Roger Hayes

At the age of 20, Roger Hayes was drafted into the United States Army. He arrived in Vietnam with no knowledge of the conditions in Vietnam or the troops involved. He came to Vietnam as a member of a replacement troop and because of this, he and his fellow soldiers felt they had to prove themselves to the others in their unit. Roger accepted the position of point man. This meant he would have to be the first to go into possible ambush attacks. This also meant he would be in the greatest immediate danger.

Click here to see a video of Roger Hayes

Mr. Hayes commented that battles in Vietnam, more often than not resulted from one side stumbling into the other. When this occurred, the first thing to do was fall to the ground. This made it less likely that a soldier would be shot. Then you would try to achieve what the Army called “fire superiority”. This is basically where one has to fire more rounds into the enemy than they fire at you .It was during these battles that Mr. Hayes was wounded four times. The remarkable thing about the Vietnam War was that the average soldier was shot at once every twenty-four hours. In World War II, a soldier was shot about once a month.

Another experience that Mr. Hayes had was that of being a tunnel rat. He recounted how intricate and large these tunnels could be. Sleeping quarters, hospitals, and weapons could all be found inside the tunnel network. When entering the tunnels, a soldier had to be prepared for a trap. There were many tunnels because they could be constructed so easily due to the type of clay soil that is found in Vietnam.

Mr. Hayes decided to write a book recounting his experiences in Vietnam. The book is titled On Point and is based on letters that he wrote home during the war. He looked back and reflected on what he was thinking about and what was occurring when he wrote the letters. The book is now available on Amazon.com.

Back To:

Home Page

History of Vietnam War

Links to Vietnam War Sites