After ensuring the safety of the tourists, Hill went back into the building to aid with the rescue of survivors of the attack. Hill left the Army in 2002 to get married. But two years and one child later, he re-enlisted, telling his wife he felt an obligation to her and their daughter to help make the world safer.
"He was a father. He was a son. He was a brother and a great friend," said Jeremy McCarver, the pastor who married Hill and his wife, Cheryl.
Hill was to have seen the couple's daughter, Cierra, for the first time in nearly a year on March 21, 2004, when he was scheduled to start a two-week leave.
A remote-controlled bomb ended that dream. Hill , a member of the 1st Battalion, 16th Infantry Brigade, 1st Infantry Division based at Fort Riley, was riding in the lead vehicle of a convoy rolling through Fallujah, Iraq, on March 11 when an explosion killed him and Staff Sgt. Joe Dunigan Jr., 37.
"He couldn't let her (Cierra) grow up in a world where she didn't feel safe," said Clint Nawara, who served with Hill during his first stint in the Army.
Hill was posthumously awarded a Purple Heart and a Bronze Star. The medals were presented to his widow. At his funeral, mourners recalled Hill as an outgoing man whose love of country was surpassed only by his love of family.
