Margaret Irene (Parks) Hill was born on October 21, 1921 in Kirkland, Washington and was the middle child of seven.
Her mother (Susie Parks) was a Concert Violinist. Her Father (Garnet Parks) started up newspapers in small towns so he would work away frequently. He died when she was 8 years old of lead poisoning due to the lead used for the newspaper ink. She was sent to live with her Uncle Jim and Aunt Eva on 50 acres of apple orchards, bing cherries etc.
She graduated school at 17 and worked as a Mother’s Helper for a short while. She then went to work in a Hospital in Spokane . On her 18th birthday, a man died in her arms. She was traumatized by this even and decided she did not want to do this kind of work so she left and went on to Business school and got work at an Appraisal Company as a Comptometer. See en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comptometer
During the War Margaret was called to come to work (as a civilian) at the Seattle Shipyards in the Payroll dept due to her skills. She was paid 3 times more in her office job than she was paid at the Shipyards where her Mother was also working. We wish to note here that Margaret’s Mother, Susan Parks received a medal from General Pershing for her earlier gallant war efforts. See www.telcomhistory.org/vm/heroesParks.shtml
Margaret quit her job in the Shipyards and moved back to Kirkland with her Aunt and Uncle. Her aunt and uncle’s huge house (originally her Grandfather’s house) burned to the ground with many WWI and Spanish/American war mementos lost in the fire. Margaret was 21 at the time and decided to join the WAC (Women’s Army Corp) and signed up in Kirkland, WA. She had 3 brothers who were in service and her mother was still working in the Shipyards.
Margaret wanted to be part of the war effort. But her brothers gave her a hard time about joining the Army as they felt no “nice” girl would join the Army. She was sent to Monticello (Camp), Monticello, AR (formerly an Italian POW Camp) for Basic training for 6 weeks. From there she was sent to Deming Army Air Field in Deming, New Mexico and was put to work in Intelligence. She would check the background and any criminal records of men who had applied to work the line on the Airstrip. They had to be very careful who they brought in. Once she had determined they had no criminal record, she would send them a letter to come work at the Airstrip. She also worked as a comptometer . From New Mexico she was then sent to Mather Field Army Air Base in Santa Ana, CA. and put in charge of the Arsenal.
While away, she would communicate with family via letters. It was while she was stationed at Mather Field that she met her future husband, the Chaplain at the church on base. (Woodrow Hill). When they began dating, they had to do so in secret as he was a Captain and she was a Sergeant. Her immediate Officer knew but because Margaret was so well liked, the officer did not say anything to anyone. Margaret and “Woody” were married while on furlough but still had to keep it secret for a while. After only 4-5 months of marriage, “Woody” was sent to the Philippines. He built a Church in Leyte made from parachutes. He received a commendation from General Omar Bradley for this. After one year in the Philippines he returned. Margaret said he had lost so much weight and had a green pallor to his face and was not very well.
During her time at Mather Field she watched as 25 bombers returned from bombing Japan. She and a friend had tears in their eyes watching as all the planes came back safely. When the war was over, Margaret was honorably discharged in December 1945. She was overjoyed to be out of the service and the war was over. She went with her Husband to Williams Field in Arizona for his discharge processing. They also had to then go back to California for more processing/paperwork and then to Denver where he was finally discharged.
They flew to Memphis and then on to Asheville, NC where her husband’s sisters were waiting to pick them up. They did not know what to make of Margaret and her happy, outgoing nature as “Woody” was a very quiet, sedate man. Margaret had asked “Woody” after they married and were going to move to North Carolina “what does a Southern Baptist Preacher’s wife do?” He said “you’ll find out”. Her outgoing nature brought “Woody” out of his shell and changed his perception of many things. They lived with his parents while he tried to find work. They would stand in the job line to get food stamps for service members. He was offered a Pastoral position in Liberty, NC and thus became her life as a Southern Baptist’s preacher’s wife. They traveled the world with the Baptist convention.
Margaret never talked about her time in the Army during the war as she never thought she had done anything important. Elaine Dills is a volunteer through the Honor Flight organization and met Margaret accompanying her with the Honor Flights taking WWII Veterans to the WWII Memorial in Washington DC. Margaret was one of the Veteran’s assigned to her. It was not until after this trip to DC and talking to Elaine about her service that Margaret realized she had done something important during the war even though she never served overseas. Margaret then became very proud of her service and began to tell people about it. Elaine Dills and Margaret are now very good friends. Elaine requested replacement medals for Margaret and presented them to her in a shadowbox. Margaret is very proud of it and her service.
We wish to offer many thanks of gratitude to both Margaret Hill for her service to her country and special thanks to Elaine Dills for her volunteer work and providing this lovely story.
Comes A Soldier’s Whisper, remembering history and honoring our veterans one day at a time…
