General John Hay was born on October 2, 1917. He entered the service through the Army Reserve Program. He served with the 10th Mountain Division in Italy in World War II, and in 1947 was attached to the Swiss Army Mountain troops.
Hays’s many and varied assignments included three tours at Ft. Leavenworth, Kansas where he served on the faculty from 1955 to 1958. He was Commandment of the College, Commanding General of the Post, and Commanding General of the Combat Development Command Institute of Combined Arms and Support from 1968 to 1971.
He served as a Battle Group Commander and later as Chief of Staff of the 101st Airborne Division at Ft. Campbell, Ky., until 1961. He then served a year with the Eighth Army in Korea and commanded the Berlin Brigade in 1964-66. Hay was assigned to Vietnam in 1967 and became Commanding General of the 1st Infantry Division.
He commanded the defense of Saigon in II Field Force during May 1968 offensive and organized and commanded the Capital Military Assistance Command until his departure in August, 1968. General Hay commanded the XVIII Airborne Corps from March 1971 until May 1973, when he retired from the Army.
Some of his awards include the Distinguished Service Cross, Distinguished Service Medal (One Oak Leaf Cluster), Silver Star (3 Oak Leaf Clusters), Legion of Merit (One Oak Leaf Cluster), Distinguished Flying Cross (3 Oak Leaf Clusters), Bronze Star (2 Oak Leaf Clusters), and the Air Medal (27 Oak Leaf Clusters).
He died December, 1995.
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