Brigadier General William Grover Hipps

Michael Rafferty May 23, 2022 at 6:22 AM ·

Story of William Grover Hipps.

William was born out of wedlock so he took his mother's last name.

His mother wanted him, and his father wanted him but during the year of 1912, the mothers grandparents wanted nothing to do with the father or the fathers family. So that decision was the decision.


Stationed in the Philippines at the beginning of WW2. William became a hero.

In April 1942, then-Major Hipps was serving as Pilot of a B-17 Flying Fortress bomber in the 19th Bombardment Group (Heavy), Far East Air Force, U.S. Army Air Forces.

From 10 through 14 April, MAJ Hipps' unit was in action against Japanese forces in the Philippine islands. MAJ Hipps and his crew were engaged in a daring 4-day mission under the command of Brigadier General Ralph Royce, who led a flight of 7 B-25Cs and 3 B-17s from Australia to a staging field at Del Monte on Mindanao in the Philippine Islands. Over the following 2 days the B-25's and B-17's attacked the many ships and the docks at Cebu, the air and harbor facilities at Davao, and Nichols Field on Luzon. The B-25 Mitchell's were involved in over 20 sorties. They sank one Japanese transport and possibly 2 others. They also shot down 3 Japanese aircraft. All but one of the aircraft returned to Australia without the loss of a single flyer, and they brought out a number of important military and diplomatic personnel that had gathered at Del Monte to await evacuation. MAJ Hipps' outstanding leadership, courageous actions and extraordinary heroism that day earned him the U.S. Army's second highest award for valor, the Distinguished Service Cross.

In early 1942, he planned and led a surprise raid from Australia back to the Philippines to The raid above was successful in disrupting the Japanese advance in the South Pacific. It took place almost simultaneously with Lieutenant Colonel Doolittle's raid on Tokyo and caused much concern among the Japanese General Staff regarding the strength, capability and timing of America's impending response.

After combat assignments in Java and New Guinea, Hipps was ordered back to the U.S. in December 1942 to join General George Marshall's General Staff to plan and oversee execution of Air Operations in the Pacific.

At his request, he was reassigned to combat operations in the Pacific in 1944 as the Pacific Theater Air Executive Officer. He participated in invasion of the Philippines and fulfilled a deep passion to locate and help liberate the Prisoners of War brutally held by the Japanese in the Philippines. These prisoners included many of his fellow West Point alumni and members of his original command, captured by the Japanese on Bataan and Corregidor.

As head of operations for the air warfare for the Pacific Theater, he proceeded through the ensuing Pacific Campaign in the Philippines, China, Okinawa and Japan. Upon the unconditional surrender of the Imperial Japanese forces, he set in motion "Operation Blacklist" to quickly airlift American forces into Tokyo for the rapid takeover of Japan. Precise execution of this plan allowed American forces to rapidly take control of the Japanese governmental and military infrastructure. The speed and effectiveness of putting U.S. forces in visible presence on the Tokyo plain, quelled plans by radical forces within the Imperial Japanese home defense forces to execute a coup d'état attempting to negate the Emperor's surrender.

In 1946, he met and married Juanita Redmond, who was the famous author of "I served on Bataan" which was made into a movie.

William had a 30 year career retiring with many awards and decorations.

Medals, Awards and Badges

Distinguished Service Cross
Air Force Distinguished Service Medal
Clarkseph Distinguished Service Medal
Legion of Merit with 4 Bronze Oak Leaf Clusters
Bronze Star Medal with Valor Device and Bronze Oak Leaf Cluster
Purple Heart
Air Medal
Air Force Commendation Medal with 2 Bronze Oak Leaf Clusters
American Defense Service Medal
American Campaign Medal
Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal with 2 Bronze Stars
National Defense Service Medal
Air Force Longevity Service Award with Silver and 2 Bronze Oak Leaf Clusters
Philippine Liberation Medal
Philippine Independence Medal
Philippine Presidential Unit Citation
Command Pilot Badge

After a rough start, General Hipps rose above and became an American Hero!

His father, Joseph Clark eventually married my Great Aunt Jane Rafferty (sister of my grandfather) The Hipps family is also a side family of the Bloom family. Which is also part of my family tree.

So today I remember, Brigadier General William G. Hipps, for his dedicated service to the United States!

Written and Submitted by Michael Rafferty