We are looking for Corporate Sponsors! Help Honor for Heroes, Honor Our Heroes!
Provide Recognition, Support, and Memorialization for ALL our Heroes in order to inspire a whole new generation of Heroes
Shannon Cook donated his time, his talent and materials that he supplied to build our Traveling Display Case for our Missing Man Table Memorial! We are very Grateful to him and we Welcome him into the Honor for Heroes Family!
Pizza Buffet in Anderson SC has given a very generous donation in conjunction with our partnership hosting the Come Dream with Me Prom! We are so happy to have Pizza Buffet as Sponsor and we welcome them to the Honor for Heroes Family! Please show them some love and support by visiting their restaurant!
Thank you to Jason Crawford at Fibercom Construction for your Generous Donation!
Please contact us today about becoming a Corporate Sponsor! We are a 501c3 and your donation is Tax Deductible! Help Honor for Heroes, Honor our Heroes!
Please contact us today about becoming a Corporate Sponsor! We are a 501c3 and your donation is Tax Deductible! Help Honor for Heroes, Honor our Heroes!
Please contact us today about becoming a Corporate Sponsor! We are a 501c3 and your donation is Tax Deductible! Help Honor for Heroes, Honor our Heroes!
Matthew T. Hilley - President & Founder
Michael T. Hilley - Vice-President, Board Member & Founding Member
Anna G. Hilley - Secretary, Board Member & Founding Member
Kathy Schofield - Board Member
Robert Carey - Board Member
Liana Smith - Board Member
Kelsi Bradshaw - Volunteer Coordinator & Board Member
Shortly after SGT Matthew Hilley had returned home from Iraq in 2004, he began working on a project that had been talked about in his family for years. Matthew had a great uncle, James Hilley that was part of the 10th Mountain Division and fought in WWII. James was a First Sergeant and had already had an exciting military career prior t
Shortly after SGT Matthew Hilley had returned home from Iraq in 2004, he began working on a project that had been talked about in his family for years. Matthew had a great uncle, James Hilley that was part of the 10th Mountain Division and fought in WWII. James was a First Sergeant and had already had an exciting military career prior to his assignment overseas during WWII. On April 30, 1945, James Hilley and 24 other men sank to their death while crossing Lake Garda in Italy on a DUKW. A lone survivor was rescued but all the other soldiers and their equipment went down in an extremely deep part of the lake. The remains and equipment were not recovered.
Matthew thought that the most effective way to work on this project was to get as many people involved as possible. He began reaching out to elected officials, professors, and military personnel to see if there could be any hope of searching for and recovering the remains of his great uncle James along with the 24 other soldiers and the equipment. Matthew was inspired by his great aunt Jewell, James’ sister who was still alive and still told stories about James and held out hope that one day her brother’s remains and or person effects would return home where they belonged! Matthew mostly wrote letters and emails and repeated the story time and time again to anyone that would listen. He wanted to Honor his great uncle James and the men that went down with him. Many other individuals across the United States and in Italy were working on this issue as well. Through the efforts of many, the wreckage was found in 2012! However, this part of the story will be told later.
During the time Matthew was working on the DUKW issue he was inspired to start doing more and began taking on other projects. Matthew had wanted to join the military since he was a small child because his father, Michael, was in the military. His father had served in Vietnam and the first Gulf War. The Hilley family has a very long and patriotic connection with serving in the military that stretches back to 1776. One of the projects that Matthew worked on that he was particularly proud of was getting a stretch of highway renamed, Veterans Memorial Highway that ran past a Veteran’s Nursing home, a Veteran’s National Cemetery and ended at a small Veteran’s Monument in the small town of Belton SC.
As time went on Matthew began to do more and more small projects that all seemed to have a common theme, Honoring Heroes! Matthew then began working with his son Michael, on more projects. They worked together on getting a highway named after First Sergeant James Hilley. They were also able to help facilitate the transfer of a WWII monument from private ownership to the American Legion. Eventually, Matthew brought his daughter Anna into the fold. He quickly realized that his ambition to do these projects and the number of things he wanted to accomplish far exceeded the manpower and funding that he had at the time. So, in order to still be able to carry out the work that had now become a passion, he decided to consolidate and create an organization that would help turn his noble visions and dreams into a vivid reality! Honor For Heroes was born on May 15, 2021 with the mission of providing recognition, support and memorialization for ALL of our Heroes in order to inspire a whole new generation of Heroes while Honoring the ones from our past and present!
Provide Recognition, Support, and Memorialization for ALL our Heroes in order to inspire a whole new generation of Heroes while Honoring the ones from our past and present!
Your generous donation will help fund our mission. Providing Recognition, Support and Memorialization for ALL of our Heroes! Help Honor for Heroes, Honor Our Heroes!
