Posted by Lee Hayward on April 29, 2011:

IN MEMORY ________________________________________ CHARLES W. HAYWARD - Orlean, VA ________________________________________ Col. Charles W. (Chuck) Hayward, 30 May 1927 -- 14 December 2010, USMA Class of 1950 Charles Winthrop Hayward was born in Andover, Essex, MA, on Memorial Day, 30 May 1927, the son of Harry W. Hayward and Myrtle C. Trommer. Chuck attended public schools in Andover. In 1944, during his senior year at Punchard High School, he enlisted in the Army Air Corps flight training program. With the suspension of flight training at the end of WWII, he took Air Corps basic training and was assigned to Germany in January 1946 where as a buck private he became Operations Sergeant of the 366th Fighter Group at Fritzlar. An appointment from Senator Leverett Saltonstall of Massachusetts returned him to the USMAP program at Amherst College in the spring of 1946. From there he entered the Academy on 1 July 1946. Commissioned in the Cavalry, he served briefly in the 2nd Armored Division at Fort Hood before reassignment in October 1950 to the Tank Company of the 9th Infantry Regiment, 2nd Infantry Division in Korea. He joined the regiment in Pyongyong, Korea, during a lull that even included a Bob Hope show. Within days of his arrival, however, the Chinese entered the war; and the 9th infantry moved north over the Kunu-ri pass into the Chongchon River Valley and north towards Huichon. From the beginning his platoon of tanks was in the van of the regiment. When Chinese pressure on the flanks brought the offensive to a halt, he changed directions on orders. He then moved south and established a delaying position to cover the withdrawal of all 2nd Division elements towards Kunu-ri. When this position was overrun on 28 November 1950, he walked out from behind the Chinese line with a handful of his troops. En route back to the US lines, he was overjoyed to get a ride from his classmate, Ray Maladowitz, whose Heavy Mortar Platoon had been left behind as his regiment had been driven back. They had last seen each other at Ray's wedding in the Cadet Chapel on graduation day six months earlier. Upon reaching the company assembly area at mid- morning, Hayward was given command of the company's five remaining tanks. The next morning, 30 November, he lead his composite platoon as the first element of the 2nd Infantry Division over the Kunu-ri pass, clearing disabled vehicles from the road as they went. In subsequent months he took command of the company and completed a 13-month tour, all at company level. He received a battlefield promotion to captain 15 months after graduation. In 1952 he spent an enjoyable and warm year at JUSMAG Philippines where he met and married Barbara Susan Burns, the daughter of a career Army officer, Paul Burns (USMA 1931). Eddie Ramos and Frank Borman served as members of the wedding party. Chuck and Barbara celebrated their 58th wedding anniversary in November, 2010. Subsequent years and assignments took him to the 82nd Airborne Division, the 3rd Infantry Division, HQ Berlin Brigade, the 24th Division, and ultimately in 1969 to command of the 1st Brigade, 25th Division in Vietnam. Reinforcing his special pride in the command, was the presence of a battalion of the 9th Infantry in its order of battle. He capped his Vietnam tour as G3 of II Field Forces then took his Vietnam expertise to Paris for a two-year stint as a member of the Peace Talks Delegation. Along the way Patricia (1953) and John (1954) joined the family at Fort Bragg, NC; Paul (1956) at Syracuse, NY; Laura (1958) at Fort Meade, MD; Lee (1962) at Berlin, and Linda (1966) at Maxwell Air Force Base, AL. To fill in those gaps between troop assignments and with an eye to enhance the prospects of meaningful employment upon Army retirement, he applied for civil schooling and thus secured an MBA at Syracuse University. This lead to a three-year tour of the Office of the Assistant Secretary of the Army (Financial Management) culminating as Executive. Upon Army retirement in 1975, he moved the next day to Amtrak, the National Railroad Passenger Corporation, where he served successively as Director of Program and Budget, Assistant Vice President Resource Management, Vice President Finance and Treasurer, and Vice President Finance and Administration (Chief Financial Officer). In May 1991, six months before he retired, Chuck and Barbara purchased property in Fauquier County, Virginia, where he took up farming of pedigreed Black Angus cattle. He belonged to the 2nd Infantry Division Korean War Veterans Alliance and kept in close touch with the men from the 9th Infantry Tank Company. Author David Halberstam interviewed him while writing his book on the Korean War. Chuck farmed until his death at age 83 on 14 December 2010. Preceded in death by brother Ralph Lester Hayward, he is survived by his wife, six children, ten grandchildren, his younger sister, and his cows.

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