Hamilton Chan 156245 

Hamilton was born in Hong Kong in 1926 but migrated to Melbourne in 1937. Five years later, in 1942, he enlisted to join in the Australian Army. He also applied to join the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) in 1944. After the war, he became part of RAAF’s 481st Maintenance Squadron and was subsequently posted to Japan in early 1947 with the British Commonwealth Occupation Force. Their tasks included inspecting and repairing planes so these could be flown back to Australia as well as recovering bodies of fallen Australian soldiers. 

During his service, he brought along his camera and took snapshots of the places and people he worked with. Bottom photo shows members of the search and recovery squad in Bofu, Japan. These photos were all taken with his camera.  

Photographs of Hamilton Chan with other RAAF soldiers. Courtesy of Rosalie Hiah and Hamilton Chan.