Donald Grant Hamilton was born in Raynardton, Yarmouth, Nova Scotia on 2 November 1915 to Alfred and Elizabeth Hamilton. He was brought up on a farm with his brothers Arnold, Harold, Lloyd and sisters Ardis, Annie, Edith and Ethel.

He completed his schooling in 1930 to work on the farm and driving trucks while supporting his mother after his father’s death. He enjoyed baseball, fishing, tennis, skating, swimming and reading.

After serving in the reserves, he enlisted in the Royal Canadian Air Force at Yarmouth, Nova Scotia on 2 August 1941, aged 25 initially as a transport driver. He applied for Air Gunner training on 6 June 1942, gaining his badge on 25 September 1942 and arriving in the United Kingdom on 5 November 1942.

After a spell with 23 OTU, then 426 (Thunderbirds) Squadron RCAF, he joined 429 (Bisons) Squadron RCAF at RAF East Moor, North Yorkshire on 24 March 1943 on Vickers Wellington medium bombers. 429 Squadron re-equipped with Handley Page Halifax heavy bombers in August 1943, moving to RAF Leeming, North Yorkshire.

On the night of 3/4 December 1943, Donald was a crewmember on Halifax serial JD361 which took off from Leeming for a raid on Leipzig. The aircraft crashed on 4 December at Wittenmoor, Southwest of Stendal, Germany with all crewmembers lost, the cause unknown. Donald was 28 years old.

Donald was buried at Wittenmoor along with Pilot Officer Fayette Williams Brown George Hingston RCAF (Pilot) and Sergeant George Robert Hooper RCAF (Air Gunner). On 29 May 1947, all three were reburied in the Berlin 1939-1945 War Cemetery, Coll.grave 8.D.35-37.

The remaining crewmembers of JD361, Flying Officer William Edward Hampton RCAF (Pilot), Flight Sergeant John Campbell Lochead RAFVR (Air Bomber), Sergeant John Richard Williams RAFVR (Wireless Operator/Air Gunner), were not located and are commemorated on the Runnymede Air Forces Memorial, Surrey, England.