Heyward Claude Spinks, of Lagrange, California, was born on July 10, 1920, in Georgia. He served in the 364th Fighter Squadron, 357th Fighter Group, as a Second Lieutenant and Pilot on the P-51 Mustang #43-6935 'Hurry Home Honey' during World War II.

On June 20, 1944, 2Lt Spinks took off from Station 373 airfield in Leiston, England, on a machine-gunning mission in the Paris region in France. He flew in the no. 3 position of the Greenhouse White section led by Capt Charles D. Summer Jr. At 06:30 PM, 2Lt Spinks plane was shot down by flak during a train attack. His aircraft burned, but 2Lt Spinks did not bail out and crash-landed in the commune of Eve. His aircraft was then completely destroyed. With the aid of the maquis, 2Lt Spinks was able to survive and return to England on August 15, 1944. He was one of the 152 allied airmen and soldiers who were helped and hidden in the Freteval Forest camp by the French Resistance to evade German capture.

Source of information: francecrashes39-45.net