Interview date: 23 January 2022
William A. “Bill” Hamilton, Ph.D. is an American journalist, novelist, military historian, retired military officer, former college professor, and a formerly featured commentator for USA Today. An instrument-rated pilot, he is the co-holder of a world aviation speed record. Hamilton is a laureate of the Oklahoma Military Foundation Hall of Fame, the Oklahoma Journalism Hall of Fame, and the Nebraska and Colorado Aviation Halls of Fame. Bill and his wife, Penny, co-founded the award-winning Emily Warner Field Aviation Museum at the Granby, Colorado Airport (KGNB. Hamilton served 20 years on active duty as an Army officer, including two combat tours in Vietnam. During the Vietnam War, he served as an infantry company commander and as an operations officer at the battalion and division levels in the famed 1st Air Cavalry Division. Between tours in Vietnam, he was attached to the 19th U.S. Air Force and to Colonel Chuck Yeager's 4th Tactical Fighter Wing, flying as a “guy-in-the-back” in the F-4 Phantom fighter. His military decorations include The Silver Star, the Legion of Merit, the Distinguished Flying Cross, 20 Air Medals, four Bronze Stars, and the Purple Heart, among others. Bill co-authored with his wife, Penny, four espionage novels. under the pseudonym William Penn. In 2020, Bill was named a Grand County Citizen of the Year. He holds degrees from the University of Oklahoma, the U.S. Army Language School, The George Washington University, U.S. Naval War College, the University of Nebraska, and Harvard University Kennedy School of Government.
MWSA: How did you find out about MWSA?
Readers of the biographies of famous military leaders often read that he or she was "mentioned in dispatches." Of course, most wannabe military heroes want to be "mentioned in dispatches." That set me to wondering who writes those dispatches. In Vietnam, I came to know the late, great Joe Galloway rather well. Now, there was a war correspondent who knew how to write "dispatches." And that led me to www.mwsadispatches.com and to the Military Writers Society of America.
MWSA: What caused you to become a career military officer?
My maternal grandfather was a lawyer and so was my favorite older cousin. I grew up thinking I would go to law school at O.U. and wind up as a small-town lawyer and probably run for the Oklahoma Legislature. In high school, I served a term as a page in the House and the next year I was chief page in the Oklahoma Senate. Just before entering O.U., I was elected Governor of Oklahoma Boys' State.
My sainted Father served in the Navy out in the Pacific during WWII. His brother, my Uncle Edward, was an infantryman poised to take part in the invasion of Japan. My second cousin, Rear Admiral Tommy Hamilton served as air boss on the USS Enterprise during the Battle of Midway. At war's end, Cousin Tommy was skipper of the USS Enterprise. So, on my mother's side, were the Law and politics. On my father's side, was the Military.
At O.U., I signed up for four years of Army ROTC, discovering I really liked Military Science more than the Law. Commissioned as an infantry officer, I was halfway through law school when the Chicoms were shelling islands in the Strait of Formosa and President Eisenhower decided the nation needed more infantry lieutenants than it did nascent lawyers.
While serving the obligatory two years on active duty, I discovered a passion for military service. While I could have left the Army and gone back to the Law or taken up any number of lucrative careers, I was like a good number of my colleagues who felt we could make a difference in the life of our nation by being on the front lines of the Cold War. By the end of 20 years, the Cold War and Vietnam were over and the Governor of Nebraska offered me a job as his aide and to be his interpreted during a trade mission to West Germany.
MWSA: How did you get involved in journalism?
As a teenager, I was a paperboy for The Anadarko Daily News, my hometown newspaper which, since 1984, has carried my "Central View," my weekly newspaper column. While on active duty, I wrote several articles for Infantry Magazine and other military publications. After working for Nebraska Governor Charles Thone and heading up a government reorganization task force for him, I left state government. While teaching History at Nebraska Wesleyan University, the publisher of SUN Newspapers hired me to write a weekly column on national and international affairs. Not long after that, my wife and I and some partners where able to buy The Capital Times of Lincoln from the Omaha World Herald. While my wife and I were co-editors of that newspaper, I was hired by USA Today as a featured commentator. When my favorite editor retired, I did as well, ending 19 years of writing in loyal opposition to USA Today editorials. Eventually, we sold our interest in The Capital Times and moved to Colorado where I continue to write "Central View." See: central-view.com. Eventually, I ended up in the Oklahoma Journalism Hall of Fame. From paperboy to laureate. Go figure.
My Master's thesis at The George Washington University and my doctoral dissertation at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln dealt with the origins and conduct of the Vietnam War. So, after many years of sitting on a shelf, I dusted them off and wrote War During Peace: A Strategy for Defeat.
After moving to Colorado in 1992, my wife and I decided to co-write a series of espionage novels that are largely autobiographical of places and events we experienced in a military career that took us all over the world. See: buckanddolly.com. They are soon to be re-released as a four-novel set.
MWSA: How did you get so involved in aviation?
Mostly, by accident. After my tour as an infantry company commander in Vietnam, the Army assigned me to be a Ground Liaison Officer to the 19th U.S. Air Force, and the 4th Tactical Fighter Wing at Seymour-Johnson AFB in North Carolina. At the time the 4th TFW was commanded by Colonel Chuck Yeager, the Air Force pilot who broke the Sound Barrier.
When I went over to present myself to the 4th TFW, I was unaware of Colonel Yeager's fame as a WWII fighter pilot, of his carrying a wounded navigator on his back over the Pyrenees to escape the Nazis, and unaware of his many high-altitudes speed records. I knew Colonel Yeager broke the Sound Barrier; however, by 1967, F-100s and F-4s routinely flew faster than sound. So, during our first meeting, I only accorded him the same respect I would display toward any Air Force bird colonel. Apparently, he liked that.
He told his deputy, "Assign a locker to this Army officer, Issue him a complete set of flight gear. Get him through the altitude chamber and Martin-Baker ejector seat training. There will be times when he will fly as my guy-in-the back." And I did on several occasions. Also, one of the staff officers at 19th Air Force taught me to fly the T-33 jet trainer (formerly the F-80 fighter) while he sat in back hovering his hands over his control stick. I found flying so interesting and so much fun I joined the Seymour-Johnson AFB Aero Club and earned a private pilot's license. And later, an instrument ticket.
I traveled with Colonel Yeager to South Korea during the USS Pueblo Crisis and went with him and squadrons of the 4th TFW to Turkey, to Greece, and to Norway for NATO exercises. Although a man of few words, Colonel Yeager (later BG) was a kind and considerate commander who really knew how to care for his troops. Of higher headquarters, not so much.
At the time, my wife and I did not realize the impact my learning to fly would have on our post-retirement lives. In 1987, the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association (AOPA) was looking for a Regional Representative to serve its members in ND, SD, NE, and KS and I was hired. Later, the region was expanded to include CO, and WY. For 24 years, we worked for AOPA, flying hundreds of accident-free hours. Eventually, much to my surprise and delight, my wife decided to get her pilot's license. A feat that led to her current career as a writer about the history of women in air and space. See: pennyhamilton.com. But it all started with Colonel Yeager.
MWSA: So, what is next?
Some time ago, I published The Wit and Wisdom of William Hamilton: The Sage of Sheepdog Hill. It is mostly a collection of "Central View," newspaper columns; however, as I remember vignettes from my checked past in the military, in state government, in academe, in political consulting, and in the advertising and PR business, I write them down. They could end up in an expanded version of Wit and Wisdom. Or, I might write a memoir of my military career and call it: Some Funny Things Happened On My Way to the Stockade (almost). We'll see.
MWSA:Why did you write War During Peace: A Strategy for Defeat?
I wanted my fellow veterans to understand the origins of the Vietnam War.