Ray Griffin, a World War II veteran from Glover, who tells about the life and death of his brother, Everett Griffin, who died during WW II in the 10^th Mtn. Division, in a previous article on this website, asked me if I could find anything about the death of his cousin David Griffin Hinman of Newport. All he had was the date of his cousin’s death. That date was September 14, 1943.  The following is an article that I managed to locate in the September 20, 1943 issue of the Newport Daily Express

Staff Sergeant David Hinman Dies in S.W. Pacific

Son of Mr. and Mrs. C.S. Hinman – Radio Operator and Gunner with Air Force

The U.S. War Department informed Mr. and Mrs. Carroll S. Hinman, Sunset Terrace, on Saturday evening that their son, Staff Sgt. David Hinman, 24, had died on Tuesday, September 14 in the Southwest Pacific war zone. Hinman was a radio operator and gunner with the U.S. Army Air Forces and had been overseas only two months. The telegram received from the War Department did not state how Staff Sgt. Hinman met his death, further details are being promised the bereaved parents in a letter to follow.

Prior to induction into the armed services, Staff Sgt. Hinman was employed by the Greenfield tap and Die Corporation at Greenfield, Mass. He was born in Newport, April 25, 1919, attended the local schools and was graduated from the Newport High School in the class of 1939. He was employed for a time at the Butterfield Division of the Union Twist Drill Co., at Derby Line, before taking the position with the Greenfield machine tool firm.

Inducted at Springfield, Mass., the later part of July 1942, Hinman received his Army Air Force training at Sioux Falls, S.D., Tyndall Field, Panama City, Florida, and completed intensive instruction at Greenville, S.C.

Staff Sgt. Hinman’s last furlough home was one day on April 26. Receiving a five-day leave from the Army air field at Greenville, S.C., he was married on April 23 to Marguerite Alger of Greenfield, Mass. He had hoped to get home on his birthday and Easter Sunday, both of which occurred this year on April 25.

The young man was a prominent athlete in Newport High School, a member of former Coach Barry Brannon’s stellar baseball, basketball, and football teams.  He was a member of the school’s honorary society, Skull and Bones. Although of a quiet disposition, he was well mannered and friendly, courteous to old and young alike and made many friends in Newport where his family is well known. He was a member and life-long attendant of the First Methodist Church.

At an early age young Hinman showed an aptitude for mechanics and was especially proficient in shop work during his school days and following. Assigned by Army authorities to study of radio, the Newport young man became very enthusiastic about his Army tasks.

It was a strange coincidence that his parents received a letter from him on the same date on which the War Department was later in the week to report he died, last Tuesday , Sept. 14. Among his last written words to his parents, typical of many of the letters written home by the boys at the front, were these:

“I am feeling well and happy and am O.K. Please don’t worry.”

Staff Sgt. Hinman is survived by his wife, Marguerite Alger Hinman of Greenfield, Mass., his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Carroll Hinman; two sisters, Mrs. Stuart Myers, Miss Maida Hinman, and a brother John, of this city, also a brother, Paul, who is employed in a Chicopee Falls, Mass., war industry.

In the death of their fine young son who has given his last full measure of devotion for this nation, the Hinmans have the deepest sympathy of the citizens of Newport.