry they returned to Basildon Park by bus at around 2:00 PM.
On the morning of September 19, 1944 (D plus 2), the Baker Battery men of the 81st AAA began loading their gliders at 10:30 AM, and departed from Aldermaston Airfield an hour later. They were towed by Dakota C-47's across the English Channel once again.
Each anti-tank battery such as PVT Hilton's consisted of 23 Waco CG-4A Gliders in the serial. The weather was clear while taking off, but upon reaching The Channel over Dover a fog closed in, and the men reported not being able to see the tow plane from the glider.
The serial of gliders came in over Belgium and then turned north over the Netherlands, where the gliders carrying Baker Battery landed on a farm field outside of the town of Son, two days after the main airborne invasion on September 17th. They arrived around 3:00 PM with very little flak but encountered small arms fire about two minutes before arriving at their target area. This was followed by more small arms fire and artillery bursts hitting the LZ after they touched down.
Immediately after landing on LZ W, PVT Hilton and his battery assembled their guns, crews, and ammunition outside of Son, in the vicinity of the 101st Divisional HQ where General Maxwell Taylor, commanding officer (CO) of the 101st Division, was currently located with his staff.
Hours after the glider landing, divisional HQ personnel spotted a column of German armor approaching along the north side of the Wilhelmina Canal Dike, which was a narrow elevated road, only wide enough for a single file column of armor.
The column was led by either a Mark IV Panther or PZKW V Panther (sources vary), and it was commanded by Major Berndt-Joachim Freiherr von Maltzahn of Panzer Brigade 107. He had recognized the Allied soldiers from his command post and sent the tanks out, along with reinforcements of a panzer-grenadier infantry, to capture the bridge. The 101st Divisional HQ was located in a schoolhouse in Son, close to the Wilhemina Canal, with the German column of armor quickly in range and approaching their position.
The lead German tank fired an initial round into a British truck on the Son Bridge, sending soldiers jumping into the canal. It then fired another round at the schoolhouse building that housed the divisional HQ. It’s at this point General Taylor himself mobilized a jeep and drove to LZ W, where he came across PVT Hilton and his 57mm gun crew gearing up after the landing.
General Taylor assembled PVT Hilton, his gun crew, and the Baker Battery commanding officer, CPT Adolphe G. Gueymard, and they left the LZ together to stop the column of armor attempting to take the Son Bridge.
The time was now around 5:00 AM. General Taylor and CPT Gueymard instructed PVT Hilton and his crew to set up between the schoolhouse and armored column. On their first shot, the Americans successfully knocked out a German tank with their 57mm gun. The following tank in the column was then set aflame by bazooka squads of the paratroopers nearby. Having now lost their element of surprise, and finding themselves stuck on a one-lane road not wide enough to turn around on, the German armor column requested infantry backup, which was denied due to late timing in the day. They were stopped cold and forced to retreat with multiple lost tanks, leaving the Allies in control of the Son Bridge.
It is said that right there on the spot, General Taylor announced that PVT Hilton and the other Baker Battery men from his crew would receive the Bronze Star for Valor. PVT Hilton's selfless actions under fire were directly witnessed and recognized by his divisional CO and every officer in between.
The following day Baker Battery remained in their positions at Son, providing key security for battalion and division command posts. They were credited with destroying one armored car and one half track in another enemy attack.
PVT Hilton and his battery were then attached to the 501st PIR on September 22, 1944, and moved into the town of Veghel, a few kilometers north of Son. Within minutes of arriving, the 81st AAA found themselves in the middle of their next oncoming armored attack, which they again successfully repulsed. Baker Battery accounted for another German (Mark V) tank destroyed.
In the following days, they knocked out another two half-tracks, bringing PVT Hilton’s unit’s total to two tanks, three half-tracks, and one armored car, all in the first four days on the line (Sept 19th-Sept 23rd).
Baker Battery spent some time attached to the 506th PIR before being moved over to “The Island” - an area south of Arnhem and the lower Rhine and north of the Waal River and the city of Nijmegen. The men would be involved in the 101st Airborne operations at The Island, preventing the Germans from gaining a foothold in the area from the opposite side of the river. Baker Battery was attached to the 506th PIR, and positioned on a defensive line from the village of Opheusden on the Rhine River to Dodewaard on the Waal River.
The 81st AAA, along with PVT Hilton, were in the Netherlands for a total of 71 days before being replaced by units of the Canadian 1st Army at the end of November. The 81st would be assembled at Nijmegen before being sent to Mourmelon, France, via British transport, finally arriving at 11:00 PM on November 27, 1944. At Mourmelon, they trained, lived, and recuperated in an old French army barracks.
The combat break for these Screaming Eagles did not last long though, as the German westward offensive in the Ardennes Forest began on December 16th, 1944.
The 101st Airborne was not sent by plane or glider this time, but by truck to defend the vital crossroads at the town of Bastogne, Belgium. They drove overnight from Mourmelon, heading northeast in large, open-backed semi-trucks of the Redball Express, breaking lights off restrictions to reach their destination as soon as possible. The men were huddled together and had to stand up during the long 12-hour drive. This 200+ mile trip was the beginning of the Battle of the Bulge for the 101st Airborne.
Baker Battery was again attached to the 501st PIR for movement into the Bastogne, and was just behind 1st Battalion on the motor column. PVT Hilton was on the road from Mourmelon to Bastogne late on December 18, 1944.
The units arrived on the northwest outskirts of the town early in the day on December 19th, between Mande St. Etienne and Bastogne itself. Temperatures were already hovering around freezing and sleet or frozen rain remained constant.
On that morning, the men of Baker Battery would move across Bastogne, to the northeast, in the direction of Neffe. Because it was quite foggy, limiting their sight to around 100 meters, the men walked right into the Germans who had taken cover in the houses as a protection from the cold night before. Baker Battery stopped immediately and began setting up a formation for a perimeter defense. That defensive line, consisting of other available elements of the 101st, along with support from units of the 9th and 10th Armored Division and others, would ultimately surround Bastogne.
The coming weeks would see bitter fighting!
The weather was also extremely horrible as the temperatures dropped well below freezing for the majority of the time spent on the line. The only cover from the daily shelling, exploding tree fragments, and small arms fire was a frozen foxhole or slit trench because the ground was iced solid throughout the day and night. This made digging much more challenging for the men.
Bastogne was soon surrounded by the Germans and under siege from all directions. Weather conditions prevented any Allied air support until Christmas. The 101st still persevered however and held their lines around Bastogne. They were paratroopers; they were supposed to be surrounded anyway.
By January 3, 1945, PVT Hilton and Baker Battery were again attached to the 501st PIR, where they were sent north/northeast on the attack directly between the Foy and Bizory roads. As the 501st was advancing, crossing the railroad line and going through the woods on the north side, their flank was exposed and they were forced to pull back across the railroad line to the original defensive positions. PVT Hilton would have dug in his 57mm AT gun there, on the edge of the woods, with nothing but a foggy snowy field in front of them.
On January 4th, the Germans attempted cutting the salient the 501st and 81st had driven out into their lines. It was in this attack in the Bois Jacques, we assume PVT Hilton was killed, possibly by an 88mm shell or a tank round while manning his gun.
Another Screaming Eagle had soared to the ultimate height. 🦅
PVT Robert Hilton died at age 22 of a severe head wound.
He was initially buried at the temporary facility at Hamm, in Block O, Row 10, Grave 249, and was later reburied at the Luxembourg American Cemetery and Memorial in Hamm, Canton de Luxembourg, Luxembourg. PVT Robert Hilton rests eternally in Plot H, Row 7, Grave 14. Besides his Bronze Star Medal (General Order #44, 1944) he was posthumously awarded a Purple Heart Medal.
Happy Birthday in Heaven, Robert.
Lest we forget! 🇺🇸
Vanguard of the Crusade, the 101st Airborne Division in WWII by Mark Bando
Other sources used for this article are known to the author and available on request.
God Speed Robert,Happy Heavenly Birthday 🫡🇺🇸🫡💐🤜