Jack Hinton VC remembered
Victoria Cross recipient and former Bexley resident Jack Hinton was honoured last month with the opening of a Bexley park in his name.
Mr Hinton, who died in 1997, was awarded the Victoria Cross during WWII for the courage he showed in a battle with German troops in April 1941 at Kalamata in southern Greece. After being hospitalised with injuries from the battle, he was taken to a prisoner-of-war camp in Germany. He escaped twice, but was recaptured both times and was imprisoned until the end of the war. In his later years, Mr Hinton and his wife retired to Bexley and regularly walked the banks of the Avon River, next to the reserve between river and the Burwood Expressway.
A biography of Mr Hinton records how he loved Greece; the landscape reminded him of the South Island. His Greek connections are symbolised in the reserve with olives, and the foundation stone was donated by the Mayor of Kalamata in recognition of the heroic contribution of Mr Hinton and his fellow soldiers.
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