Family of Second World War veteran killed in France shares his life and legacy

On Thursday August 24, 1944, Harry R. Hamilton lost his life fighting for our freedom.

Now his family is his voice, sharing his life and legacy.

"As time progresses Harry means more and more to me. At the start it was the uncle I didn't know,” says David Roberts, Harry R’s Hamilton’s nephew.

"I was 5 or 6 years old when I started to understand, to begin to understand who he was and what had happened to him,” adds Jack Hamilton, Harry R. Hamilton’s nephew.

Neither Jack nor David were born before Hamilton passed away, but the family was left with letters and documents dating his time serving.

Hamilton’s nephews say he wore many hats while serving and had many titles. He was a trooper, a guardsman and the last couple of months of his life he was a driver for high ranking individuals.

"We know he signed up in '42 here in Halifax, we are pretty sure he took a train to Trenton, Ontario, to do training camp. He was there for quite a while and then took a boat to England to a training camp just outside of London, we know that. The next thing I know about him was in 1944 when he was killed in France,” says Jack.

Jack Hamilton and David Roberts look at letters and documents that belonged to Harry R. Hamilton. (CTV/Emma Convey)Harry Hamilton’s death was around the time of the D-Day Invasion. He was only 23-years-old and was buried in France. Jack says he was one of the first in his family to have the ability to visit his grave.

“As a young man, I went over to France to find his grave. I was really the first person to be there and it was a really awakening experience,” says Jack.

Harry Hamilton was born and raised in Middle Sackville, N.S., and in the 1980s an elementary school was named after him. It is called the Harry R. Hamilton Elementary school.

"It was quite an honour really. His brothers and sisters were there for the opening and the councillors of the day,” says Jack.

There was also a documentary made by Roberts’ father that shared the story of Hamilton’s time in Sackville as well as his time at war.

"I have been involved more with Harry through the documentary my father made and it spells out some of what he did,” says Roberts.

The documentary was not only created in his memory but also as a tool to educate the students of Harry R. Hamilton elementary school about the history of their school’s name.

“It talked about his time in Middle Sackville before he signed up and kind of gave us a flavour about what that was like,” says Jack.

“It gave us a flavour of the school and what the school would mean going forward and what it represented. Then of course it showed events taking place overseas at the time and what was going on at the time when he was killed,” adds Jack.

To this day, Hamilton’s family continues to celebrate his life. Every year on Remembrance Day they gather to remember him.

"We try to get together every November 11 as a crew. We have a group of people that is made up of past RCMP officers, past HRM officers, and some private businessmen and friends. It's a great group to remember veterans in general with,” says Roberts.

"We play 11 holes of golf, and we have a fellowship hour and a dinner together and we talk about the war and what it means to us because really it was a blink of an eye and it could have been us,” says Jack.

Both Jack and David say they often think about the fact that it could have been them if it wasn't for the generation difference. So now they reflect on the sacrifice he made for not only them but their country.

"He also represents all of the other Harrys that did the same thing,” says Jack.

“And we realize now how important it is that our army's and our boys did what they did and how much it has impacted our life. We had the good times, the 50's, 60's and 70's. We've had a wonderful life thanks to what they did, and we know that now,” adds Jack.

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