Last Living D-Day Pathfinder Pilot on the Mission That Changed the War | David Hamilton

David Hamilton was born into a proud military family whose genealogy stretches back to founding father Alexander Hamilton. The day after the attack on Pearl Harbor, Hamilton walked into a recruiting station and volunteered for duty. Late on June 5, 1944, Hamilton climbed into the pilot's seat of his specially outfitted Douglas C-47 loaded with paratroopers and set off across the English Channel. He was one of 20 select pilots and crews trained in secrecy known as the “Elites” who were to drop pathfinder troops behind enemy lines to begin the D-Day invasion. Following D-Day, Hamilton went on to perform other Pathfinder missions, such as Operation Dragoon, the invasion of Provence in Southern France, on August 15th, 1944, and Operation Market Garden over The Netherlands a month later. Additionally, Hamilton led the cargo planes over Bastogne, Belgium to drop supplies to the 101st Airborne Division when Nazi forces had surrounded them during the Battle of the Bulge in December, 1944. Lt. Col. David Hamilton, the last surviving C-47 pilot who flew pathfinding paratroopers into France during the 1944 D-Day invasion, passed away on January 5, 2025 at the age of 102. Please consider donating to help us capture more incredible stories: http://americanveteranscenter.org/don... Learn more about the American Veterans Center: http://www.americanveteranscenter.org/ Like us on Facebook:   / americanveteranscenter   Follow us on Twitter:   / avcupdate   Follow us on Instagram:   / americanveteranscenter   Subscribe to our podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/show/2980518