By Deborah Larsen
Kenneth Julius “Ken” Hillman
Kenneth Julius “Ken” Hillman was born in Romeo, Michigan, on March 3, 1921, the son of Carl and Louise Doll Hillman. The Hillmans moved to Rochester when Ken was a child and made their home on Ludlow Street. Ken attended school in Rochester.
As a teen, Ken worked on a local CCC project and was later employed at a chemical company in Ferndale before entering the U.S. Army Air Forces in July 1942.
Ken flew 34 missions as a waist gunner on the B-17 “Flying Fortress.” He participated in bombing raids against Nazi oil fields in Merseburg, Germany, industrial targets in Bremen, and submarine pens at Hamburg, among other targets. Sgt. Hillman was awarded an Air Medal with four oak leaf clusters for his service. Family and friends back in Rochester were thrilled to see Ken’s face in a photo of two servicemen published in Life Magazine on February 8, 1943. Ken was released from military service in July 1945.
After the war, Ken worked as a press operator at an auto parts plant, and later served as the building maintenance man and custodian at St. John Lutheran School in Rochester, where his wife Alice was the school’s cook. The Hillmans and their four children were members of St. John.
In retirement, Ken especially enjoyed volunteering at the Bethesda Lutheran Home in Watertown, Wisconsin. Kenneth Hillman died at the age of 97 on October 23, 2018, and was laid to rest at Christian Memorial Cemetery in Rochester Hills.