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Show "Band of Brothers Part II" i John let his little brother, Glade, have the job since Glade was married. The Band of Brothers truly cared for one another. John met, courted and would marry Josephine Madsen on December 16, 1948. He had an instant family with a new wife and two beautiful little girls. Three boys would join the family as time went on. John rented a trailer and lived in it until the basement house was built on the property he purchased. The family lived in the basement house for 10 years. A garage was added and when it was paid off, they decided to build up. The family then moved above ground in 1959, John took the second opening at the Post Office in 1954 working seven days a week filling in for others and sorting mail. When a steady route opening came up, John took the job. John loved his work at the post office. He enjoyed meeting the families he would deliver mail to. He even gave out jawbreakers to the kids in the neighborhoods where he delivered mail. S. Christiansen. His twin brother, Joe, had been drafted. Basic training for John was at Fort Sill, Oklahoma and then he was transferred to Camp Forest, Tennessee. John felt alone and scared in the big cities. It was then that John reached out to God in prayer. He felt unworthy but still he sought the God who had preserved his life as an infant weighing less than two pounds. During that prayer, John learned that no matter who you are , or how you are , God will answer your prayers. John felt the true feeling of the Holy Ghost that day. John never forgot that day when God reached out to the lonely frightened small town boy in a big city. After serving on nine islands, in the Pacific Front, John finally came back home to Pleasant Grove in January of 1946. The war had ended the previous summer. The Japanese were brought to their knees after two nuclear bombs wreaked devastation on their homeland. The war had taken its toll on John. He weighed just 112 pounds and his skin had turned yellow from taking medication for Malaria. Upon returning home, John's dad couldn't find anyone to learn his rural mail route so he could take a day off when he was ill. John learned the route to help out his father and purchased a half acre of the Oscar Rich ins property. His twin brother, Joe, purchased the old home where the two brothers had been born and the rest of the property. The Band of Brothers would live in and around the old family home in "Monkey Town". Many came to call the area "Hiltonville". John then worked for Utah Power and Light shoveling rocks off the flume and shoveling coal from railroad cars. He then worked for six years as a millwright at Geneva Steel. During this time, John's dad decided to retire from the post office. John's name was at the top of the list to be hired, but Over decades John and his band of brothers lived side by side and their families grew to maturity. Children built homes nearby and "Hiltonville" grew larger and stronger. The twin boys, who weighed less than two pound swhen born, grew to be giants in'the community. For decades John Hilton served the God who answered the prayer of a lonely, scared soldier some years earlier. On November 6, 2010, John joined his brother, Barney. His mortal journey was over. His twin brother, Joe, and little brother, Glade, will carry on. It was said of the man who weighed less than two pounds when he was born that he had a heart that weighed 100 pounds when he died. His sweetheart and companion for 51 years, Josephine, wrote the following, "John is the most thoughtful person in the world. He always thinks of others before himself." The hundreds who attended his funeral knew this to be true. The Band of Brothers were rock solid and as dependable as the sun coming up each morning over Mount Timpanogos. Tomorrow America will pause to give thanks. Here in this community we, too, can give thanks for a Band of Brothers-Barney, Brothers-Barney, Joe, John and Glade Hilton. by Mark Bezzant The world war that would claim the lives of some seventy million people worldwide and over 400,000 American soldiers also called upon the Hilton Brothers, Joe and John. John enlisted the year after he graduated from high school and was given the Melchizedek priesthood and made an Elder that same month by Martin |