Veteran William Hamaker enjoyed world travel, working with hands
William Hamaker felt a twinge of guilt when soldiers he helped transport for the D-Day invasion of Normandy during World War II begged him to hide them.
"They really didn't want to go and get killed, but that was (his) job, to transport them," recalled his sister, Maxine Marshall of West Mifflin. "Bill felt like they were deserting those guys by dropping them off there."
William I. Hamaker of Elizabeth Township died Friday, Aug. 5, 2011, in Kane Regional Center in McKeesport of complications from a stroke. He was 85.
He was born Sept. 22, 1925, to Floyd and Julia Drotos Hamaker in Reynoldsville in Jefferson County. The family moved to Duquesne, and his father, a skilled carpenter, started Hamaker's Home Remodeling.
In July 1943, when Mr. Hamaker was 17, his mother signed papers allowing him to enlist in the Navy. His sister said his shipmates used to douse him with water to wake him up in the morning.
A gunner's mate, he was assigned to a Liberty ship called the Charles M. Hall for the invasion of Normandy.
"He was saying how scary it was for someone his age -- the amount of planes flying over in the invasion, you could hardly see the sky," said his wife, Nancy J. Potemra Hamaker of Elizabeth.
"The young men pleaded not to get off the ship. 'Please stow me away so I don't have to get off,' " they begged her husband. "He talked about all the dead bodies in the water and how traumatic that was."
He later was transferred to the USS Hector, a fleet repair ship, where he worked as a shipfitter in the South Pacific.
After the war, Mr. Hamaker received his General Educational Development certificate and became a pipefitter for the U.S. Steel National Works in McKeesport until his retirement in 1984.
He met Nancy Potemra in 1971, and they were married in 1977. They took numerous trips around the world, including to Italy, Spain, Australia, New Zealand and Fiji.
"He was a wonderful companion for me for 40 years," she said. "We had a nice life together."
Mr. Hamaker kept busy during retirement by working as a plumber and carpenter.
"He was one of those guys who could do a lot of things, saved a lot of money for you," Marshall said with a laugh.
He was preceded in death by sisters Berniece Maringo and Dolores Holt, both of Port Vue.
Besides his wife and sister, survivors include a daughter, Doreen, by a previous marriage and another sister, Shirley McFarland of Reinhold.
Visitation will be from 2 to 4 and 7 to 9 p.m. today in Gilbert Funeral Home and Crematory Inc., 6028 Smithfield St. in the Boston community in Elizabeth Township.
The service will be at 10 a.m. Tuesday in the funeral home chapel, with the Rev. Vincent P. Velas officiating. Burial with military honors will follow in the Mt. Vernon Cemetery in Elizabeth.
The family asked that memorials be in the form of contributions to White Oak Animal Safe Haven, 2295 Lincoln Way, White Oak, PA 15131.
