Richard Henry Hamilton was born in September 1922 in Brattleboro, Vermont with three brothers and one sister. His father died in 1929 from Measles and double Pneumonia. [Annotator's Note: The interview is disrupted by a telephone ringing at 0:03:23:000.] His mother stayed home to care for the children and managed the vegetable garden, jarred meats and produce, along with other farm duties. She was nominated as mother of the year for a Vermont award. His family lived in his grandfather's house on a farm with no electricity during the Great Depression. Richard was listening to the radio with his family when they heard that the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor [Annotator's Note: the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on 7 December 1941].

After Richard Henry Hamilton finished high school in 1940, he raised poultry on the farm as a means of income until he was drafted into the military in 1942. He recalled wanting to go and fight for his country. A group of men from his county were ordered to take a train to Fort Devens, Massachusetts where they were inducted, received equipment, and had a physical and medical exam. He was assigned in the United States Army Air Forces, the USAAF, and was sent to Miami Beach [Annotator's Note: Miami Beach, Florida] for boot camp for four weeks and then radio training in Chicago, Illinois for six weeks. After completing his aptitude test for the USAAF, Hamilton was sent to Sioux Falls, South Dakota for advanced radio training and joined his B-17 [Annotator's Note: Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress heavy bomber] crew in Alexandria, Louisiana for maneuver training before flying to Prestwick, Scotland in the summer of 1944. He continued to train with his crew while overseas. His crew flew eight missions before being shot down on 20 July 1944.

On 20 July 1944, Richard Henry Hamilton and his crew on their B-17 [Annotator's Note: Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress heavy bomber] were to bomb the Leipzig Airfield [Annotator's Note: now Leipzig–Altenburg Airport, Nobitz, Germany]. Hamilton assumed the black dots in the rear were their escorts, but soon found out that it was about 60 German fighter planes. Hamilton commented that they were vulnerable because they were not in formation. His plane was riddled and they lost communication because the radio had been damaged. The bomb bay filled with flames that got close to the bombs. The tail gunner motioned to Hamilton to bail out. He watched a couple of the crew bail out before he jumped. He recalled flopping around in the air before he was able to control his body and released his parachute when he hit about 5,000 feet. When he reached the ground he assessed himself and realized he was okay and not seriously injured.

Richard Henry Hamilton bailed out of his plane, and after landing in a field he was greeted by a mob of villagers which persisted to attack him as they forced him to march to their village and placed him in the local jail. The next morning, they gave him some boiled potatoes, then transferred him by car to a collecting place where he saw one of his crewmen. They connected with their eyes but made no other attempt to show they knew each other as a precaution. He recalled staying at this place for several days before being transferred to Dulag Luft [Annotator's Note: Dulag Luft were interrogation and transit centers for Allied prisoners of war captured by the Germans] and put into solitary confinement for eight days. When they let him out of solitary confinement and put him in with other prisoners, he saw a former schoolmate. He was relieved to see a familiar face. Hamilton was put on a train for three days and arrived at the train depot near Stalag Luft IV Prison Camp [Annotator's Note: in Gross Tychow, Pomerania, now Tychowo, Poland]. The train was surrounded by soldiers with bayonets and German Shepherds. They forced them to march and eventually run while holding their Red Cross suitcases as they headed to the prison camp. The guards continuously intimidated and beat the prisoners on their journey to Stalag Luft IV. [Annotator's Note: The interviewer pauses to change tapes at 0:58:57.000.]

Richard Henry Hamilton describes the Stalag Luft IV Prison Camp [Annotator's Note: Gross Tychow, Pomerania, now Tychowo, Poland] and the barracks of the compound he was in. He stated that 23 men were assigned to his barrack with triple bunks. The room leader would get their food in a galvanized bucket that reminded him the pails they used to feed the calves on the farm. The leader would then portion out the food to all the prisoners in the barrack. Hamilton would walk around the compound several times a day to get fresh air. At bedtime, the doors to the barracks were barred shut. The latrines would often overflow into the compound and Russian workers would come out and fix it. They received athletic equipment and books from the YMCA [Annotator's Note: Youth Men's Christian Association]. Hamilton found a bible and shared it with other prisoners. He described life in the prison camp as boring and malnourished.

On 6 February 1945, the prison guards marched Richard Henry Hamilton and the rest of the prisoners out of the camp [Annotator's Note: Stalag Luft IV in Gross Tychow, Pomerania, now Tychowo, Poland] when the Germans knew the Russians were close by. They passed a store with food and equipment, and the guards let the prisoners grab what they could and then continued to walk until nightfall. Hamilton marched for 76 days [Annotator's Note: an event now referred to as the Black March] and were given meager food. If they stopped at a farm, sometimes the farmer would cook potatoes or German turnips for the prisoners, which Hamilton thoroughly enjoyed. The prisoners suffered from various ailments such as lice and dysentery. On 24 April, Hamilton decided he did not want to march anymore and fell back with six stragglers. By mid-morning, as the column of prisoners marched on, two Russians on horseback came by and the newly liberated prisoners received a warm greeting.

Richard Henry Hamilton was liberated by some Russians after being on a march for over 70 days. Hamilton recalled finding a vacant farmhouse and barn and was able rest for several days and eat eggs, chicken, and milk. He used a bicycle to get around the countryside that he found at the farmhouse. He had butchered a pig and when he was roasting the pig at the farmhouse, the Germans arrived to his surprise. He figured out that they were traveling west to surrender to the Americans. After eating some food and looked for clothing, the Germans left that night. The following day, Hamilton, and the group he was with headed west toward the Elbe River to find the Allies. When he was picked up by some allies, he was put into a hospital for three weeks because he had jaundice. He was sent to Le Havre [Annotator's Note: Le Havre, France], boarded a ship, and arrived in the New York Harbor [Annotator's Note: New York, New York] 12 days later.

Richard Henry Hamilton was discharged on 29 October 1945 and used the G.I. Bill to attend the Fannie Farmer's School of Cookery [Annotator's Note: Miss Farmer's School of Cookery in Boston, Massachusetts]. He owned and operated the Skyline Restaurant [Annotator’s Note: Brattleboro, Vermont] and worked until retiring in 1993.

Richard Henry Hamilton is apprecive that he was able to do what he did in the service and glad he was able to come out it. He holds no animosity toward the German people. Hamilton thinks that Americans were unified in the fight against Germany and Japan. He recalled the Great Depression meant a lot of work to stay comfortable. He is very appreciative of all his mother did for him during his youth.