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Community Corner

Fairlawn Man Donates 16 Gallons of Blood, One Small Pint at a Time

American Red Cross has been recipient of Sam Hamilton's generosity since 1966 in Vietnam.

It was the promise of a steak dinner after far-too-many meals of powdered eggs and bread in 1966-era Vietnam that prompted Fairlawn resident Sam Hamilton to become a first-time blood donor. Fast-forward 45 years and Hamilton is the proud recipient of a 16-gallon donor pin from the American Red Cross.

That means Hamilton, 65, has made 128 separate trips to Red Cross blood drives, donating the gift of life one pint at a time. At this point, Hamilton said the donations are just part of his life routine.

“It’s kind of like a form of charity. My wife and I give money to other charities, but the Red Cross needs blood, so I give that,” Hamilton said. “I’ll keep going every other month as long as I’m healthy and eligible. I may as well, because people need it.”

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The U.S. Army veteran admits he viewed the process as “kind of scary” when he was just a young soldier serving in Vietnam.

“The Red Cross needed blood (for fellow soldiers) and, as an incentive, they were offering us steak dinners. At that time we were the only army north of Da Nang, and getting supplies was really tough. There were times we only had powdered eggs and bread to eat for two to three weeks at a time, so a steak dinner was really a big deal,” Hamilton chuckled.

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He gave blood one other time that year, took a year off from donating while he was back in the United States, then gave two more times when he returned to Vietnam. Then came a long, dry spell in donations caused by his service in Southeast Asia.

“When I got back I had to forget about donating. (The Red Cross) wouldn’t take my blood for three years because of the anti-malaria drugs we had to take every month in Vietnam,” Hamilton said.

In the late 1970s or early ’80s – Hamilton doesn’t recall the exact year – he saw a newspaper notice about an upcoming Red Cross blood drive at a church near his house in Kenmore. “I decided, why not, I’ll go do it again,” is the simple reason he offered.

Hamilton got into the habit of donating two or three times a year for several years. Then the Red Cross rolled out an incentive program that kicked his donations into high gear.

“They created a preferred donor program where if you gave five times a year, you were supposed to get something – I don’t remember what. I wasn’t giving blood to get gifts, but I started going six times a year just to outdo the people who were doing it five times a year for the gifts,” Hamilton said with a laugh. “I never did sign up for their program.”

The tool and die maker at Miller Bearing Co. in Brimfield said it’s his habit to stop at blood drives on his way home from work. Hamilton estimates he “gave about 13 gallons at Goss Memorial Church” in Kenmore, which is located less than a block from his former house. He kept attending that blood drive even after moving to Fairlawn 10 years ago. This past spring, though, that church stopped hosting drives so Hamilton switched to .

Here’s what Hamilton offered up when asked to share some memories from attending 128 blood drives:

  • “The thing that gave me the biggest kick over the years is that they used to have people (escort) you from the chair over to the tables (after donating). They had an older gentleman – he was in his 70s and might have weighed about 140 pounds – walking me, and I think I was in my 40s at the time. I asked what he would do if I started to go down and he said, ‘Let go,’ ” Hamilton laughed.
  • “One time they had a young girl that wasn’t really good at (drawing blood). She probably poked me five or six times before someone else stepped in. She was crying, but to this day I still don’t know why – it didn’t hurt her any,” he said.
  • A recent chuckle came when Hamilton was nearing the 16-gallon donation mark. He asked a Red Cross volunteer who was giving slices of pizza to donors if the organization even had a 16-gallon pin. He said another donor overhead the question and quipped, “Sixteen gallons? They should give you a whole pizza.”
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