John Hamilton served as an Infantry officer from 1971 until he retired in 1994. His service includes two tours with the 82nd Airborne Division, a tour with the 8th Mechanized Division in Germany, and a tour with the 7th Infantry Division (Light) in California. He served with the Multinational Force and Observers in Sinai in 1983. He was in the Urgent Fury operation in Grenada that same year. He was the deputy commander of Task Force Atlantic in Panama during Operation Just Cause. He previously served as the Air Defense Artillery Command Historian from September 2004 to May 2009. His last job before retirement was as Director of the 1st Armored Division and Fort Bliss Museum.
He holds a bachelor’s degree in history from Texas A&M University and a master’s degree from the University of Southern California. He has published the books Blazing Skies: Air Defense Artillery on Fort Bliss, Texas, 1940-2009 (2009) and Fort Bliss (2018), part of the Arcadia series “Images of America,” and articles in other historical publications. He is married to the former Vicki Gottleber. They have one son, John Andrew Hamilton; daughter-in-law, Kirsten; and granddaughter Mackenzie Renee.
John Hamilton will give a lecture, Fort Bliss on the Mesa, at 2 pm Saturday, July 19 at the El Paso Museum of History.
