WW2 Hurtgen Forest Fallen - John Hayes, 1st Infantry Division + brother Davison

Pvt. John Hayes served in the 1st Infantry Division.
His brother Davison, a Bronze Star recipient was a private in the 9th Infantry Division.
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/120470075/john-sherman-hayes
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/56299605/davison-hayes 

John S. Hayes never had a chance to reach 100 years old today. Instead, he sacrificed his life for our freedom.

If you have enjoyed reading the stories of the WW2 fallen, I invite you to help write some!  Announcing "The Stories Behind the Stars", see https://www.storiesbehindthestars.org This crowd-sourced national project has the goal of compiling stories of all 400,000+ of the US World War 2 fallen in one free-to-access central database.  Anyone visiting a war memorial or gravesite will be able to scan the name of the fallen with a smartphone and his story will appear on the phone.

He was born on February 23, 1920 in Arkansas. His parents Randall and Flora were born in Illinois and Missouri, respectively. I was not able to find census records on the Hayes family but it appears they were farmers. At some point he married Dorothy Toombs and they had one daughter.

He was drafted into the army and became a private in Company L, 26th Infantry Regiment, 1st Infantry Division. I am guessing he joined his unit as a replacement some time after D-Day.

John had a brother named Davison who served in the 9th Infantry Division. Davison was seriously wounded and captured by the Germans in September 1944 after his unit crossed the Meuse River. He died in a prisoner of war camp. His remains were never recovered and he is still listed as MIA. He was awarded the Bronze Star.

John was killed in action two months later on November 23, 1944. At that time the 1st ID was fighting in the Hurtgen Forest. The 26th IR was advancing through Gressenich Woods. The Germans were well prepared with cannons and mortars and the artillery observation posts to zero in the ordnance.

His grave is at New Hope Cemetery in Pollard, Arkansas. His widow remarried and died in 1996.

Thank you John and Davison for your sacrifice. Let's Earn It for the Hayes brothers.

Last year on this date I profiled Marvin Fomby, 8th Infantry Division. You can read about Marvin here.

On behalf of the fallen, if you would like to see more people become aware of this project to honor the WW2 fallen, be sure to share with others on Twitter, Facebook, etc. Thanks for your interest!

I created this video to explain why I started this project: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vXt8QA481lY.

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