T. Harry Williams Center for Oral
History Collection
ABSTRACT
INTERVIEWEE NAME: Patrick G. Hayes #
4700.0955
IDENTIFICATION: Vietnam veteran
INTERVIEWER: Paul K. Moore
PROJECT: Americans in Vietnam
DATES: 4/5/74
FOCUS DATES: May 19, 1964-May 19, 1968, Aug.
1965-Oct. 1966
ABSTRACT:
T 1392, Side A
Born in Haverhill, Massachusetts; shoemaking in Haverhill; father
was affluent electrician; many electricians in family; mother is
a shoe worker; from big, fun loving Italian family; siblings, one
sister in Navy; parents divorced early; love triangle between
mother, father and father's best friend who became stepfather;
early education; deciding to join Marines; recruiters using buddy
program to meet quota; training at Paris Island, worst experience
of his life; ways boot camp tries to psychologically break
recruits; extreme amounts of exercise; getting beat up;
investigation into abusive commanding officer; learned discipline
while in boot camp; taking IQ test to determine job in Marines;
assigned to do intelligence work; first duty station at
Jacksonville, NC; Hayes was only intelligence person at
Jacksonville; promoted to Private first class; getting people
secret clearance; sent to Vietnam; learning intelligence game;
finding mentors; psyched up for war; fun shooting from
helicopter; mess duty in Dominican Republic; getting to know Navy
lifer cook; overseas training; boarded troop transport ship in
San Diego; went to Danang via Japan; Vietnam war was a farce;
duty maintaining giant map; all the intelligence people went
through Danang; duty burning top secret documents; China Beach;
working at Danang; got bored on base; wanted to see more action,
requested a transfer; transferred to Ky Ha; going on Medevac
missions; sickened by pile of bodies; size and staffing of
helicopters; helicopters were easy to shoot down; first time
getting shot down; how to land if you're shot down; a day where
many helicopters got shot down; heliocaps; not being able to
determine how many people you kill from helicopter; shooting down
helicopters; wounds sustained by Hayes and other pilots in his
unit.
T 1392, Side B
Feelings about anti-war protestors; still has shrapnel in
head; treatment for his wound; put in charge of confidential
material; Hayes had lots of power and authority; intelligence
training at Fort Halliburton, California; monitoring Vietnamese
air traffic from Central Communications Center in Danang; sorry
about so many villagers being killed; receiving secret order to
kill elephants, but refused to act on it; selectively ignoring
messages from Saigon; need for quick reactions in guerilla war;
fan falling over and sounding like machine gun fire, people
hitting the floor; briefing and debriefing pilots; saving downed
helicopters; people getting killed while trying to save
helicopters; protesting leaving guys to die while salvaging
helicopter parts; enlisted men's club; relations with ARVN
interpreter; American attitudes toward ARVNs; respect for Korean
Marines; Army tried to persuade soldiers to return for another
tour; Americans ruined the countryside; Vietnam was a beautiful
country; went to school to become an aerial photograph
interpreter after stint in Vietnam; learned about intelligence
work at school; difficult final examination of identifying aerial
views on different scales; examined photo finishes of Vietnam
after he was back in US; photographic interpreter who discovered
missiles during WWII; disgusting customs of Vietnamese people;
prostitution; Vietnamese interested in making a buck; friend who
was a bar girl; couldn't trust Vietnamese; Vietnamese barbers;
carrying weapon everywhere, including barber shop; cheap price of
hair cut; black market.
TAPES: 1
TOTAL PLAYING TIME: 1 ½ hours
# PAGES TRANSCRIPT: 32 pages
RESTRICTIONS: none