Sergeant First Class Hicks was a member of Battery C, 503rd Field Artillery Battalion, 2nd Infantry Division. He was seriously wounded by the enemy near Kunu-ri, North Korea on 1 December 1950 and taken Prisoner of War. He died of those wounds while a prisoner on 17 January 1951. His remains were not recovered. His name is inscribed on the Courts of the Missing at the Honolulu Memorial.

Hicks was awarded the Purple Heart, the Prisoner of War Medal, 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.