Second Lieutenant Hinson was a member of Battery B, 555th Field Artillery Battalion, 5th Infantry Regimental Combat Team. He was Killed in Action while fighting the enemy near Pongam-ni (Bloody Gulch), South Korea on 12 August 1950.

Hinson was awarded the Purple Heart, the Korean Service Medal, the United Nations Service Medal, the National Defense Service Medal, the Korean Presidential Unit Citation and the Republic of Korea War Service Medal.