Olivet Nazarene University

 

The humidity was so thick the Marines’ shirts clung to them as the troops moved through the jungle terrain in Vietnam.

The year was 1967. It was just two days after a country bitterly split over a controversial war celebrated its Independence Day.

The highest-ranking tank commanders had already been killed in the midst of combat, and as the tanks rolled through the heat and gunfire, First Lieutenant Wayne Michael Hayes ’65 stepped up to take the lead.

It would be the last decision he would ever make.

“He was on a tank when he was picked off by sniper fire,” recalls his brother, Chuck Hayes, pastor of Richland Center Church of the Nazarene, Wis.

Just 8 years old when his brother died, Chuck still has that time forever embedded in his memory: the moment when he and his family found out the devastating news.

“We were coming back from something, the grocery store or shopping. My most difficult memory is seeing the Marine Corps. captains who were waiting on the porch and the sorrow my mom let out. She knew … she knew why they were there.”

What followed was a season that too many grieving families have had to endure: questioning the purpose of their son’s death and leaning on faith in God through the heartache.

“That was the first time I had ever seen my dad cry,” shares Chuck.

“The family had a fear that maybe our boy died in vain; they wrestled with that some, and they leaned on their faith. But Wayne was so proud to be a Marine, and of his country.

“My family got a whole lot more patriotic after he died. I remember the flag flying at our house and my parents believing in our country.”

Seeking to remember his brother, Chuck often reflects on the memories he had with him.

“Wayne came home from Olivet and bought me my first baseball glove. I remember going into the basement of Montgomery Ward to pick [it out].

“I had that glove for years. [After Wayne died,] I would smell the leather of that glove and just hold it, and it was almost as if my brother was there again. It was a type of going into the presence — I’ve used that analogy in sermons when talking about the sacraments.”

Wayne graduated from Olivet with a degree in sociology and with high aspirations. He hoped to attend law school and eventually have a political career.

“He founded the Young Republicans Club on Olivet’s campus and was a kind, outgoing and gregarious guy who made friends easily,” shares Corie (Hayes) Upchurch ’70, Wayne’s sister.

Corie was 19 when her brother was killed in Vietnam. The memories for her are sharp and brought the harsh coldness of war abruptly to her world.

“The reality of war hit home really fast after Wayne died. I was young, but I just didn’t think it was going to happen to us,” she shares.

Wayne’s involvement in Olivet and how much his alma mater meant to him inspired Chuck to partner with ONU to begin finding names of other alumni who died fighting for freedom so they could all be remembered for their sacrifice.

“I believe in Olivet and in all our Nazarene institutions of higher education. I was struck by the idea that my brother wasn’t the only former student who died in combat. It seems right that there should be something there to show they passed this way.

“Our educational institutions ought to be bastions of freedom, to remember — that just like our salvation — freedom [has a cost].”

To submit the name of an alumni who died in the line of duty for use in the ONU alumni war memorial, send names, branch and years of service to alumni@olivet.edu.