Operation: B-24 Escort, Kahili Drome, Bougainville

Date: 25th August 1943 (Friday)

Unit No: 70th Fighter Squadron, 18th Fighter Group, 13th Air Force

Type: P-40F

Serial: 41-19834

Code: Unknown

Base: Segi Field, New Georgia Island

Location: About 10 miles NE Ballale Island

Pilot: 2nd Lt. Joseph Wadsworth Hill O-740420 AAF Age 23. PoW */Murdered

* Tunnel Hill PoW Camp, Rabaul, New Britain

Above: 2nd Lt. Joseph Wadsworth Hill (Courtesy of the Indian River Press Journal, dated 26th March 1943

REASON FOR LOSS:

P-40F 41-19834 took-off from Segi Field, New Georgia Island to escort B-24s on an operation to bomb Kahili Drome on Bougainville Island

Capt. Jack A. Bade O-727378, the Flight Leader reported:

“The last I saw of Lt. Hill’s plane [was] near Ballale. We made the run with the bombers over Kahili and were returning to Segi Fld. His plane lost power and seemed to be under control as he left the formation. He could have been hit by Jap AA, Zeros or our own aircraft”.

Note: Capt. Jack Albrecht Bade, Distinguished Service Cross (DSC), Distinguished Flying Medal (DFC), Purple Heart (PH), Air Medal (AM) with eight (8) Oak Leaf Clusters (OLC) completed eighty (80) missions and returned to the United States in the autumn of 1943. Tragically he died suddenly on the 2nd May 1963 aged just 43.

His aircraft was seen to be smoking slightly and no power. He was last seen at about 16:30 hrs about ten (10) miles NE Ballale Island flying at 22,000 ft. He had the aircraft under control and was gliding toward Vella Lavella Island making slight turns as if watching his tail.

2nd Lt. Hill was awarded the Air Medal (AM) for this mission:

Citation: “For meritorious achievement whilst participating as a fighter pilot in a flight of P-40 airplanes to [Bougainville], on 26th August 1943. When twenty-five Japanese Zeroes [sic] attacked, his flight successfully protected all bombers. Lt. Hill was lost on the mission. His courage and combat skill were in keeping with the highest tradition of the service”.

2nd Lt. Hill failed to return and was posted MiA. Later it was established that either baled out or successfully ditched his aircraft and was captured by the Japanese.

After the Japanese were defeated on New Britain it was found that there were only eight (8) surviving Allied PoWs at the Tunnel Hill PoW camp whereas it was expected to find a great many more. An investigation was instigated by the 18th Australian War Graves Unit to determine the fate of the PoWs that were thought to have been held on New Britain.

He was initially held at the PoW camp at Rabaul. He was amongst the approximately fifty-four (54) PoWs who were moved from Rabaul to the Tanoura Mountain pass by truck. No information from the surviving PoWs was provided about his condition.

It was claimed by the Japanese that he were amongst thirty-one (31) PoWs who were killed in an Allied air-raid on the 4th/5th March 1944. However, after interrogating Japanese officers and soldiers stationed at Rabaul during the war the investigation came to the conclusion that this claim was not credible and that the PoWs had been executed.

An overview of the investigation into the circumstances of the deaths and those deemed to be responsible for the executions and atrocities is summarised in the report entitled “Talili Bay Massacre, New Britain”.

Burial details:

Above group burial marker including 2nd Lt. Joseph Wadsworth Hill (Courtesy of KcK - FindAGrave)

2nd Lt. Joseph Wadsworth Hill. Air Medal (AM). Ashes repatriated and laid to rest on the 21st March 1950 in a group burial at the Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery, Missouri, Plot 78, Grave 930 to 934. Born on the 4th September 1919 in Veho Beach, Florida. Son of Joseph and Lillian (née Trowell) Hill of Veho Beach, Florida. (His mother remarried to Wilton Roger). Husband of Roberta (née Morris) Hill of DeLand, Florida, USA.

Researched by Ralph Snape for Aircrew Remembered and dedicated to this pilot and his relatives (Jan 2026)

Other sources listed below:

References(s):

Investigation File: NAA: 336/1/1345 Part 6

Those who have long enjoyed such privileges as we enjoy forget in time that men have died to win them. Franklin Delano Roosevelt