Hines first joined the Australian Imperial Force (AIF) on 24 August 1915, falsely claiming to be 28 years of age.[7][8] In the year before he joined the Army he had worked as a seaman, engineer and shearer.[3] He was discharged from the AIF as medically unfit on 20 January 1916.[3][9] On 8 May Hines successfully rejoined the AIF, this time giving an age of 36 years and seven months.[10] By this stage of the war medical requirements were less strict due to the need for reinforcements to make good the AIF's casualties.[3] Hines was assigned to the 45th Battalion and departed Sydney for Europe onboard HMAT A18 Wiltshire on 22 August 1916.[11]

After completing training in England, Hines joined the 45th Battalion on the Western Front in March 1917.[3][4] In June that year he captured a force of 60 Germans during the Battle of Messines by throwing hand grenades into their pillbox, and was later wounded.[3] He returned to his battalion in time for the Battle of Polygon Wood in September, where Frank Hurley photographed him on 27 September surrounded by the loot he had captured.[12][13] Hines was an aggressive soldier and it has been claimed that he killed more Germans …show more content…
He was court martialled on nine occasions for drunkenness, impeding military police, forging entries in his pay book and being absent without leave. He also claimed to have been caught robbing the strongroom of a bank in Amiens, though this is not recorded in his Army service record.[6] As a result of these convictions, Hines lost several promotions he had earned for his acts of bravery.[18] He was also fined on several occasions, and the resulting need for money may have been one of the factors that motivated his looting.[19] A member of the 3rd Battalion described Hines as "not normally a weak man but rather one ... uncontrolled".[18] An officer from the 45th Battalion stated after the war that Hines had been "two pains in the