Dale Hills
Ballplayers Who Were Prisoners of War
| Date and Place of Birth: | October 24, 1922 Albion, MI |
| Date and Place of Death: | March 3, 1983 Aberdeen, MS |
| Baseball Experience: | Minor League |
| Position: | Pitcher |
| Rank: | Private |
| Military Unit: | Medical Battalion, 330th Infantry Regiment, 83rd Infantry Division US Army |
| Area Served: | European Theater of Operations |
Dale A. Hills, the son of Forest and Alberta Hills, was born on October
24, 1922 in Albion, Missouri. Hills graduated from Marshall High School
in 1941, having pitched for the varsity baseball team for three years,
played center on the basketball team, tackle on the football team and
was a pole-vaulter and high-jumper on the track team, holding the Twin
Valley pole vault record.
Hills was signed by the St. Louis Cardinals in August 1941 and sent to
the Johnson City Cardinals of the Class D Appalachian League for his
rookie season in 1942. The 19-year-old pitched 24 games for an 11-11
record – second-best in wins to teammate and former big leaguer Jim
Mooney who won 15. Another member of the 1942 Johnson City pitching
staff was Stanford Wolfson – who, as the co-pilot of a B-17 Flying
Fortress shot down over Germany in November 1944, was murdered by the
German criminal police.
It was a promising start for the 6-foot-2-inch right-hander but baseball
was put on hold when Hills entered military service in February 1943. He
was stationed at Camp Grant, Illinois for a while where he pitched for
the camp ball team and was later stationed in Kentucky.
Hills went overseas as a medic with the 330th Infantry Regiment of the
83rd Infantry Division, leaving New York for England on April 6, 1944.
Private Hills landed at Omaha Beach, Normandy, France on June 25, and
advanced to an area near Carentan, where he was taken prisoner on July
8, 1944, when the 1st and 2nd Battalion aid stations were captured by
German forces during their counterattack against the 330th Infantry
Regiment. “A German patrol entered our Aid Station . . . and took
prisoner of approximately 50 of our men,” explained Private Stanley
Blanch in a report the following day. “Two of our jeeps also taken, but
jeep with medical supplies left for our use. Two of our medical
orderlies and five aid men were left behind to take care of our wounded.
We were not mistreated in any way by the Germans.”
News that Private Hills was missing in action reached his mother shortly
afterwards, but it was not until early September that it was confirmed
he was alive and a prisoner of war.
Hills was detained at Stalag VIIA in Moosburg, Germany and was liberated
on April 12, 1945. After nine months as a prisoner of war, he returned
to the United States and was sent to Percy Jones Convalescent hospital
at Fort Custer, Michigan, to receive treatment for malnutrition.
Aged 23, Hills returned to the Cardinals organization in 1946 and
pitched for the Pocatello Cardinals of the Class C Pioneer League. He
made 31 appearances on the mound for a 5-10 record and 5.65 ERA. It was
to be his final year in professional baseball.
He married Helen Ferrin in December 1946, and from 1947 to 1949, Hills
pitched for the Oliver Corporation team in the Battle Creek AA league.
He went on to pitch for the Olivet Merchants in the early 1950s and also
for the Olivet College team when he attended that school.
Hills moved to Kalamazoo in 1955 and to Jackson in 1965. He was employed
by the Walker Corporation, in Jackson and then in Aberdeen, Mississippi,
where he moved in late 1982.
On March 3, 1983, aged 60, Dale Hills passed away at the Aberdeen-Monroe
County Hospital in Aberdeen, Mississippi after a long battle with
cancer. He is buried at the Oakridge Cemetery in Marshall, Michigan.
Date Added May 18, 2020.
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