Pierpont Morgan Hamilton

Pierpont Morgan Hamilton (August 3, 1898 – March 4, 1982) was a military officer in the United States Air Force, and the scion of two illustrious families in American history: the Hamilton family, which traces its lineage to founding father Alexander Hamilton, and the Morgan family, which traces its lineage to the financier and banker J. P. Morgan.

As a United States Army Air Forces officer in World War II, he was the recipient of the United States military's highest decoration, the Medal of Honor. Hamilton and Col. Demas T. Craw were the first Army Air Forces recipients of the Medal in the European-Mediterranean theater of World War II and the only AAF members to be awarded that decoration for valor not involving air combat.

Biography

Hamilton was born in Tuxedo Park, New York on August 3, 1898, to William Pierson Hamilton (great-grandson of Alexander Hamilton) and Juliet Pierpont Morgan (daughter of John Pierpont Morgan). His siblings included Helen Morgan Hamilton, Laurens Morgan Hamilton, Alexander Morgan Hamilton, and Elizabeth Hamilton. He attended the Groton School and Harvard University, where he eventually attained both his bachelor's (1920) and master's degree (1946).

World War I On August 7, 1917, after the United States joined World War I, he left Harvard, where he was a sophomore, to enlist as an aviation cadet, and was assigned to ground training at the School of Military Aeronautics at Cornell University. Upon his graduation on October 13, 1917, he was transferred to the Aeronautical General Supply Depot and Concentration Barracks at Hazelhurst Field, Garden City, New York, and assigned to the foreign service detachment to complete his flight training overseas. Illness prevented him from sailing with his detachment, and he was reassigned to flight training at Ellington Field, Texas, on February 6, 1918.

On May 9, 1918, he received his Reserve Military Aviator rating and was commissioned as a First Lieutenant in the Signal Officer's Reserve Corps. Hamilton served in the Air Service as an instructor in aerial navigation, meteorology, astronomy and officer-in-charge of bombing instruction at Ellington Field. Hamilton was promoted to captain on September 21, 1918. On December 31, 1918, he was honorably discharged from service. They had three children before divorcing: Philip, David and Ian. He married Rebecca Stickney on January 3, 1930. The second marriage also ended in divorce, with no children. His third and final marriage was on August 20, 1946, to Norah Goldsmith Soutter. Hamilton adopted her son Harold Moon from a previous marriage, and was a devoted stepfather to her son Nicholas Soutter, from her marriage to Lamar Soutter.

Medal of Honor action

On November 8, 1942, when French forces resisted Allied landing operations, Hamilton undertook a mission for Truscott to deliver a message to the local French commander near Port Lyautey, French Morocco, to broker a cease-fire. He was joined in the mission by Col. Demas T. Craw, who volunteered to accompany Hamilton to lend the prestige of his rank to the negotiations. The officers came ashore in the first wave of Goalpost landing craft carrying troops of the 2nd Battalion, 60th Regimental Combat Team, but the alerted French defenders began shelling the force and prevented a planned landing at a jetty on the Sebou River near French headquarters.

After landing on Green Beach before dawn, still under hostile fire from shore batteries, the officers commandeered a small truck and were strafed by French aircraft when it became stuck in a muddy marsh. After the truck was extricated by a detachment of combat engineers, they attempted to continue their mission but were forced to return to the beach when caught in the exchanges of French artillery and naval gunfire from Task Group 34.8 of the United States Navy. When Truscott expressed misgivings about the mission, Craw convinced him to allow them to continue. They located a jeep and enlisted its driver, Pfc. Orris V. Correy, to cross through the French lines. Craw carried unfurled American and French flags, and Hamilton a white flag, in an attempt to safeguard their passage.

At dawn the officers reached the jetty that was to have been their original starting point. After several contacts with French troops to obtain directions, and requesting a guide (which was refused), the jeep proceeded cautiously approximately six miles into Port Lyautey. As they came over a rise on the outskirts near the French headquarters, a hidden machine gun position took them under sustained fire and killed Craw.

The two survivors were captured but Hamilton's anger at the killing of Craw under a flag of truce intimidated the French, who agreed to take him to the French command post. The local commander, Col. Charles Petit, declined to order a cease-fire but agreed to forward Hamilton's message to his immediate superior, Major General Maurice Mathenet. Fearful of the possible consequences for killing an officer traveling under a flag of truce, the French refused to allow Hamilton to communicate with his headquarters and kept him under "house arrest." Hamilton left active duty once again on March 31, 1952.

He resided in Montecito, California, and continued service in the Air Force Reserve, resuming duties with the Policy Division. Promoted to major general on June 20, 1955, he completed the Reserve and National Guard General Officer Orientation Course at the Air War College in 1957.

Following his military retirement in 1959, Hamilton held a number of civilian business positions, including an association with Electronic Products Corporation of Santa Barbara, California and as an executive with the Santa Barbara Bank & Trust until 1979, when his health deteriorated. Hamilton was admitted to the VA Wadsworth Medical Center in Los Angeles and died at age 83. Hamilton was buried in Santa Barbara Cemetery, Santa Barbara, California.

Medal of Honor citation The President of the United States of America, in the name of Congress, takes pleasure in presenting the Medal of Honor to Major (Air Corps) Pierpont Morgan Hamilton, United States Army Air Forces, for conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity in action above and beyond the call of duty while serving as the Assistant Chief of Staff for Intelligence, Western Task Force, in North Africa during the landings of Operation Torch. On 8 November 1942, near Port Lyautey, French Morocco, Lieutenant Colonel Hamilton volunteered to accompany Colonel 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 machinegun 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 machinegun fire was delivered upon the truck from pointblank range, killing Colonel Craw instantly. Although captured immediately, after this incident, Lieutenant Colonel Hamilton completed the mission.

Awards and Decorations

BadgeReserve Military Aviator1st rowMedal of HonorLegion of Merit with one oak leaf clusterArmy Commendation Medal

with arrowhead device and two campaign starsWorld War II Victory MedalArmy of Occupation Medal4th rowNational Defense Service MedalAir and Space Longevity Service Award with three oak leaf clustersArmed Forces Reserve Medal Foreign Awards

1st rowOrder of the British Empire(United Kingdom)Knight of the Order of Christ(Portugal)