Jack Hinton

Sergeant Jack Hinton, a New Zealander serving in the Western Desert, earned the Victoria Cross during the Battle of Kalamata in Greece in April 1941. When his battalion was surrounded, Hinton charged an enemy position with a pistol in one hand and a bayonet in the other, destroying two machine gun nests and a mortar position. Captured after being wounded, he spent four years as a POW, making multiple escape attempts. His story connects Belfast to the wider Commonwealth war effort through the ANZAC community that maintained ties with Northern Ireland. After the war, he returned to New Zealand but maintained connections with Belfast veterans through annual ANZAC commemorations.