Oral History Interview with John V. Hilliard, Jr., February 28, 2002 Page: 9
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Oral History Interview with John V. Hilliard, Jr., February 28, 2002 (Sound)
The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with John Hilliard. Hlliard went into the Army right after he graduated from high school in August 1943 and was accepted into pilot training. After going through basic training in Wichita Falls, Texas he went to Henderson State College in Arkadelphia, Arkansas. He was there five months taking college courses and 10 hours of flight training. From there, he went to a base near San Antonio where they put everyone through all kinds of tests, for classification; he was classified as a pilot. Then they were marched across the street and he started more training. He finished that and was sent to Ballinger, Texas for primary flight training and then to San Angelo to fly Vultee BT-13s. Hilliard didn't enjoy flying the Vultee and had a 'personality conflict' with the instructor so he left the aviation cadet program and ended up at Truax Field in Madison, Wisconsin as a private where he studied to be a radio mechanic. After graduation, they sent him to Rantoul, Illinois for electronics training and then on to Boca Raton, Florida where he was moved to radar. Hilliard was there when the war ended. Hilliard was discharged in March 1946 at Fort Sam Houston with the rank of corporal.
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Oral History Interview with John V. Hilliard, Jr., February 28, 2002, text, February 28, 2002; Fredericksburg, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1603961/m1/9/: accessed July 17, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting National Museum of the Pacific War/Admiral Nimitz Foundation.