Adesanya Kwamina Hyde

Adesanya Kwamina Hyde 1968 New Year Honours C.B.E.[1] (born September 4, 1915; died 1993) was a Sierra Leonean ambassador to the United States of America.[2][3]

Adesanya Kwamina Hyde
Sierra Leonean Ambassador to the United States
of  Sierra Leone
to  United States
In office
January 18, 1968 / January 19, 1968 â€“ October 2, 1969
Preceded byChristopher Okoro Cole
Succeeded byJohn Akar
Personal details
Born(1915-09-04)September 4, 1915
Murray Town, Sierra Leone, Greater Freetown area
SpouseKainde Adebong Locosie
ChildrenAdesanya Keith Hyde (son), Isatu Latilewa Hyde (daughter), Oluwole Nimneh Hyde (son), Serah Hyde (daughter)
Parent
EducationSierra Leone Grammar School
Alma materCambridge University and London University.

Early life

Adesanya Kwamina Hyde was born on 4 September 1915 to Sierra Leone Creole parents, Jonathan Gustavus Hyde and Christiana Fraser.

Career


The Distinguished Flying Cross

Short of navigators in WWII, the British Government began recruiting from Sierra Leone, one of the countries in the Empire with the best academic results in Maths. Seeing this opportunity, Hyde signed up and flew to England to fight for the Allies in the RAF, completing his training at an airbase in Shropshire in the West of England. On 9 August 1944, Flight Sergeant Ade Hyde and crew set out to bomb a flying bomb site at Les Chatelliers in Northern France. The weather was fair but cloudy. As Hyde's attacking plane neared the site, crew members saw dark puffs of anti-aircraft fire. A shell burst directly in front of Hyde's aircraft; it just missed the bomb-aimer but it caught Hyde in his right shoulder. In spite of being in terrible pain, Hyde did not tell his captain about his wounds until after the crew had bombed the target and continued to navigate back to base. For his bravery and commitment during this flight, Hyde was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross, a third level military honour awarded for "an act or acts of valour, courage or devotion to duty whilst flying in active operations against the enemy".[5]

C.B.E

On 1 January 1968, in the New Years Honours, Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II awarded to Adesanya Kwamina Hyde, Esq., D.F.C. the Order of the British Empire (Civil Division) C.B.E., to be an Ordinary Commander of the Civil Division of the said Most Excellent Order.[1] At this time, Hyde was the Secretary-General of the National Reformation Council Secretariat. The National Reformation Council were a group of senior military officers who, on 23 March 1967, reversed a military coup perpetrated by the Commander of the Armed Forces, Brigadier Lansana. Lansana had placed the newly elected President, Siaka Stevens, under house arrest and declared martial law.[8]

References
  1. "The London Gazette, Fourth Supplement" (PDF). thegazette.co.uk/. Her Majesty's Stationery Office. 1968. Retrieved 2017-01-23.
  2. "The Diplomatic List". archive.org. February 1969. Retrieved 2017-01-23.
  3. "Former Sierra Leone Ambassadors". Sierra Leone Embassy. Sierra Leone Embassy, Washington D.C. Archived from the original on 2017-02-22. Retrieved 2017-01-23.
  4. Johnson, Mark (2014). Caribbean Volunteers at War: The Forgotten Story of the RAF's 'Tuskegee Airmen'. Pen and Sword.
  5. Killingray, David (2012). Africans in Britain. Routledge.
  6. Foster, Mary (2016). RAF Leconfield - a pictorial history 1937-2015. Paragon Publishing. ISBN 9781782224747.
  7. Who's who in Sierra Leone, 1980, p. 44 Archived 2016-08-15 at the Wayback Machine
  8. Keen, David (2005). Conflict and Collusion in Sierra Leone. Oxford: James Currey. ISBN 0-85255-883-X.
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