A Great War 1918 ‘Somme’ M.M. awarded to Lance Corporal G. H. Hills, 8th Field Ambulance, Australian Army Medical Corps, Australian Imperial Force, for his gallantry as a stretcher-bearer under sniper fire near Villers Bretonneux, 25 April 1918. He was killed in action on the Western Front, 9 August 1918

Military Medal, G.V.R. (10182 Pte - L. Cpl - G. H. Hills. 8/F.A. Aust: A.M.C.) good very fine £500-£600

M.M. London Gazette 29 August 1918. The original recommendation states:

‘On the morning of 25th April 1918 word was brought by a British Officer to the Car Loading Post near Villers Bretonneux where L/Cpl. Hills was stationed, that a wounded man was lying in the gully, off the Villers Bretonneux-Fouilloy Road, in a shell hole. In company with three others, this N.C.O. (a stretcher bearer) took a stretcher and went searching. Enemy shelling at this spot was heavy at the time. After a while, they located a wounded man looking out of a shell hole. An enemy sniper then opened on the party from the vicinity of Villers Bretonneux which we had captured a few hours previously. Crawling and dragging the stretcher they got to the shell hole, and started back, two men (one of them L/Cpl. Hills) carrying. The first sniper was now reinforced by a second sniper, but they were evidently poor shots and the party safely returned to the Car Loading Post, where the man was properly dressed and evacuated. The gully is close to Villers Bretonneux and under direct observation. All day on 25th April 1918 I can testify that the enemy shelling was very severe hereabouts. On many other occasions this N.C.O. has gone searching for wounded, showing at all times great initiative and absolute fearlessness and endurance.’

George Henry Hills was born in Brunswick, Victoria in 1893. He enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force, 15 June 1915, and served with the 8th Field Ambulance, Australian Army Medical Corps in the French theatre of war from June 1916.

Hills advanced to Lance Corporal in January 1917, and was awarded the M.M. for his gallantry near Villers Bretonneux on the Somme, 25 April 1918. Lance Corporal Hills was killed in action on the Western Front, 9 August 1918. He is buried in Heath Cemetery, Harbonnieres, Somme, France.