One of the last of his generation, Second World War vet in New Brunswick dies

Angus Hamilton, who served as a radar technician in Southeast Asia during the Second World War, has died in Fredericton at the age of 100.

Angus Hamilton, who served as a radar technician in Southeast Asia during the Second World War and returned home to a successful career in the civil service and academia, has died in Fredericton at the age of 100.

Born in Listowel, Ont., on April 18, 1922, Hamilton grew up on a farm, with the Great Depression shaping his early years.

“The war had come at the best possible time for me,” he wrote in his book, “For King and Country,” one of seven he authored chronicling his life.

“I was 17 in 1939 when the war began; I signed up when I was 18 and I had just turned 19 when I reported for duty. I wasn’t close to settling down. I was at the age when adventure calls.”

In an interview in November when he attended a Remembrance Day ceremony in Fredericton, Hamilton said he had wanted to be a pilot, “like every boy, but my eyesight was not good enough.” Instead he became a radar technician with the Royal Canadian Air Force, serving on night fighter squadrons in Northern Ireland and India until the end of the war.

“During the war none of us was allowed to say where we were or what we were doing, and, after the war no one cared,” he said in another of his books about the war years.

Hamilton died at home last Saturday, just three days shy of his 101st birthday. His funeral was held Thursday in Fredericton.

His daughter Anne Hamilton said that like most children, she didn’t pay much attention to her dad’s work or his war experience when she was growing up.