Pierpont Morgan Hamilton

Sought a ceasefire despite capture and deadly enemy gunfire.

Pierpont Morgan Hamilton was born on 3 August 1898 in Tuxedo Park, New York. He attended Groton School and Harvard University before enlisting in the aviation section of the Signal Reserve Corps in August 1917. After ground school at Cornell, illness prevented his planned overseas departure. He completed flying training at Ellington Field, Texas, was commissioned a Second Lieutenant in May 1918, and taught navigation, meteorology, astronomy and bombing. He became a First Lieutenant that September and left service in December 1918.

Between the wars, Hamilton returned to Harvard and worked in international investment banking in Paris and New York. Recalled as a Major in 1942, he served as a Royal Air Force liaison officer and helped plan Allied operations in Europe and North Africa. He became an intelligence officer with the force preparing to land in French Morocco.

On 8 November 1942, near Port Lyautey, he volunteered to accompany Colonel Demas Craw on a mission to the French commander to seek an end to hostilities. Shelling forced their landing boat away from the Sebou River, and they landed under aircraft fire. As they approached headquarters in a truck, machine-gun fire killed Craw. Captured afterward, Hamilton nevertheless completed the mission. His Medal of Honor recognized his determination during this dangerous effort to halt the fighting.

Hamilton subsequently served in intelligence and operations posts in North Africa, then at headquarters in Washington and with the Joint Chiefs of Staff. After a postwar release from active duty, he returned in 1947 and became chief of the Air Force Policy Division in 1948. His later work included foreign military affairs in Wiesbaden and military facilities negotiations in Paris. He left active duty in 1952 but continued in the Air Force Reserve, becoming a Major General in 1955 before retiring in 1959.

Hamilton settled in the Santa Barbara area of California and pursued civilian business interests, including work with Electronic Products Corporation and a local bank and trust company. He died in Los Angeles on 4 March 1982 and was buried in Santa Barbara Cemetery.

Medal of Honor citation

For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity in action above and beyond the call of duty. On 8 November 1942, near Port Lyautey, French Morocco, Lt. Col. Hamilton volunteered to accompany Col. Demas Craw on a dangerous mission to the French commander, designed to bring about a cessation of hostilities. Driven away from the mouth of the Sebou River by heavy shelling from all sides, the landing boat was finally beached at Mehdia Plage despite continuous machine-gun fire from three low-flying hostile planes. Driven in a light truck toward French headquarters, this courageous mission encountered intermittent firing, and as it neared Port Lyautey a heavy burst of machine-gun fire was delivered upon the truck from point-blank range, killing Col. Craw instantly. Although captured immediately after this incident, Lt. Col. Hamilton completed the mission.