An action movie will be played as a Guys Night Out.

The title of the movie will be announced a few days in advance.

 

For more information, contact Bob Turnage.

 

 

 The story begins in the hills of Missouri, where Howard Hill was born on November 13th, 1919. While other children played with toy guns, Hill learned archery from his father, a traditionalist who believed modern weapons robbed hunting of its purity. By age 10, Hill could hit targets at 50 yards.

 

 By 15, he was winning national tournaments. He could shoot from any position, hitting moving targets in darkness and in wind.

 

In 1938, at age 19, Hill won the National Field Archery Championship, holding the title for five consecutive years. He drew his bow to 90 lbs, giving his arrows exceptional range and penetration. His accuracy defied statistical probability.

 

He enlisted in the Marines when Pearl Harbor was attacked.

 

At Paris Island, he qualified expert marksmen with the M1 Garand, but his bullet groups were less than his bow work at twice the range.

 

 That is interesting, Private, said his commander, but this is modern warfare. The bow belongs in a museum. Hill simply requested permission to keep his hunting bow with personal effects. Chen, assuming it was harmless hobby, approved.

 

 The third Marine Division deployed to the South Pacific in July  1943. During training, Gunnery sergeant Frank Mitchell, a Guadal Canal veteran, watched Hill put six arrows into a 12-in circle at 80 yards in 15 seconds....

 

November 17th, 1943. Bugenville Island, Solomon Islands. 

 

Private First Class Howard Hill crouched in his fighting position, fingers gently testing the bowring tension. 

 

70 yards to his front, Japanese soldiers of the Sixth Infantry Division were preparing their nightly infiltration attempt.

 

 The first Japanese soldier emerged from the treeline, moving with the confidence of a veteran who had survived months of brutal combat. Hill released his first arrow. The arrow covered 70 yards in less than a second and struck with devastating precision. The soldier collapsed without a sound.

 

A marksman who could hit moving targets at distances that made rifle experts question their own abilities.

 

A champion archer who could put six arrows in the air before the first struck its target. 

 

What those Japanese soldiers could not know, what their commanders would refuse to believe, even when shown the evidence.

 

 By the time Japanese commanders understood what they faced, 116 of their soldiers would be dead, killed by a weapon their samurai ancestors would have recognized, delivered by an American who turned warfare back eight centuries and proved the old ways could still win battles.

 

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He was inducted into the Alabama Sports Hall of Fame in 1971. In 1975, Hill died in Birmingham and was buried at the New Ashville City Cemetery in Ashville. His grave marker is etched with two bows and arrows. An annual archery tournament, the Howard Hill Southeastern Classic, was established to honor Hill in 2004.

 

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