Obituary: Perth’s André Hissink (1919-2024) a ‘true hero’ of the Second World War

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André Hissink was a third-year law student at Utrecht University when, in October 1939, he was mobilized by the Dutch armed forces to defend against the looming threat posed by Nazi Germany.

So began Hissink’s eventful war.

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During it, Hissink would be bombed by the Germans and Japanese, and forced to flee their invading armies. He learned to fly, married his sweetheart in the Dutch East Indies (today’s Indonesia), flew bombing raids with 320 Dutch Squadron, and was shot from the sky during the Battle of the Bulge.

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Hissink flew more than 60 bombing missions across France, Germany and the Netherlands and was awarded the Dutch Airman’s Cross for his valour.

He died earlier this year at a retirement residence in Perth, Ont. Hissink was 104, the last surviving pilot of 320 Dutch Squadron.

His passing was marked by the Dutch Ministry of Defence, which characterized him as a “true hero of the Second World War.”

“His life story of courage and resilience will live on,” the ministry said on the social-media platform X, formerly Twitter.

His friend and lawyer Dan Mayo called Hissink a “proud Dutchman.” “He was a little stubborn and a little brusque, but never impolite,” Mayo said.

André Louis Armand Hissink was born June 26, 1919, in Batavia, capital of the Dutch East Indies, where his father worked as an agent for a shipping firm. The family moved to the Netherlands when André was eight years old.

After he finished high school, Hissink entered the University of Utrecht to pursue his dream of practising law, but the menace of Nazi Germany soon made him a soldier.

Hissink was called up for military service October 1939 and stationed in Rotterdam. The Netherlands had a longstanding policy of neutrality — it left the country unscathed by the First World War — but it would not protect them against the aggressive designs of Germany’s Adolf Hitler.

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On the morning of May 10, 1940, Hissink saw a large squadron of German planes over Rotterdam, and, like many people, assumed they were destined for Britain. But the planes made a sweeping U-turn over the North Sea, then dropped bombs and paratroopers as part of a full-scale German invasion of Holland.

Hissink was part of the defence of Rotterdam that initially succeeded in repelling German forces, but on May 14 the Luftwaffe launched a massive bomb campaign against the city.

Hissink and five fellow soldiers took refuge in a tunnel being built under the Maas River. When the bombardment stopped, they fled toward the Hook of Holland in an attempt to escape the advancing Germans.

When they reached the coast, Hissink and his friends found a waiting British destroyer, HMS Keith, and were taken aboard with other refugees. The Dutch government surrendered to the Germans the following day.

Upon landing in Dover, England, Hissink and his colleagues sought to enlist in the air force so they could fight for liberation of their homeland.

Hissink was assigned to the Dutch Naval Aviation Service, which had reconstituted itself in England, and initially sent to an Royal Air Force station near Birmingham. There he met a young women named Janet Russell, a daughter of British missionaries.

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Their young romance was interrupted when Hissink was sent overseas by troop ship to a flying school in the Dutch East Indies. His air training began in December 1940.

Russell, after months of correspondence, travelled to the Dutch East Indies to marry Hissink in August 1941. (They would raise three children during their 66-year marriage.)

The couple expected to return to England in mid-December, but, following the Dec. 7 Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, the East Indies prepared for a confrontation with the Imperial Japanese Army. Hissink was told to stay put.

Japanese forces launched their invasion in January 1942; they would conquer the Dutch colony within three months.

Hissink and his wife boarded rescue ships that took them to Australia. From there, he travelled to the United States to complete his air training with the Royal Netherlands Military Flying School in Jackson, Miss.

Finally, in early 1943, Hissink was sent back to England, where he joined the Dutch 320 Squadron. The squadron moved to a forward airbase near Brussels in October 1944 with the Allies fighting their way across Europe.

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Hissink was at the base on Dec. 29 — enjoying a day of leave — when his crew was asked to replace another crew on a mission to bomb a key Belgian road junction. They went up in a B-25 Mitchell bomber, but were hit by flak during their bombing run. The plane’s engines were damaged, caught fire and stopped. The crew tried to bail out, but their hatches were stuck. Finally, the front hatch gave way, and everyone except the plane’s tail gunner, Johannes Jillings, 28, managed to parachute to safety.

Reflecting on his war experience, Hissink said he simply did what was required at the time: “This was my duty, nothing special, not very courageous at all,” he told an interviewer. “Occasionally there was fear, yes. But our duty demanded dedication. We could not afford to think about what sort of misfortune could happen to us.”

Hissink remained in the service until 1947, two years after the war’s end. With few civil aviation jobs available in the Netherlands, he moved to Switzerland, New Zealand and, finally, Canada in pursuit of jobs in the industry.

Hissink spent many years at the International Civil Aviation Organization in Montreal and retired to Perth about 20 years ago.

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Although forced to give up his Dutch citizenship when he moved overseas, Hissink waged a long, spirited and ultimately successful campaign to reclaim it at the age of 102. The Dutch ambassador to Canada presided over a special citizenship ceremony for him in May 2002.

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