Veteran Spotlight
by Richard D. L. Fulton
Erik W. Hayes
KIA in Iraq
Erik W. Hayes was born on November 14, 1980, at the Gettysburg Hospital, to parents Douglas and Deborah Hayes (subsequently known as Deborah Reckley). Hayes had a younger brother, Bradley, who was born in 1984.
Hayes grew up in Harney and graduated from the Living Word Academy in Blue Ridge Summit in 1998. He was the only student to graduate from that educational institution that year, according to a story published by The Baltimore Sun on December 3, 2004.
The Baltimore Sun had reported that the Living Word Academy is a private school with an annual enrollment of some 30 students, ranging from elementary through high school grade levels.
Following graduation, he was hired at various places of employment, including working on a dairy farm and working for an electrical contractor.
Hayes enlisted in the Army on September 4, just one week before the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks that claimed the lives of some 2,977 victims, and left thousands of individuals injured and suffering from the various effects associated with the attacks.
Prior to his enlistment, Hayes had resided with his grandmother, Margaret M. Hayes, and his father in Harney.
He had told family members that he wanted to join the Army, with the intent to use his military veteran’s benefits to help pay for college. He apparently had intended to pursue an education that would enable him to establish a career as an emergency medical technician, according to an email sent to a family friend, The Baltimore Sun had reported.
After his discharge from the Army, Hayes had also planned to continue to help take care of his paraplegic younger brother, Bradley, who had sustained severe head injuries in a “fiery vehicle crash,” according to Legacy.com. The automobile crash had left his brother unable to communicate and confined to a Hagerstown nursing home, where he remained on a “feeder tube,” the (Easton) Star-Democrat had reported.
Upon entering the Army, Hayes was assigned to Fort Benning, Georgia, and then to Vilseck, Germany, as an Army specialist, where he was attached to the 2nd Battalion, 2nd Infantry Regiment, 1st Infantry Division.
From Germany, he was deployed to Bosnia and then to Kosovo.
He was subsequently deployed to Iraq in 2004.On November 29, Hayes was driving an Army vehicle in Al Miqdadlyah, a town located about 50 miles northeast of Baghdad. According to an article published in The Baltimore Sun on December 3, 2006, Hayes was on duty driving an officer’s vehicle as an officer’s escort.
As Hayes transported the officer through the town, an IED (improvised explosive device) detonated near the vehicle. As a result, Hayes was killed in the explosion, which was only two weeks after his 24th birthday.
The Gettysburg Times had reported that Hayes’ body was returned to the United States via the Dover Air Force Base on December 2.
According to thefallen.militarytimes.com, “More than 200 people jammed the Evangelical Bible Church near Thurmont for a nearly two-hour, open-casket service.” The website also reported, “Everyone stood as a choir sang “Proud to Be an American.” Some people waved small U.S. flags, while others held their hands up to heaven.”
Hayes was interred in the Mountain View Cemetery in Harney.
On April 15, 2017, more than one hundred people were on hand at the State Highway Administration building, where Maryland 140 crosses the Monocacy River, to take part in the dedication of a bridge to memorialize Hayes’ sacrifice and service to his country.
The Baltimore Sun reported that Hayes was the sixth Marylander to die in Iraq in less than 30 days, and the twentieth Marylander to die in the last 20 months.
Army Specialist Erik W. Hayes
