INFORMALLY chatting with Queen Elizabeth and commanding a ship through the dangers in minefields during Operation Desert Storm are among the past experiences of a Martins Ferry native now preparing for national leadership in the American Legion.
Clarence Hill, a 1968 graduate of Martins Ferry High School and a graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy, expects to be elected Thursday as the national commander of the 2.5-million member American Legion. He'd be the Legion's first national commander from Florida in the organization's 91-year history.
Hill is a son of the late Elmer and Virginia Hill, and his father, better known as "Pete," was Martins Ferry fire chief for several years.
As to the prospect of being national commander, Hill said, "I'm pretty excited about it and a lot of the things that will happen, and I just hope I'm up to the task."
The former Ferrian, who resides in Jacksonville, Fla., indicated the Legion's national commander's duties are varied. He plans to testify before a joint session of the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate Veterans Affairs Subcommittee Sept. 10.
Travel to all 50 states as well as to the other Legion departments of France, Puerto Rico, Mexico, the Philippines and Washington, D.C., are on Hill's agenda. There's also a chance that he'll be called to talk to President Barack Obama about veterans' affairs since the current Legion commander was called to talk to the president twice.
Hill plans to leave Florida Aug. 31 to start visitation and won't bet back until mid-December.
"I expect more than 95 percent of next year, I'll be traveling somewhere," he said, indicating his work will fluctuate depending on what's happening. He'll also spend time at the Legion offices in Washington, D.C., and Indianapolis."
"They've already given me a cell phone," Hill added. "It seems like there are non-stop e-mails."
As commander, he intends to push technology and encourage the Legion to get online, "because that's where the younger veterans are." He also favors establishment of blogs, both nationally and by the Legions in the individual states.
Travel won't be something new for Hill as he already has traveled to 46 of the 50 states to be evaluated as the prospective national commander. He's unopposed for the high Legion office, and those at the Legion posts he visited called national headquarters about supporting him as commander.
A 27-year Legionnaire, he has served in numerous offices in the organization on all levels.
Hill, a 1972 graduate of the Naval Academy, retired in 1996 as a captain after 24 years in the Navy, and 19 of those years were on sea duty.
He met Queen Elizabeth and the Queen Mother at the Highland Games and at a reception, held by the queen, when he was commanding officer of a shore station in Scotland.
"The queen is pretty sociable," Hill said, describing their talk as just social chatter and matters pertaining to tug-of-war techniques at the Games. He added the queen took a liking to him and his wife, because his wife, Elizabeth (Liz), is a native of Thurso, Scotland.
Although Hill said he was "very comfortable" when talking with the queen, he couldn't say the same about his experiences when serving as commanding officer of a ship during Operation Desert Storm.
"The whole thing," he noted, "was pretty tense" when his ship led a battleship through the minefields where they had to go to do support gunfire. "We spent a lot of time up in the north where a lot of minefields were."
After that war, his ship escorted ships transporting supplies for Kuwait City, and he mentioned the difficulty in seeing because of all the oil fires near that city. "It was black (even at noon)," Hill said.
He served in various assignments while in the Navy, and prior to being at the Naval War College in Newport, Rhode Island in 1995-96, he was with the Sixth Fleet in Italy as a command and control warfare officer.
The former Ferrian isn't the only member of his family involved in American Legion organizations. His wife has served in a number of Auxiliary offices, and some of their children and grandchildren also are involved. The Hills have three children, Jimmy, Sharon and Nicole, as well as six grandchildren.
While at Ferry High, he attended the American Legion's Buckeye Boys State and was president of the National Honor Society and Student Council as well as senior class vice president.
Hill also played football, basketball and ran track before going on to set quite a track record in the Navy and American Legion. Now, he appears ready for his new leadership role.
Pokas can be reached at timesleader@timesleaderonline.com.
