Major General Sir William Robert Norris "Looney" Hinde, KBE, CB, DSO & Two Bars (25 June 1900 – 13 July 1981) was a senior British Army officer who served in the Second World War and in the Mau Mau Uprising in colonial Kenya.
[7] From 26 August 1942 until 7 December 1942 he commanded the 20th Armoured Brigade,[6][8]: 283 with the temporary rank of brigadier, and then from 23 January 1943 to 7 August 1944 was commander of the 22nd Armoured Brigade, seeing active service in North Africa, Italy and North-West Europe; particularly in Normandy and in the Battle of Villers-Bocage.
[27] On 19 July 1955 he was appointed a Companion of the Bath (CB) "in recognition of distinguished service in Kenya during the period 21st October 1954, to 20th April 1955".
[28] On 1 January 1955 he received a mention in despatches "in recognition of distinguished services in Kenya during the period 21st April to 20th October 1954.
[1] Hinde's nickname "Looney" was a tribute to both his courage and eccentricity; on one occasion while briefing his senior officers in Normandy in mid-June 1944 he was distracted by a rare caterpillar, which he promptly collected.
[30] In May 1947 he was detained by a Russian patrol while wandering along the border of the British and Soviet sectors of Berlin with a pair of binoculars.