Norbert Benedict Hamilton Jr. was born on September 6, 1917, to Norbert Hamilton and Helen Hamilton who lived at 20 East Washington St. in West Chester, Pennsylvania.  Norbert was one of two children including his sister Elizabeth. Their father was involved with the founding of Lenape Park, a well-known local amusement park, 4 miles south of West Chester.

Norbert’s father died in 1920, and his mother later remarried Robert Roundtree.  He attended Friends Community School in West Chester.  His family moved to Haverford, Pennsylvania, and he attended the Haverford School.

Norbert attended Dartmouth College, in Hanover, New Hampshire.  He majored in English, and according to their yearbook, the "Aegis," Norbert was a member of the Glee Club, and Theta Delta Chi.  He graduated with the class of 1940.
Norbert returned to West Chester and lived in an apartment on West Gay St.  He enlisted in the Army shortly after our county was attacked.  He entered service as a Private and received basic training and advanced engineer training at Camp Butner, North Carolina.  He was then commissioned as a Second Lieutenant (considering his College Education), and later promoted to First Lieutenant. On one of his furloughs, he visited his uncle John V. Gibney who was then the proprietor of Lenape Park.

Norbert married Jeanne Hall of Pulaski, Virginia (in the South West corner of the State) on March 20, 1943.  She stayed with her parents when Norbert was sent overseas.

Norbert was sent overseas to the European Theater of Operations in January 1944.  He served with Company I, 180th Infantry Regiment, 45^th Infantry Division.

First Lieutenant Norbert Hamilton Jr. was Killed In Action in France on August 15^th, 1944.  He was buried at the Rhone American Cemetery in Draguignan, France. 

 

 

Norbert was awarded the Silver Star, our Country’s third highest award, the Infantry Medal for exemplary conduct in Action (in an earlier battle), as well as the Purple Heart.

His Silver Star Citation reads:

For Gallantry in action on August 15, 1944 near -------------France.  While his company attacked enemy positions on a thickly wood mountain, the assault platoons by-passed an enemy machine gunner and sniper.   When the machine gunner opened fire on the company headquarters from close range, First Lieutenant Hamilton engaged the enemy machine gunner with his carbine and hand grenades allowing the headquarters group time to take cover.  Wile a support squad was being brought up, First Lieutenant Hamilton kept the enemy machine gunner pinned down with accurate carbine fire.  He was killed by the sniper who protected the machine gun nest, but his courage in single-handedly engaging the enemy machine gunner prevented the latter from inflicting further casualties on the company command group.  First Lieutenant Hamilton’s actions reflect the high traditions of the Arum of the United States.

The citation blanks out the location, but the 45th Division history lists Ste-Maxime-sur-Mer, (on the southern coast of France on  the Mediterranean Sea, west of Nice) as the location Division’s command post on August 15^th.