Editing Edmund Hillary (section)

==World War II==
[[File:Edmund Hillary at Delta Camp near Blenheim during WWII.jpg|thumb|upright|Hillary in [[Royal New Zealand Air Force]] uniform at Delta Camp, near [[Blenheim, New Zealand]], during [[World War II]] ]]
At the outbreak of [[World War II]], Hillary applied to join the [[Royal New Zealand Air Force]] (RNZAF) but quickly withdrew the application, later writing that he was "harassed by [his] [[conscientious objector|religious conscience]]".<ref name="nzheraldlife">{{cite news |url=http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10482158 |title=Sir Edmund Hillary's life |access-date=11 January 2008 |last=Calder |first=Peter |date=11 January 2008 |work=[[The New Zealand Herald]] |publisher=APN Holdings NZ Limited}}</ref> In 1943, with the Japanese threat in the Pacific and the arrival of [[Compulsory Military Training in New Zealand|conscription]], he joined the RNZAF as a [[navigator]] in [[No. 6 Squadron RNZAF]] and later [[No. 5 Squadron RNZAF]] on [[Consolidated PBY Catalina|Catalina flying boats]].<ref name="nzheraldlife" /><ref name="Cenotaph"/> In 1945, he was sent to [[Fiji]] and to the [[Solomon Islands]], where he was badly burnt in an accident.<ref name="nzheraldlife" />