Marking Time: Ceremonial field named for MoH recipient                       Chris Rasmussen  Leader Staff

Hundreds of Soldiers march across Hilton Field each week as a ceremonial end to their Basic Combat Training here at Fort Jackson. Built in November 1953, the field was named for Medal of Honor recipient Sgt. Richmond Hobson Hilton, a native of Westville, S.C.  Hilton merited this honor while serving with Company M, 118th Infantry “Palmetto” Regiment, a South Carolina National Guard Unit fighting with the Army Expeditionary Forces in Europe. His unit was mobilized for World War I and assigned to the 30th Infantry Division, which trained at Fort Jackson before being sent to Ypres, France. On Oct. 11, 1918, battle fatigued troops of Company M were approaching Brancourt, France. They entered the town, and proceeded to pass through when they were stopped by head-on fire from enemy automatic weapons. A survey of the immediate area uncovered that this fire came from a machine-gun nest in the shell craters on the edge of the town. Hilton, with a few men, pressed toward the gun position and assaulted the machine-gun nest with rifles until their ammunition was exhausted. Hilton continued forward alone, blasting away with his pistol. In minutes he had killed six enemy defenders and captured 10 others. During this time a bursting shell shattered his right arm, which was later amputated. After regaining his strength in several Army hospitals, Hilton was discharged March 21, 1919. For his part in that October battle, Hilton received the Medal of Honor and the Purple Heart. He was cited for “conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity above and beyond the call of duty in action with the enemy.” Back in the United States as a civilian, Hilton studied at Oak Ridge Military Academy, N.C., and then at the University of South Carolina, where he obtained a law degree in 1924. Hilton then went to Camden where he was elected county master, a position he held until 1928, when he became assistant state service officer in Columbia. He resigned from that position in 1930 to practice law. Hilton was killed in 1933 when a boat in which he was riding overturned on Lake Murray.