Portrait of Dr. Hamer Lacey
Born January 29, 1925 in Keene, NH
Rank: Gunnar's Mate. Service: US Navy. Division/Ship: USS Thorn. Theater: Atlantic/Pacific. Dates of Service: 1942 - 1946.

He enlisted in the Navy in 1942 at 17, and was assigned to the destroyer USS Thorn as a gunner's mate and deployed first to the Atlantic then later to the Far East. He discharged in 1946. Once home, Lacey returned to his education attending Boston University first as an undergraduate and then as a medical student, carrying on a family tradition - his father, grandfather and uncle were all medical doctors. He completed his pediatric residency at Boston's Children's Hospital. It was there that colleagues who had summer homes in Gloucester encouraged him to set up his own practice as a pediatrician. He eventually served as Chief of Staff at Addison Gilbert Hospital before retiring from medicine in 1993. He and his first wife Marjorie were married for over 50 years before she passed. Toegether they had five children. Lacey sums up his service succinctly and dryly, "We were in a lot of battles. We sank a couple of ships. We had some significant injuries." His experiences in the war compelled him in later years to become a vocal peace activist, which is how he met his current wife of 12 years, Charlotte Sawyer Fish.