The D-Day tragedy of the art teacher poet who went to war

A peaceful world away from the one that would greet art teacher William Hamilton on another coast, far from home, in the bubbling cauldron of war.

There, with his smart tweed jacket swapped for infantry khaki and carrying his weapon aloft, he joined thousands who steeled their nerves to cross a sandy Normandy beach stained with blood.

Much later the grainy photograph of William Hamilton would be popped inside a small notebook and kept safe, perhaps by his grieving widow.

Researchers want to find out more about William Hamilton, killed in the days after the D-Day landings (Image: Contributed)

Inside the book, its frontispiece adorned with his artwork, were more than two dozen of his carefully crafted poems, each revealing a little more of the man in the photograph: his worries and fears, hopes, his appreciation for nature, deep love for his wife, his humour and his observant eye.

Perceptive, thoughtful and, as events would transpire, extremely poignant.

The notebook of poems, the photograph, and his white gravestone – one of 1627 Commonwealth graves at St Manview war cemetery, 10km west of Caen in the Normandy countryside – would eventually be all that was left to show for the life of Pte William Hamilton, 2nd Btn., Highland Light Infantry (City of Glasgow Regiment).

He may have faded completely but for the small book, photograph and a note which was handed in anonymously to the Royal British Legion Scotland club in Renfrew Road in Paisley a couple of years ago, and carefully put to one side.

Although recognised as a portal to D-Day and the life of one of the thousands of men there that day, no-one at the time was quite sure what to do with them.

Read more: Edinburgh woman one of only 12 in world with rare lung gene

Sepsis hell for Renfrewshire man who lost legs, arm and hand

'Jaw-dropping' Newton Mearns home hits the market for £1.3m

But now as the 80th anniversary of the Normandy landings and William’s death loom, a group of local history enthusiasts touched by his sacrifice have embarked on a mission to find out more about his life and give his poetry the public platform it never received during this lifetime.

They hope one of his poems – maybe a particularly poignant piece called Armistice that reflects on the dreadful consequences of war - might be read at one of the events to mark Operation Overlord, when  156,000 British, Canadian and American troops embarked on a ‘do or die’ mission to bring the Second World War to a head.

And that the poignant little book of poems and the story it tells of the lives destroyed by war might be preserved for future generations, as part of Glasgow City Archives.

Although little is known of William Hamilton, amateur historians Peter Hutchison, a British Legion member and former Royal Signalman and Gilbert Wilson, a member of Renfrew Family History Society, believe the quality of his poetry is worthy of a wider audience.

Allied troops wading through the sea to the Normandy shore during the D-Day landing of June 1944 (Image: PA)

Placed against the background of D-Day and his personal sacrifice, the notebook, handwritten poems and the photograph become a vivid and tangible reminder of the turmoil war brought to ordinary people’s lives.

“Some of the poems might be considered average but I think some are remarkable,” says Mr Wilson who has been piecing together a picture of William Hamilton’s life before he went to war.

“There’s one called The Earth written in 1937. He talks about how we are degrading the planet in a manner that is way ahead of its time.

“There are love poems and some which are remarkably insightful. At least half a dozen sit well alongside any other poems you might read.

“Armistice Day November 1936 expresses his hope for the continuation of peace after the war to end all wars.

“We are concerned that Scotland lost a poet whose full potential could not be realised."

The group of researchers say they want to find members of his family to help piece together missing pieces of his life. 

“His loss represents the loss of so many lives in the war which were cut short before they could be lived to the full," he adds.

“He was one of many who fought to preserve the freedoms which we can too easily take for granted.”

In his Armistice Day poem, Hamilton writes:

“Oh God -- make it not in vain!

Should millions suffer and endure such pain?

Millions who gave what they had,

Millions who gave though it (seemed) so mad.

Men there are who still do live

Men who have no more to give

Make not this life a foolish play

In which unreason holds its sway.

Two minutes silence is held today

Two minutes in which to pray

That war with its vicious train

May never return to the world again.”

That plea, of course, would be crushed by dawn of the Second World War.

Little is known of William Hamilton other than he was born in Glasgow in 1912, the son of William, a school janitor at East Park School, in Maryhill Road, and his wife Janet. Together with a younger brother, John, they family lived in the janitor’s house attached to the school.

He was clearly bright: he studied at Glasgow School of Art and was working as an art teacher in June 1941 when he married his sweetheart, Mary Rose Banks, a typist from Parkhead.

The note inside the book of poems details his service number: Private 3327112, 2nd Btn. Highland Light Infantry (City of Glasgow Regiment).

It adds that he died on Monday, 26th June 1944, age 32, and was buried in Saint Manvieu War Cemetery, Cheux, Calvados, France.

The D-Day invasion was the largest amphibious military assault in history. It heralded the liberation of France and the collapse of Nazi-led Germany’s grip.

St. Manvieu War Cemetery, Cheux (Image: Commonwealth War Graves Commission)

That triumph, however, came at a massive price. And William Hamilton, with a creative streak and a love for poetry at odds with the brutality of conflict, would be one of an estimated 11,000 men killed during the invasion. A further 54,000 were wounded or missing.

His death was more than a fortnight after D-Day itself, during which he would have successfully navigated the horrors of Sword beach on the morning of 6 June, 1944.

Regardless of how traumatised he and other survivors from his Glasgow-based battalion might have been from that dreadful experience, there would be worse to come.

Caen, the ancient capital of Normandy, ten miles from the Calvados coast and a roads and rail hub, was a key target for the Allies and crucial to their advance south.

But it was also held in a steely grip by the enemy.

There had been hopes it might be secured on D-Day itself. Instead,  bad weather, delays and the sheer force of resistance meant Caen would not fall until 9 July 1944.

Part of the effort to take Caen centred on Operation Epsom, which began on 25 June and involved 60,000 troops, made up of forces from the 15th (Scottish) and 43rd (Wessex Divisions), the 11th Armoured division and the 4th Armoured and 31st Tank Brigades.

However, the majority of the troops involved – perhaps among them art teacher William Hamilton and his Glasgow comrades – had little real combat experience.

While in well prepared defensive positions was the potent German 12th SS ‘Hitler Youth’ Armoured Division, supported by the 2nd SS Armoured Division and the powerful II-SS Armoured Corps, all intent on throwing the Allies back to the sea.

The first wave of Allied effort on 25 June was hampered by bad weather which hindered RAF attempts to prevent Luftwaffe operations over the battlefield.

When the 15th (Scottish) Division and the armour of the 31st Tank Brigade finally advanced on the morning of 26 June – the day of Hamilton’s death - enemy fire rained down from three sides, with SS troops fighting with determination to retain their hold on the village of Cheux.

The tanks of the 11th Armoured Division were unleashed only to struggle to get south of Cheux before running into German tanks.

While the 227th Brigade of the 15th (Scottish) Division attacked to clear the Odon Valley, their thrust was halted by forces from the 12th SS Division and rapidly arriving reinforcements, including SS Tiger tanks.

War graves at St. Manvieu cemetery near Cheux (Image: Commonwealth War Graves Commission)

It would take more days of fighting and cost many more lives before Operation Epsom drew to a close: in all, the Allied corps suffered some 4020 casualties, with the 15th (Scottish) Division suffering 2331 – 58% - of these losses.

Kevin Williamson, of the Scottish Poetry Library, says William Hamilton’s poems offer insight into his character.

“From the poems you get a picture of a young guy concerned with the usual stuff that concerns young guys of any era. Falling in love, getting dumped, worries about the future.

“The poems were probably kept private, as a form of therapy perhaps. They deal with a failed personal relationship and some dark emotions.

“The writer had clearly read a fair bit of poetry as one of the poems is in a classical fourteen-line sonnet form. The influence of mid-1930s Auden is making its presence felt too.

“The best of them was a short poem where the author relaxed away from trying to be too self-consciously poetic to write about enjoying a bag of chips.

“His notebook is a fascinating find from a period when the world, like the poet’s life, was in anxious flux.”

Former serviceman Peter Hutchison, who has been trying to uncover more details of William Hamilton’s life and service history, says he hopes someone might hold the key to revealing more about the man behind the book of poems.

“We know that his widow remarried in 1947, but it is hard to find out much more,” he says. “We would like to know more about him.

“When he wrote his poem Armistice in 1936, it seems he was concerned about what was happening in Europe.

“It is as if he was conscious of what was coming ahead.

“It is very powerful to hold the book in your hands, to read his words and to know what eventually happened to him.

“His poems give insight to the man who was conscripted, who went to war and didn’t come home.”

To Mary, December 27th, 1937.

Can it be?

That I did see

A maid so fair

Whose every strand of hair

Did take away my heart

And leave to me no part.

Can it be?

The face I see

Before my eyes

Is not that which amidst my sighs

I have dreamed or seen before

As I strolled my life's shore

It must be

For I see

With amazed clarity

She must have been with me

Or why the strange familiarity

Clear back to the day I was born.

Can it be ?

It is she

Could fate ever find

To bring such beauty to mind

Then in reality to create the same

That bewitched me while without name.

Let it be

Pray for me

That it may be so

Such a joy she is, I surely know

I tell you true, I love her so

I have not the words to let her know

Tuppenny Snack, November, 1936.

Tuppence worth of chips he bought,

For warmth was what he sought.

They kept his hands in pleasant glow

Less frozen by the drifting snow.

One by one he ate them slowly,

Their juicy flavour thrilled him wholly

Brown and crisp he bit them off

He felt more lordly than any toff.