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The Sortie of the Nevada at Pearl Harbor


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USS Nevada Sortie at Pearl Harbor

Sortie: In siege warfare, a sortie, or sudden issuing of troops against the enemy from a defensive position, can be launched against the besiegers by the defenders. An armed attack, especially one made from a place surrounded by enemy forces. The term has been adopted from the French past participle 3rd group verb, verbs ending in -ir, with the gerund ending in -ant, "sortir", "to leave" or "to go out" with a specific purpose.

EDWIN J. HILL - Cape May'sForgotten Hero - Part 1

There’s a small monument dedicated to Ed Hill just off the Washington Street Mall in Cape May. As a former Cape May resident who died at Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, Hill was posthumously awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor for his actions during the Japanese attack against the American fleet that began World War II.

Having lived in Cape May for a number of years, I frequently noticed the small plaque, and as the 50th anniversary of the date approached, considered doing aprofile of the hometown hero who gave his life in one of the most epic battlesof our times.

I looked up Hill’s medal citation and read about his Pearl Harbor exploits in some history books, but no one in Cape Mayreally knew anything about him.

A search of the files of the area newspapers failed to find a single obituary for Hill, or any news story what-so-ever. The clipping files and back issues ofthe Atlantic City Press, Camden Courier Post, Philadelphia Inquirer and Evening Bulletin files, now at Temple University library, were all checked to no avail.

Only the Courier Post had a single index card on Hill in their archives, whichnoted that a news story was published on December 17, 1941, but the librarian said that their files no longerwent back that far.

I called every Hill in the telephone book who lived in Cape May ornear by, but none were related to or even heard of Ed Hill, who died at Pearl Harbor. No one at the Veterans of Foreign Wars post knew anything about him, and the public affairs officer at the Cape May Coast Guard base couldn’t tell me anything. Nor could anyone at the Cape May city clerk’s office, tell me who placed the monument to Hill at the Mall, so no one would forget him.

The public library of Philadelphia gave me the phone number of the Pearl Harbor Survivor’s Association (PHSA) in Orlando, Florida, but the number was no longer in service.

Then I called Donald M. Goldstein, Associate Professor of Public Affairs at the University of Pittsburgh. Goldstein, co-authored a number of books about Pearl Harbor, including “At Dawn We Slept,” “Pearl Harbor,” “December 7, 1941” and the most recently published, “The Way It Was – Pearl Harbor – The Original Photographs,” which contains aphotograph of Chief Boatswain Edwin J. Hill.....

Continued:

USS Nevada Sortie at Pearl Harbor

Edited by William Kelly
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