Background
Hilton was born in Westville, South Carolina, and joined the army in Westville, assigned to Company M, 118th Infantry, 30th Division.
Hilton was born in Westville, South Carolina, and joined the army in Westville, assigned to Company M, 118th Infantry, 30th Division.
All were awarded for bravery in the face of the enemy. On October 11, 1918, while fighting near Brancourt, France, Hilton"s unit was held up by intense machine gun and small arms fire. Sergeant Hilton recognized that the machine gun fire was coming from a shell crater just ahead of them.
Accompanied by several other soldiers, but moving out well ahead of them, Sergeant
Hilton engaged the machine gun, using his rifle until his ammunition ran out, then using his pistol, killing six German soldiers, and capturing ten others In the course of this action he was wounded by an exploding shell, which resulted in the loss of an arm.
After his discharge from the army, he returned home to Kershaw County a hero. He joined the Civitan Club of Columbia, of which he was a proud member.
When asked why he was a Civitan, Hilton replied: That cemetery also maintains the graves of Civil War Confederate Army Generals John Doby Kennedy and Joseph B. Kershaw, as well as Civil War hero Richard Rowland Kirkland.