The 1914-15 Star, British War Medal, Victory Medal trio to 6/1078 Captain John Cecil Hill, 2nd South Canterbury Battalion, Main Body, New Zealand Expeditionary Force. Hill was one of the three Canterbury Infantry Battalion officers wounded during the Battle of the Landing on Gallipoli, 25th April 1915.

 

John Hill was born at St. Petersburg, Russia in 1886 and was working as a Ceylon Tea Planter before coming to New Zealand prior to the First World War. He was commissioned into the 2nd South Canterbury) Company, Canterbury Infantry Battalion and embarked with the Main Body in October 1914. During the confused fighting of 25th April 1915 during the landing on Gallipoli, Hill led his platoon onto Plugge's  Plateau, where he was subsequently shot through the mouth. He was evacuated off the peninsula, back to the UK. He was promoted to captain in March 1916, and returned to New Zealand in October 1916, suffering ill-health.

After the war, Hill became a well-known cartoonist, working for the Auckland Star. Many of his images can be seen on Papers Past. The National Centennial Exhibition of New Zealand Art Catalogue (1940) had this to say: "J. C. Hill, who is entirely self-taught, was educated for the Army at Dulwich College, England, and served in the war. After the war he returned to New Zealand and for some years worked in various military positions. In 1927 he was appointed cartoonist to the Auckland Star, and his work has been a daily feature of that newspaper ever since. Much of his black and white work has appeared in overseas journals, including the Tatler, Bulletin, and Time"

 

John Hill died on 8th August 1974 at Rotorua.

 

1914/15 Star (6/1078 CAPT: J. C. HILL. N.Z.E.F.), British War Medal  (6/1078 CAPT: J. C. HILL. N.Z.E.F.), Victory Medal (6/1078 CAPT: J. C. HILL. N.Z.E.F.). All medals correctly impressed.