Editor’s note: This is the first in a series of articles about the history of Hill Air Force Base and the people who worked there.

HILL AIR FORCE BASE—When Hill Field and the Ogden Air Depot began operations in 1940, World War Two had been underway for over a year, though the United States was not yet involved. Though the airfield, named for Major Ployer P. Hill who had recently died in an aviation accident, had been organized during peacetime, considerations were already being made for war. 

World War Two officially began on Sept. 1, 1939, though both Germany and Japan had been annexing territory years before. Surviving alliances from what was then called the Great War, and before meant that war in Europe and the Pacific area were of great interest to the United States.

To that end, President Franklin D. Roosevelt had been having clandestine meetings with British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, who was desperate to get the United States involved. Still, there was little public support and little support in Congress for getting involved in yet another European war. 

The United States had just passed the unprecedented peacetime Selective Training and Service Act of 1940, just two months before the start of operations at Hill Field. With men between 21 and 45 required to register for the draft, those already in the service, as well as the civilian employees working there must have known that things were reaching a boiling point.

It was during these tenuous first days that Brigadier General Morris Berman took command of the base. Berman was no stranger to aviation or the logistics thereof, having studied military aeronautics back in 1918, he had seen service on many different air installations all throughout the 1920s and 30s, preparing him for the immense task of commanding Hill during the Second World War. 

Brigadier General Morris Herman, commanding officer of Hill Field and the Ogden Air Depot 1940-1944. Courtesy Photo

Within the first few months of his service at Hill, and the Ogden Air Depot, Brigadier General Berman saw the completion of two separate runways, as well as the Operations Hangar just shy of a year after his arrival. By the time of the attack on Pearl Harbor in December of 1941, Hill Field’s flying operations were in full swing. 

With the entrance of the United States into World War Two, Hill Field’s operations kicked into overdrive. Brigadier General Berman oversaw exponential growth in both construction and operations as it became clear that air supremacy would be one of the major keys to defeating the Axis powers.

Tasked with the repair and refurbishment of military aircraft, Hill Field was vital to the war effort and was exemplary in what it was able to accomplish. In 1943, a grand experiment was undertaken at Hill: the thousands of heavy B-24 bombers, in use by the United States since 1941, had taken a beating. Repairs needed to be made, but instead of doing all repairs at once in one bay, the workers at Hill would create a production line, and repair them that way.

The initial goal was to do one aircraft per day, but, just five months after beginning the process, the air depot was repairing up to six. The effectiveness of Hill Field and the Ogden Air Depot led to major growth of the installation during Brigadier General Berman’s command, and by the time he left in 1944, tens of thousands of military personnel and civilian workers had passed through the gates.

Morris Berman’s exemplary leadership took him all over the world, from the Philippines to Hill Field, to England, and beyond. Unfortunately, that service was cut short before he could see the end of the war. Brigadier General Morris Berman passed away from a heart attack almost five years to the day from when he took command at the air depot, on Nov. 11, 1945. 

His legacy can still be felt on base today, from the hangars constructed during his tenure, which are still in use today, to the many other buildings and improvements that he oversaw and helped bring to the installation.