Hinrichs, Dunbar Maury

The son of Mary Wait and Lewis Hinrichs, Dunbar Maury Hinrichs was born in Brooklyn, NY on January 19, 1894. Hinrichs was educated at Montclair Academy and Cornell University. Shortly after graduating from Cornell in 1917, he joined AFS as a member of the “Cornell Unit” of the American Field Service. Though Hinrichs and other Cornell volunteers initially intended to serve as ambulance drivers, they were instead asked to join one of the newly-formed AFS camion units upon arrival in Paris. The AFS camion units, placed in the French Réserve #3 (also known as the Réserve Mallet because it was under the leadership of Colonel Richard Mallet), were created as Franco-American transportation units intended to help replenish the seriously depleted ranks of the French Automobile Service. AFS was able to promise immediate front-line assignments for Hinrichs and other Cornell Unit members as an incentive to join the AFS camion service, which they did.  The Cornell Unit and other sections combined to form the Group Genin, or Transport Materiél [Etats-] Unis (TMU) 526, comprising the first Franco-American unit within the Réserve Mallet.  Hinrichs served in TMU 526 for seven months (from May-November 1917), during which time he moved ammunition and trench material from the railheads on the Soissons-Fismes road to the Chemin des Dames front.  In the autumn of 1917, the U.S. military officially absorbed the AFS ambulance and camion units into its ranks. The Réserve Mallet became an official American adjunct of the French Army under the United States Motor Transport Corps (USMTC), and grew significantly as contingents of new volunteers arrived from the United States.  At this time, Hinrichs was commissioned as Second Lieutenant in the USMTC.

Hinrichs helped to coordinate reunions and implement new programs for the AFS Association, the post-war AFS organization, after World War I. The first post-war reunion for AFS camion and ambulance drivers was held in New York in June 1920, when the American Field Service Association was founded.  The members of the Association, including Hinrichs, sporadically issued newsletters and coordinated future reunions.  Hinrichs was pivotal in reorganizing the members of the Réserve Mallet by maintaining contact and helping to coordinate their reunions.

When AFS was reactivated as a volunteer ambulance corps in World War II, Hinrichs continued his involvement through various administrative and leadership efforts. He helped recruit volunteers for the organization soon after it was reactivated. Hinrichs was then commissioned as a caption and sent overseas with AFS in the summer of 1942. Upon his arrival in the Middle East, he was attached to the AFS headquarters in Cairo and worked on its organization and expansion. He also established the AFS Club in Cairo in December 1942, which was inspired by the AFS Club in Paris during World War I.  He returned home for medical reasons in March 1943, then reenlisted and returned to France in late 1944 with AFS unit FR 4 to work in the office before he was released from active duty in April 1945. During this time he may have also been promoted to major, though whether the final decision for the promotion was approved by AFS Director General Stephen Galatti is unclear.  Hinrichs was entitled to several commendations for his years of service including the French Commemorative Medal, Africa Star, and King’s Medal for Service in the Cause of Freedom.

After the war, he continued to volunteer for AFS as a Vice President and Director of the newly-created AFS secondary school exchange programs. He helped design promotional materials and also worked on the early scholarship committee. Additionally, Hinrichs helped to coordinate the AFS Club for the wartime volunteers, and worked on the creation of the AFS Memorial Garden at the Franco-American museum at the Château de Blérancourt in Picardie, France before attending its opening in 1964.

Hinrichs documented his personal experiences through art and writing. He was an artist, creating drawings and paintings, taking photographs, and writing throughout the course of his life. He also published six books: Mrs. Captain Kidd (1952), We Met By the Way (2 volumes, 1975), The Fateful Voyage of Captain Kidd (1952), A Round Unvarnished Tale (1966) and Plain Tales From the Sea (1961). Many of these books recall Hinrichs’ experiences with AFS.

Hinrichs married Edith Dorland, with whom he had a daughter, Nancy Roche. He was the vice president and director of the General Exchange Insurance Corporation of General Motors for 23 years, retiring in 1942 before his volunteer service in World War II. Dunbar Maury Hinrichs died in St. Petersburg, Florida on December 13, 1979 at the age of 85, survived by his wife, daughter, grandson, and three great-grandchildren

[Bio courtesy of AFS Archives, New York]

Hinrichs is one of the authors of Camion Letters.