Edward F. Hayes

Portsmouth, RI - Captain Edward F. Hayes, USN retired 90, of 77 Sunrise Drive, Portsmouth, RI, died Sunday, March 8, 2009 at Newport Hospital, Newport, RI. He was the husband of Clare D. Hayes. Captain Hayes was born in St. Louis, Missouri, on June 26, 1918, he was the son of the late Thomas Michael and Catherine VanLeunen Hayes.Captain Hayes attended Roman Catholic parochial and high schools, and completed one year at Saint Louis University prior to his appointment to the Naval Academy by Senator Champ Clark of Missouri. He graduated with the Class of 1940.His first assignment was as Assistant Turret and Division Officer, Fourth Division, U.S.S. Maryland BB-46. He became Division and Turret Officer upon the transfer of Lt. A.B. Mayfield, and was present on 7 December 1941, at the bombing of Pearl Harbor. A request to be assigned to flight training was approved, and he began flight training at the U.S. Naval Reserve Air Base, Lake Ponchartrain, New Orleans, on 9 September 1942, and was awarded wings at the Naval Air Station, Pensacola, Florida, in April 1943. He requested specialty in multi-engine aircraft, and was sent to the Naval Air Station, Lake City, Florida, where he specialized in the Vega Ventura PV-1, twin-engine medium land-based bomber, used primarily in anti-submarine warfare. He was promoted to Lieutenant in late 1943, and held as an instructor at Lake City and Boca Chica, Florida, until early 1944, when he received orders as Executive Officer, Patrol Bombing Squadron 136 VPB-136, assigned to the Orient Express run from Attu, Territory of Alaska, bombing the northern Kurile Islands of Paramushiru and Shimushu. In early summer of 1944 the Commanding Officer was shot down over Paramushiru, and Lt. Hayes was ordered to duty as Commanding Officer. He added the extra half-stripe in the Fall of 1944. The squadron was returned to the States in the Spring of 1945, and Lt. Cdr. Hayes was ordered to duty as prospective air officer of a carrier. However, instead he received orders to the Staff, Fleet Air Wing One, which operated seaplanes planning rescue missions in connection with the drive through the southwest Pacific. The Air Wing was based on board seaplane tenders through Guam, the Marianas Island, and finally Okinawa. At wars end, after the atom bombs were dropped, the Wing was ordered to duty as Chinese coastal patrol, based in the Whangpoo River at Shanghai.On 3 December 1945 Hayes received orders to proceed to the U.S. Naval Academy as an instructor. Upon his return to the States he married Clare Sheehan Dowd in Holyoke, MA on 29 December. Upon reporting to the Academy he was assigned to the Marine Engineering Department, but was transferred to the newly established Aviation Department in 1946. On 2 December 1946 the first of their children, Edward F. Hayes, Jr., was born at the Academy Hospital. Transfer orders to Aircraft Development Squadron FOUR VX-4 arrived in June 1948, and the family moved to the Naval Air Test Center, Patuxent River, Maryland. Hayes acted as Maintenance Officer, and command pilot of B-17s, which the squadron operated. Because they were fitted with special radar, the planes were used in hurricane tracking during the annual hurricane season. Next transfer came in July 1950 to the Electronics Test Division of the Naval Air Test Center. Hayes was Assistant Maintenance Officer, and general duty pilot. It was here that he qualified in helicopters, and subsequently became Head of the Rotary Wing Branch of Electronics Test. Test flights in practically every one of the early generation of helicopters made for some heady moments.Hayes added the third stripe in January 1951, and was ordered to duty as Commanding Officer, Helicopter Utility Squadron ONE HU-1 based in San Ysidro, California. The family moved to Chula Vista, California, and Hayes took command in May of 1953. The squadron provided utility services and rescue missions for the Pacific Fleet during the Korean War.Orders to proceed and report to the Flight Test Division, Naval Air Test Center arrived in June 1955, and Hayes acted as the Head of the Rotary Wing Branch of Flight Test from June 1955 to May 1957, when he was ordered to duty as Executive officer, U.S.S. THETIS BAY CVHA-1, Then the Navys only helicopter carrier, based in Long Beach, California. Two deployments to the western Pacific followed, and in October 1958 Hayes was ordered to duty as Chief, Navy Section, MILTAG, Djakarta, Indonesia. In June 1959 advancement to the rank of Captain took place. From March 1960 to August 1962 Hayes served in the European, Middle East and Africa Branch of the Joint Staff in the Pentagon, and transferred to the Senior Course Naval Warfare at the Naval War College, Newport, Rhode Island, in July 1962. He was retained at the War College upon completion of the Senior Course, and served from July 1963 to July 1965 as Secretary, Naval War College, and instructor on the staff. Final tour of duty began in August 1965, when orders directed Hayes to proceed and report as Professor of Naval Science and Commanding Officer, NROTC Unit, College of the Holy Cross, Worcester, Massachusetts. He retired on 30 June 1970, and then taught at Tiverton High School, Tiverton, Rhode Island, as Naval Science Instructor and Commanding Officer, Naval Junior ROTC Unit until June 1978, at which time he went into full retirement. Since then he and his wife, Clare, have spent much of their time and effort in traveling the world.Besides his wife Clare of 63 years, he is survived by his sons Cdr. E. F. Hayes, Jr., SC USN Ret and Stephen G. Hayes, his daughter Maureen Geralyn Helfrich, eight grandchildren, six great grandchildren and his sister Moira C. Zippy Kuhl. He was the brother of the late John J. Hayes and Thomas M. Hayes, Jr.Calling hours will be held on Thursday, March 12, 2009, from 4-8 pm in the Connors Funeral Home, 55 West Main Road, Portsmouth.Funeral services will be held on Friday, March 13, 2009 at 10am from the Connors Funeral Home, 55 West Main Road, Portsmouth, followed by a Mass of Christian Burial at 11am in St. Barnabas Church, East Main Road, Portsmouth. Donations in his memory may be made to St. Barnabas Church, 1697 East Main Road, Portsmouth, RI 02871.