A Marine who died nearly 24 years ago while charging a machine gun nest to save his platoon in the Vietnam War was honored Friday for his heroism.
One of the men saved by Pfc. William Allen Hayes campaigned for the posthumous commendation after years of feeling guilty because he couldn't talk about the attack."He saved my life and he saved a lot of other lives," Jim Kaylor said. "My conscience is clear in this matter now."
Kaylor, now a sergeant with the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department in California, said he and Hayes charged a machine-gun nest after their squad of Marines was pinned down near the North Vietnamese border on June 6, 1968.
As they ran toward the enemy, they stopped for a second and looked at each other, Kaylor said.
"We decided we could either get shot in the chest or get shot in the back, so we went right at them," Kaylor said after the ceremony in Hayes' hometown of McHenry, 45 miles northwest of Chicago.
Hayes reached the lip of the enemy trench and prepared to throw two grenades. The machine gun opened up and he fell as he threw them.
Kaylor, armed with a .45-caliber pistol, continued to attack until there was no more return fire. He won a Silver Star for his heroism.