Major General Heathcote Howard Hammer, CBE, DSO & Bar, ED (15 February 1905 – 10 March 1961) was a senior officer in the Australian Army, seeing service during the Second World War.

After working as a traveling salesman he joined the Militia, Australia's part-time military force, in 1923, starting out as an enlisted soldier before being commissioned as an officer.

Following the outbreak of the Second World War, Hammer volunteered for overseas service and fought in Greece, North Africa, New Guinea and Bougainville.

His father, William, was a miner, and after his parents moved to Victoria, he lived in Bendigo, where he attended the School of Mines.

Following the outbreak of the war, he joined the Second Australian Imperial Force on 8 June 1940,[3] volunteering for overseas service.

He continued to command the 2/48th Infantry Battalion until it was withdrawn from the Middle East and brought back to Australia in early 1943.

[6] For his service in New Guinea he received a Bar to his DSO in 1944,[7] and in 1945 was made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire.