Hamilton, Henry Ernest (Lance Sergeant, b.1916 - d.1945)

Lance Sergeant Henry (Harry) Ernest Hamilton enlisted in the Second World War with the 2/33rd Battalion on 29 December 1941. The collection relates to the latter part of Hamilton’s service, covering the period 1944 to 1945. The 2/33rd journeyed back to Australia in February 1944, for a year of intense training – ahead of what was to be their last operation of the war, in July 1945 in Balikpapan, Borneo, the area of the most determined Japanese resistance.

The collection includes a diary kept by Hamilton, covering the 2/33rd’s training in Australia in 1944. The diary begins on 8 February 1944, reading: ‘Went aboard the Kanimbla at Port Moresby today to return to Aussi. Are we happy? I’ll say! The Kanimbla is an auxiliary cruiser now and has a naval crew of about 600. There are about 1300 troops on board…’

In addition to describing training and camp life, the diary reveals the blossoming romance between Harry Hamilton and Joan Wilmot: on 18 February 1944, Hamilton writes ‘Arrived at the Sydney Showground this afternoon and after some messing about I commenced my leave. 24 glorious days are ahead of me. Rang Joan and I’m to be married on Thursday the 24th. 4 weeks! It can’t come soon enough.’

The diary closes in the last week of December 1944. Hamilton’s entry on the 28th of December provides an example of the training sessions he facilitated: ‘This morning I went over to the 56 Bty, 2/6 Field Regiment and did some instructing on Pita [Projectile Infantry Tank Attack gun] I enjoyed going over and was made welcome.’

Following over twelve months of training, Hamilton departed Australia on 9 June 1945 with the 2/33rd. The Battalion landed at Balikpapan in Borneo on 1 July 1945. The collection includes two handwritten letters from Hamilton to his wife Joan. The second of the letters, dated 10 July 1945, reads ‘… We moved forward again yesterday and here I am once again sitting alongside my slit trench – a different one tho. Gosh, Darl, I’m certainly getting in plenty of practice for digging the garden. I’ve certainly dug up a lot of this ‘ere island since I arrived in the form of dozens of fox holes and slit trenches. Every time we take up a new position after booting the Jap out we have to dig in with the result that I’m becoming quite adept at it ...’

This was the last letter written by Hamilton. He died one week later: on 17 July 1945, Lance-Sergeant Hamilton was leading a D Company patrol which was ambushed by Japanese troops, leaving Harry mortally wounded. He was the last soldier from his battalion to die. The remainder of the 2/23rd battalion withdrew to rest on 24 July; the war ended on 15 August.

The day before Harry was killed he received a photograph from Joan of their new born son Bruce. An album compiled by Joan, and included in the collection, commemorates the romance of the newlyweds. The album contains Harry’s hand drawn illustrations, cards, notes, poems and messages, sent to Joan while he was serving in New Guinea. Although predominantly romantic, the elaborately folded cards are also cheeky, containing hidden messages, playfully teasing Joan. Joan also pasted many of the envelopes in the album, intriguing in their own right as Harry decorated each with popular comic characters of the era, including Popeye, Donald Duck, Blinky Bill and others. Additionally, the album includes beautiful original pen and ink illustrations, drawn by Harry and profiling New Guinea. The album opens with a detailed line drawing, titled ‘The Church of the Resurrection, N.G.’ The album closes with Harry’s drawings of house plans, in anticipation of a new home in Sydney with Joan, following the war.