Adesanya Kwamina Hyde

Adesanya Kwamina Hyde 1968 New Year Honours C.B.E. (born September 4, 1915; died 1993) was a Sierra Leonean ambassador to the United States. In November 1944 he was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross. From 1948 to 1951 he was Assistant District Commissioner. From 1951 to 1960 he was District Commissioner. In 1960 he was Permanent Secretary. In 1961 he was Provincial Secretary. From 1965 to 1967 he was Secretary to the Cabinet of Albert Margai. From 1967 to 1968 he was Secretary-General of the National Reformation Council. From 1968 to 1969 he was Ambassador in Washington, D C (United States) In 1969 he was retired from Public Service.

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".