After spending his first 21 years immersed in the wheat and corn of southern Illinois, Hillard Morris was sent far from his home. It only took one day to change his life forever.

It was on the early morning of Dec. 7, 1941 when the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor, and when the United States entered World War II. When he was drafted about a year later, Hillard quickly went from chasing chickens to chasing fleeing Germans in Normandy.

On Veterans Day, Hillard remembers how his military experience gave him the skills necessary to make him a valuable citizen who understands the importance of teamwork and community service.

A member of the 109th regiment of the 28th Infantry Division in Europe at that time, Hillard was in the mortar platoon, which supported the riflemen with smoke shells and gunfire.

“We were always trying to move and capture and kill Germans, and they were trying to kill us,” recalled the 85-year-old veteran who still resides on his Mason farm. “We had a lot of power, weapons and men – and the Germans were running for their lives.”

While the Germans lost their position in France at this battle, it did not come without hardship for the offensive forces, especially Hillard.

Living in foxholes, traveling endless miles across Europe and constantly being surrounded by dead bodies, Hillard calls his three years of service brutal.

“It wasn’t fun. It wasn’t glorious – the best thing to call it was hell,” he said.

In other battles, the Americans were not as fortunate. When trying to take over the Ruhr dams that supplied German industry with electricity, half of the 28th Infantry was killed, and more than 50,000 Americans died.

“It was just a blunder,” Hillard said, as no one had expected the German defensive to be so strong.

He saw his fellow Americans continue to fall to the ground in front of him, and there was nothing he could do but move on or fall back.

“You never got hardened to the idea of someone getting killed,” he said, “but you just hoped it wasn’t going to be you.”

It took years before Hillard could communicate about the war.

His wife, Betty, helped him through the many tiring nights when memories of those days haunted him. For 10 years after his service ended, he continued to fight the Germans in his sleep.

“I shot them down in my pasture (on the farm),” he said.

Attending meetings with his comrades where they rehashed the events and talked about their experiences helped Hillard move on.

He went on to write a book about his experience called “A View from the High Point Hell,” referring to the places, often blown-off church steeples in villages, that the mortar platoon used to protect their riflemen.

Despite the difficulties and years of mental recovery, Hillard would not give up his experience for anything.

“The army was best thing that ever happened to me,” he said.

Hillard said that his World War II experiences made him a better person who understands and executes the meaning of teamwork that the army instilled into every soldier.

“It taught me leadership, to be involved, look ahead – to get out and do (something) and not sit around and let someone else do it,” he said.

Upon his return from three years in the service, he made himself successful.

He purchased the farmland he had grown up on and founded his company, HB Farms.

Then Hillard became an active and influential community member in Altamont, Illinois.

He is a Lions Club member and was involved in the Association of Illinois Soil & Water Conservation Districts for 40 years, where he served as president.

“He was so grateful that he could come home without serious injury that he wanted to do something for his community,” Betty, his wife of 60 years, said.

Both independently and through these organizations, he established a church group in a Lutheran care nursing home, helped start a child nursery, and built a new municipal library for downtown Altamont.

He also solicited donations to found the Ballard Nature Center, which he calls “the most fantastic nature area that you’ll see in Illinois.”

“He made a great impact and he’s a natural leader. It’s just the way he is,” Betty said.

Hillard cherishes his identity as a veteran because he believes it contributed to his later success.

“It teaches you how to work with other people and get people to work as a unit,” he said. “Most people don’t do that anymore. They (have) their own computers and cell phones and (want to) do it their own way,” he scoffed.

He advises people to re-examine this mentality during Veterans Day by remembering the efforts and teamwork of the military.

“Try to find out a little bit of what veterans really did for you to allow the freedom we have to say anything and do anything and go any place,” Hillard said. “Your country may not always be united, but it’s still my country, and the best country in the world.”