Major Frank Hamer - Telegraph Major Frank Hamer, who has died aged 89, won a Military Cross at El Alamein in 1942 and a Bar to the award in Sicily seven months later. On November 3 1942, at the battle of El Alamein, Hamer, then a lieutenant in 4th Durham Survey Regiment RA, personally supervised the survey of forward positions under heavy shell fire so that guns were able to bring down an intense bombardment on hostile batteries. Throughout a series of actions, he remained in close contact with the enemy and provided the information essential for accurate artillery operations. He was awarded his first MC. After the invasion of Sicily, on July 27 1943, positions west of Agira had to be occupied by artillery after dark. The survey work had to be done in daylight in an exposed position, close to enemy infantry. Hamer, then a captain, and an assistant, succeeded in getting the requisite details whilst under continuous mortar and machine-gun fire. On August 9, while under a sustained mortar barrage, Hamer and a pair of surveyors carried out observations allowing fire to be trained on enemy strongpoints near Mount Etna. The citation for the Bar to his MC paid tribute to his coolness and courage in the face of enemy fire. Frank Hamer, the only son of a clerk at a cotton mill, was born at Bolton, Lancashire, on June 25 1919. He showed early promise by winning a place at Bolton School, where he went on to be head boy and excelled at cricket, football and athletics. It was a matter of great pride to him that his record for "throwing the cricket ball" remained unbroken. While at school, his first encounter with Hitler's Germany came when his German master asked him to organise a school camp for a group of Hitler Youth. Subsequently, a return visit was arranged at which the youngsters were subjected to a considerable amount of instruction in the marvels of the new Germany. They suspected that they had not been given the full picture when, at one point, they heard the sound of machine-gun fire in the nearby woods. In 1938 Hamer went up to St Catharine's College, Cambridge, to read Geography. He gained a Freshman Blue in athletics and, on the outbreak of war, joined the 4th Durham Survey Regiment RA. He arrived at Suez in December 1940 and saw action in Abyssinia and Eritrea. In August 1942, when orders arrived to prepare for the artillery defence of Cairo and Alexandria, the siting of guns immediately west of Cairo was his responsibility. His athletics training proved useful when he had to run up and down the Cheops pyramid, the largest trig point in the area, three times in one morning. On D-Day, June 6 1944, Hamer was perched on the top of a Sherman tank in a landing craft, approaching Gold beach, near Arromanches. He was feeling queasy and was talking to the tank commander over the deafening noise of the guns when shells suddenly burst all around them. The tank commander turned to Hamer, grinned and said "Ta Ta!", and closed his hatch. Hamer scrambled behind the turret for cover. When they arrived at the beach and the ramp was lowered, he dropped into five feet of water and found himself among drowned men, swamped vehicles and mines that had broken loose. Ashore and under constant fire, he was taking equipment off the tank when a shell burst a few feet above him and he was hit in the arm by shrapnel. He put up a beacon on the beach as a rallying point before dressing the wound. Hamer took part in the invasion of Sicily, Operation Market Garden and the Battle of the Ardennes before finishing the war on the Baltic. He was demobilised in June 1946 in the rank of major and returned to complete his studies at Cambridge. After graduating and winning a Blue for soccer, he moved to Birmingham, where he joined Cadbury, the chocolate manufacturers. In 1966 he became personnel manager and the next year joined the main board as director of personnel. When Cadbury merged with Schweppes in 1969 he became group personnel director. He took early retirement in 1980 to support his wife, Margaret, who had suffered a severe stroke. They settled at Llandudno, but after his wife's death he moved to Bournemouth and then Hertford, to be closer to his children. Frank Hamer died on April 2. He is survived by his son and two daughters.
That's an impressive career - I was very interested to see his time in East Africa. A very unflappable sort it would seem. Lucky to be able to run up the pyramid. Can't do that now! RIP.
