David Hinks fishing
"One of the one million"Photo of Flight Sergeant David Hinks, fishing
Flight Sergeant David Hinks fishing
Story
David Hinks loved fishing, but it went beyond casting the odd line; it was his passion. He would make and sell plaster models of fish. He also studied biology and wrote a book on Manitoba’s fish species.
David was one of the 1,000,000 Canadians who joined the armed forces during World War II. Although he was born in England and emigrated to Canada as a child, for all intents and purposes, he was an all-Manitoban boy.
Hinks was a leader at the Young Mens’ Christian Association (YMCA), a University of Manitoba student working on his master's degree, and he was working for the Manitoba Department of Natural Resources when he joined the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF).
David was extremely proud when his wife gave birth to their son, in May of 1942, but saddened that he was overseas at the time. David never knew his own father, who was killed in the Battle of Vimy Ridge, just a few months after his own birth. Tragically history would repeat itself as Hinks died when his plane was shot down on July 29, 1942; he never met his newborn son.