Richard Hamilton, Jr

The Greatest Generation!

We Lost Another One

Born in 1922, Richard H. Hamilton, Jr., started life during the era of the flappers – those fashionista feminists of the twenties. It was also the era of the 19th Amendment which gave women their right to vote, the beginning and the end of Prohibition, and one of America’s most prosperous eras when personal income increased by over twenty five percent and every American was, compared to the rest of the world, rich!

Following his father’s World War I example; in his early twenties Richard served his Country honorably in World War II and The Battle of the Bulge. Like others of his generation this gentle man believed in personal responsibility, integrity, patriotism, duty, honor, and faith; all of which made him into the man he eventually became.

Richard left a promising education at Mars Hill College in the mountains of North Carolina in order to serve the country that was so precious to him. He was at school only due to the generosity of an older gentleman who had taken an interest in him when he was on the football team at Concord High School. This gentleman had, over the years, been a regular benefactor to young men he felt to be of worthy character and discipline. Richard was always grateful to have been one of those chosen few.

While at Mars Hill, Richard played football with Thomas Ferebee from Mocksville, North Carolina, who later became a crew member and the bombardier of the infamous Enola Gay. Ever the entrepreneur, Richard once told me, “I regretted that I hadn’t gotten Tom to write something down and sign and date it. That might have been worth something!”

The Enola Gay was piloted by Colonel Paul Tibbets and the aircraft was named after his mother, Enola Gay Tibbets. Enola Gay was the plane that dropped the Atomic Bomb on Hiroshima, Japan, during World War II. Richard’s friend, Thomas, was the one who pushed the button that released it.

Born in Valdosta, Georgia, Richard always liked to say, “Us Georgia boys like our grits with cheese in them.” He was proud of his Georgia roots, his skilled craftsman builder father, and his gentle mother who had married his father at the tender age of fifteen, his hometown of Concord, North Carolina, his personal work ethic, and his faith. He was never afraid to have a conversation about Jesus; and attended Concord First Assembly. He was there in 1956, the beginning, removing tobacco juices and such from the walls of their original facility located in a former movie theatre.

By the age of twelve Richard was delivering the Concord Tribune on foot before school and helping a man from Statesville deliver bread after. With never a thought to holding on to just a little bit; Richard faithfully gave his entire pay to his parents as his contribution toward the family. He was never bitter about it. He just considered it to be, “just how things were done,” he once told me with a smile. “There was always enough left over for me to get to the movies when I wanted and to have a drink and some popcorn.”

During the Battle of the Bulge, Richard was shot in the head and the bullet broke apart and bounced around inside his head and against his skull. Part of the bullet exited the back of his head, almost exactly at his crown, but some of it remained inside. He still had the scars. It was amazing that it did not pierce his skull and Richard always gave the credit for that and many other marvelous things in his life to God.

Prior to entering the United States Army, Richard and his parents knew a Colonel from a nearby military camp. He was thought very highly of by this colonel; “Like a son,” Richard has told me on more than one occasion. They had met at the local Concord Cantina where his mother and other ladies served refreshments and danced with the, “soldier boys,” so far from home. He described Concord as a, “hot spot,” in those days, “Where soldiers drove from as far away as Monroe to take place in Concord’s night life.”

After Richard’s mother was notified that he had been injured she located this colonel who moved Heaven and Earth to make sure Richard was given the best chance to live life and live it to the fullest. According to Richard, this colonel found the one doctor who was the best specialist available for this type of surgery. This doctor was scheduled to return to the States anyway so the Colonel had him flown from the South Pacific to Fayetteville, North Carolina in order to perform the surgery necessary for Richard’s best recovery. After this surgery Richard was moved to the Veteran’s Hospital in Salisbury, North Carolina so he could recover and be closer to his family.

When his injuries were healed, Richard returned to civilian life with gusto and a heart for service. Richard’s father, Richard Harry Hamilton, Senior, was one of the five founding members of the American Legion Post 51 on Wilshire Avenue. After his military service, Richard joined and served honorably in several different capacities. He was also a Mason, a Shriner, a member of Disabled American Veterans and a part of many other service and veteran related organizations. As a Shriner he personally transported children and their parents to the Shriner’s Children’s Hospital in Greenville, South Carolina where the children were able to receive the generous and free medical benefits provided there. Richard always had a heart for children though he was never married and therefore never had any of his own.

Richard also went back to school upon his return to good health and learned to be skilled in his own field of interest. While Richard regularly bragged to me about his father’s skills, he was very closed mouthed about his own. He was a humble and patient man and I admired that he never tooted his own horn. Here is what I know. Richard had an interest in cars and went to school for training in various aspects of Auto Mechanics. After his education he became a member of a pit crew on the Lamanz Racing Circuit. I never found out which pit crew he was on but I have seen postcards from Paris and diplomas for learning about transmissions, motors, etc. As a crew member he traveled to Atlanta, Ohio, Paris, and New York to name a few of the many places we discussed.

By his mid-thirties he was becoming well established in his field but gave it all up when his mother, Lilly Carriker Hamilton, was involved in a severe automobile accident. While traveling home as a carpool passenger from her job at the Belks Department Store in Charlotte, North Carolina, another car ignored a stop sign and, upon impact, Mrs. Hamilton flew through the windshield of the car she was riding in. This was during the days before seat belt laws or car insurance and, after flying through the windshield, she was never the same again. Her injury forced her to give up a twenty nine year career.

It was then that Richard left racing to care for his mother. His father continued working his Union construction job to support the family. Several years later, Richard’s father was permanently injured when steel girders fell on him just outside of Washington, D. C., in Virginia, while working on a federal government building job. He, too, was never the same and was forced to use a cane until the end of his life. Ri