Haven Cares for Two-Time Purple Heart Recipient

Francis “Frank” Hamill has “had a full, wonderful life,” according to his wife Shirley. The Haven team is proud to be able to care for him now at his home in Gainesville. In honor of National Purple Heart Day (August 7), we were able to sit down and learn more about Hamill’s life, including the journey to his two Purple Heart awards.

Hamill served in the United States Army. The third infantry division of the 39th field artillery, to be exact. He says he missed World War II, the war in which his older brother served, by three months and was drafted to serve in the Korean War. He arrived in Korea in October 1951, traveled through the country and ended up on the front lines in Seoul, where he served alongside Greek and South Korean (called Republic of Korea, or “ROK” solider) allies. At 95 years old, Hamill remembers the war, and the day he earned his Purple Heart medals, vividly.

They arrived to their mission location at 10 p.m. at night, slept in a ditch and got up ready for duty the next morning. Hamill was a forward observer, and was preparing for the mission when a bomb struck near him and he was blown back 15 feet, sending him flying into the tunnel. Two ROK soldiers in his company were killed instantly. When Hamill got up, he saw his lieutenant.

“My lieutenant was silhouetted, buried,” said Hamill.

“He said, ‘What a way to die.’ And I said, ‘Oh, you’re not dying,’ and went to get him and hauled him out. We sat down on a little cot for a minute, then I went to the back door. I told him, ‘I’ve got to go back out there.’ There were still bombs going off all over the place and I was the radio man. I went back to the back door and got blown back again. I sat down, my lieutenant told me again to sit there, and I said, ‘No, I’ve got to go out.’ so I went out. And I called in the mission.”

Hamill received two Purple Heart medals for each respective blow, and for saving his lieutenant. Hamill, who was 23 years old when he earned his medals, said that he was lucky, walking away from the experience with only scratches. He was in the Army for two years and spent eight months serving in Korea. Haven was honored to provide Hamill with a veteran recognition ceremony.

Outside of his military service, Hamill has lived in Canada, Illinois and Florida. His mother had six children– two were born in Ireland, two were born in Canada and two were born in the Chicago area. Hamill, born in Canada, survived being hit by a car at age 8 and went to school until he was 16 years old. Although his grammar school education ended after his first year of high school, he spent his life learning. He learned math, when necessary, at a local high school, did his artillery training at Fort Sill, Oklahoma, and took classes to learn how to cut bearings and weld. He spent his civilian life working as a machinist, keeping machines at large can and cup factories running.

Hamill shared that alcoholism ended his first marriage of seven years. He then stopped drinking during his second marriage, which lasted 48 years, and has five children and many, many grandchildren. He met his current wife Shirley, after his wife passed. He moved to Gainesville to live with his son and began attending dances for fun. Shirley’s husband had also passed, and they met at a local Eagles Club dance in 2011.

“The Eagles Club had dancing,” said Shirley. “I went and I watched for the best dancer there. That’s how I met Frank. He was really, really good at the jitterbug.”

Shirley said Hamill has worked hard his entire life, whether that was at his job or his home. Hamill added that after he stopped drinking, he picked up passion projects like antique collection, refurbishing antique tools, baseball card collection, home improvement and more.

As we recognize Purple Heart recipients for National Purple Heart Day this month, we are thankful that Hamill chose to share his story with us and that Haven is able to provide comfort, care and compassion for him and his family.