A Haverhill native and Harvard College graduate (1904) was awarded the Medal 
of Honor even though he was warned for criticizing the President’s policies. 
Brigadier Gen. Walter Hill was cited for “distinguished conduct in battle … 
leading his men with skill and courage” during military engagements with 
Mexican troops during 1914,

On April 9, Mexican officials arrested a group of U.S. sailors, including one 
from his ship, and thus from U.S. territory. The U.S. bombarded and then 
occupied the port of Vera Cruz because an apology in terms demanded by 
President Woodrow Wilson was not made by Mexican dictator Victoriano Huerta. 
Hill, then a Marine captain, was in the lead during the Marine and Naval 
landings on April 21 and 22. Months later when President Wilson ordered U.S. 
troops to leave Mexican soil, Hill observed privately that “there might be 
disorder when U.S troops leave”. 

Capt. Hill’s remarks infuriated the Secretary of the Navy, Josephus Daniels, 
who warned Hill that he would not tolerate such criticism of the President by 
a U.S. military officer. Hill continued to excel in the military, however, 
and became a brigadier general, serving in France during World War I followed 
by active combat in Haiti and the Dominican Republic. The President of Haiti 
awarded Hill the country’s coveted Medal Militaire. After he retired from the 
USMC in 1938, he was recalled to active service during World War II, retiring 
for a second time in 1946. He died in New York City in 1955 and is buried in 
the Arlington National Cemetery,