Harry Morris Hinkson, Jr. was born at Wilmington, New Castle County, Delaware on July 29, 1923. He was the youngest of three children of Harry Morris Hinkson (3 Oct 1884 – 7 Jan 1973), who was born at Elam, Concord Township, Delaware County, Pennsylvania; and Mary (Ingram) Hinkson (24 Oct 1886 – 10 Nov 1986), who was born in Pennsylvania. His parents married about 1907 and lived at Wilmington, Delaware, where his father was a milk dealer at Hinkson Dairy, the family business. The family home and dairy were located at 1022 North Monroe Street in Wilmington. His father sold the family business to Hy-Point Dairy by 1942, and then worked for Hy-Point Dairy on Naaman Road in Wilmington.
He had two sisters, both born at Wilmington: Marguerite (Hinkson) Beach (2 Jan 1909 – 8 Jul 1995) and Ruth I. (Hinkson) Hammond (27 Nov 1912 – 23 Jan 2011). A niece (daughter of his sister Ruth) said, "The family called him Junior. We were only 12 years apart. He was my 'big brother' and took me everywhere. Music was his life. He was a talented trumpet player and was courted by the Marine Band, but he wanted to join the Air Corps. He was engaged to a woman named Ann Clayton when he went overseas."
He completed Army Air Forces aerial gunnery training and was assigned to the heavy bomber crew of Second Lieutenant Charlton A. Deuschle. The crew completed B-17 operational training in the States (possibly at Sioux City, Iowa) and deployed to England. They were assigned to the 838th Bomb Squadron of the 487th Bomb Group. This unit was based at Army Air Forces Station 137 near Lavenham, Suffolk, England, and was part of the 8th U.S. Army Air Force in Europe. The Deuschle crew was a replacement crew and arrived in England by July 1944. On August 5, 1944, Lt Deuschle and crew flew their fifth combat mission.
Sgt Hinkson and seven of his crewmates were killed in action on August 5, 1944 when their aircraft, B-17G 43-38007, was shot down by flak on a mission to bomb an aircraft engine factory at Magdeburg, Germany. The aircraft received direct hits just before bombs away, and exploded within seconds. The fuselage broke apart aft of the ball turret, and part of the right wing came off. Most of the men were either killed instantly, or were ejected from the aircraft without their chutes. The aircraft crashed near Lostau, Germany, about 13 kilometers southwest of Burg, near Magdeburg. Pilot 2/Lt Deuschle and gunner Sgt Robert J. Crooker survived and became prisoners of war. The dead were buried initially at the village cemetery in Lostau (possibly in Alter Friedhof Lostau, the Old Lostau Cemetery).
After the war his remains were returned to the United States and reinterred at Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Virginia.
B-17G 43-38007 crew:
• Deuschle, Charlton A – 2/Lt – Pilot – POW
• Steffens, Eugene F – 2/Lt – Copilot – KIA
• Underwood, Allan B – 2/Lt – Navigator – KIA
• Gregory, Jesse E – 2/Lt – Bombardier – KIA
• Late, Carl L – T/Sgt – Engineer – KIA
• Cochran, William J – S/Sgt – Radio Operator – KIA
• Hinkson Jr, Harry M – Sgt – Tail Gunner – KIA
• Deelaney, Grady E – Sgt – Ball Turret Gunner – KIA
• Haglund, John L – Sgt – Waist Gunner – KIA
• Crooker, Robert J – Sgt – Waist Gunner – POW
Note: The crew roster in Missing Air Crew Report 7893 lists Sgt Hinkson as the tail gunner and Sgt Haglund as a waist gunner; but the casualty questionnaires completed by Lt Deuschle and Sgt Crooker state that on this mission Sgt Hinkson was the left waist gunner and Sgt Haglund was the tail gunner.
Source of information: Paul M. Webber, www.findagrave.com