Veteran WW2 hero celebrates his centenary

A veteran American WW2 pilot who returned to RAF North Witham in 2019 has marked his 100th birthday with a hero’s celebration in the United States.

Lt Col David Hamilton used the council-hosted visit to re-live his exploits as the last surviving pilot from a perilous pre-invasion mission flown on the eve of D-Day.

Three years on, military colleagues have rolled out the red carpet to celebrate his centenary.

David was flown to join the WWII Airborne Demonstration Team at Frederick Regional Airport Army Airfield in Oklahoma for a weekend of celebrations including a flight in an historic Douglas C-47 Skytrain, nicknamed Wild Cat. Team members parachuted from the aircraft in his honour and Dave took the controls for several minutes.

Cllr Annie Mason, South Kesteven District Council Cabinet member for People and Safer Communities, said: “We were delighted to host Lt Col Hamilton back in in 2019 on the 75th anniversary of D-Day and how wonderful to see how his 100th birthday has been celebrated.

“We must never forget the debt we owe to men like him, and all those he flew with and what they did to help turn the tide of war.”

As a 21-year-old, 1st Lt Hamilton piloted one of the 20 C-47s of America’s 9th Troop Carrier Command that took off late on the evening of June 5, 1944. On board were USAAF 82nd Airborne Pathfinder paratroopers ready to drop into France behind German lines.

The Pathfinders mission set up electronic homing equipment to help guide more than 800 C-47 aerial armada aircraft already crossing the English Channel an hour behind Hamilton’s flight. On board were 13,000 paratroopers dropping into the dark of night at the start of the invasion of Europe in the Normandy region.

Having flown the outward mission at 50ft above the Channel to avoid enemy radar, Hamilton returned to RAF North Witham with more than 200 holes in his aircraft from anti-aircraft and small arms fire.

His visit in 2019 focused on a tour of his former airfield, one of several huge American airfields surrounding Grantham in 1944,  and unveiling of an interpretation board on the 5 June mission.  He then visited South Witham to unveil a commemorative bench and meet schoolchildren whose poppy cushions handicraft financed it.

RAF North Witham’s runways are now overgrown but still atmospheric, publicly accessible and with little trace of the huge American operation that existed in 1944, when it was home to more than 3,000 American troops.

Hamilton left the US Army Air Force when World War II ended and flew for American Overseas Airline. In 1950, he was recalled into the US Air Force and flew 51 combat missions in the Korean War.