Raymond Vincent Hayes was born in Providence, Rhode Island in July 1926. He had three brothers but his sister died in infancy. He was second born. His father worked as a carpenter and it was hard to find work. He remembers him coming home and saying he did not have work. There was a hurricane in Rhode Island in 1938 [Annotator's Note: 1938 New England Hurricane, landfall 21 September 1938]. It was horrible but it meant a lot of reconstruction work. His father brought home a 100 dollar bill one night that each one of the kids was allowed to hold. [Annotator's Note: A clock chimes in the background.] The war in Europe was going on and there was a lot of work at the shipyard. Hayes worked there after school doing welding for 20 cents an hour. It was a lot of money. At age 15 he worked at Quonset Point [Annotator's Note: now Quonset Point Air National Guard Station in Quonset Point, Rhode Island] during the summer as a water boy. He had an uncle who had been in World War 1. He was ice skating when he heard about Pearl Harbor [Annotator's Note: the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on 7 December 1941]. They all went home to listen to the radio. His older brother went into the Army but they found he had asthma and he was sent home. [Annotator's Note: The interviewer asks Hayes how he ended up in Louisiana.] He used to come down and visit a friend and they loved it. They would visit a lot. They sold their home in Rhode Island and moved.

Raymond Hayes went into service in July 1947 [Annotator's Note: he corrects this later]. He got out in 1959. He had graduated in June and wanted to go in the Navy. He told his parents that if he waited until after 16 July, he would not be able to choose which service he went into. He had grown up around the water and he loved the ocean. He joined the Navy in July 1944. They took him right in. His birthday was 16 July, and he went in on 14 July. His mother was depressed about it. He did his basic training at Sampson in New York [Annotator's Note: Naval Training Station Sampson in Seneca Lake, New York]. He had a week of leave [Annotator's Note: an authorized absence for a short period of time] after that and then went to Purdue University in Lafayette, Indiana for "so-called electrical engineering." It was really a fast speed electrical course. He was then sent to San Diego, California where he went aboard an LCI or Landing Craft, Infantry. They sailed up and down the West Coast [Annotator's Note: West Coast of the United States] and finally went over to Pearl Harbor [Annotator's Note: Pearl Harbor, Hawaii]. At Pearl Harbor he was transferred to the USS Tortuga (LSD-26) as an electrician. They left Pearl Harbor and traveled around the Pacific towards China and the Philippines. He was not rated after his class at Purdue. He was in the Navy Reserves because he was 17. Boot camp at Sampson was very nice. You had to do things right. They did calisthenics and marching every day. You paid your dues and grew up fast. You learned to live with other people. The guys were from all over the United States.Some were nice and some not so nice. Hayes got along well. He had gone on the LCI in early 1945. There were only seven or eight men aboard it. They practiced landing the ship before sailing it to Pearl Harbor. Hayes had a problem with a guy in the machine room. Hayes did something wrong and the guy hit him and knocked him down. Hayes hit him back. Their ship rubbed the ship following them and Hayes was blamed. He was taken off the ship and then went on the Tortuga a couple of weeks later.

[Annotator's Note: Raymond Hayes was assigned to the USS Tortuga (LSD-26) as an electrician in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.] They had a crew of about 175 men, mostly to man the guns, work the flotation devices, and open the gates. They had 40 caliber guns [Annotator's Note: Bofors 40mm antiaircraft automatic cannon] and a three inch gun [Annotator's Note: three inch, 50 caliber naval gun] forward. It was big hulk. There was nothing fancy. If they had a movie, they hung a sheet up. Once, they were watching a movie and someone hollered out, "What's the color of horseshit?" The movie was turned off. The captain's name was Brown [Annotator's Note: US Navy Lieutenant Commander Raymond G. Brown], and he did not like that. The living area was compact. Their bunk beds were three high. He slept on the bottom bunk. It was right at a port so he could go out on the starboard [Annotator's Note: in maritime terminology, starboard means "right"] side of the ship. He assisted in the boiler and engine rooms. He was an electrician, but he filled in on work in the boiler room. He had not been taught that. They did not need an electrician on the ship. They were off the coast of Okinawa [Annotator's Note: Okinawa, Japan]. They picked up 27 LCVPs [Annotator's Note: Landing Craft Vehicle, Personnel or LCVP] to take to Saipan [Annotator's Note: Saipan, Northern Mariana Islands]. They got caught in three typhoons that they could not get out of for three or four days. They could only hold on and pray. He started crying as it was a helpless situation. They could get food if they managed to crawl to get it. One engine was out due to being flooded. They asked for volunteers to go down and open the boiler to work on it. Hayes helped. The ship was sinking. They got the boiler going again and were able to get away from the storm. He grew up fast. This was in early 1946. They had picked up the LCVPs at Buckner Bay [Annotator's Note: Buckner Bay, Okinawa]. They were all completely smashed in the storms. He has no idea why they were going to Saipan and Tinian [Annotator's Note: Tinian, Mariana Islands] where the plane [Annotator's Note: the Enola Gay; a Boeing B-29 Superfortress very heavy bomber Model 45-MO; Serial number 44-86292] took off with the atomic bomb [Annotator's Note: nuclear weapons dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan, 6 and 9 August 1945], which had happened by then.

Raymond Hayes got word of the war ending before he left San Diego [Annotator's Note: San Diego, California] for Pearl [Annotator's Note: Pearl Harbor, Hawaii]. From Pearl, they headed over towards Korea. They were at sea quite a while. They went up the coast of China to take food to people who were starving. Hayes saw a priest who lived there all through the war. He told Hayes he was helping God there. It was a very small town with a big wall around it [Annotator's Note: unable to identify the town]. It was up towards Manchuria [Annotator's Note: region of China]. They went from port to port to help people. They went from Tientsin [Annotator's Note: Tientsin or Tianjin, China] to Tsingtao, China [Annotator's Note: now Qingdao, China] and into Inchon, Korea. They went in and out of Inchon several times. He did not know what they were doing. They had a small shipment to Saipan [Annotator's Note: Saipan, Northern Mariana Islands] that they dumped on the way down. In Inchon, Korea there was a big submarine base [Annotator's Note: unable to identify] with one or two-man subs [Annotator's Note: Type A Ko-hyoteki midget submarine]. They were destroyed. They would take food in. This was not a town and there were no homes. He went to church in Inchon as he was brought up Catholic. A woman and her children came in and she laid down flat on her face on the floor. If you were a smoker in Inchon, when you left, you would have nothing left in your pockets. The kids would take them. They picked up a load of Japanese weapons including submachine guns, handguns, and grenades. Hayes took some for souvenirs. They would just open the ship's tailgate and push them all in the ocean. Korea was very poor and back in history. They walked on dirt paths and they lived in paper shacks. China was a little better but not much. There were a lot of young children, especially girls, living on the street. They went to Shanghai [Annotator's Note: Shanghai, China] and could not tie up to the docks because of the rats. The people begged for the food rubbish. The worst thing he saw was baby girl bodies floating the rivers. The Chinese did not want girls. In Shanghai, they were told how to behave regarding payment. Once he got off a rickshaw and the driver wanted more money than Hayes gave him. The driver hit Hayes. He hit back and threw the rickshaw over. He broke it and the Chinese piled on him. All of a sudden, a young man grabbed him and told him to get in the jeep. Harold Bryant was a Shore Patrol [Annotator's Note: Navy military police] who was from where Hayes lived in the United States. They had played competitive hockey together in school. Bryant saved Hayes' life. Hayes looked him up after the war, but Bryant did not return.

Raymond Hayes and his ship [Annotator's Note: USS Tortuga (LSD-26)] went to different places in China, delivering food to people. He had an injury to one eye aboard ship. They went into Tsingtao, China [Annotator's Note: now Qingdao, China] so he could go to the 1st Marine Division hospital. He stayed for a couple of days. He was told to go to the ship. They had dilated his eyes. He got on a rickshaw going the wrong way. He stopped him and turned him around. That was his funniest story then. He got back aboard ship. They made one more trip to Inchon, Korea and then they went to Subic Bay, Manila [Annotator's Note: Manila, Luzon, Philippines] with supplies for the military. Someone aboard his ship got sick and a seaplane came in to get him. They went to Shanghai [Annotator's Note: Shanghai, China] then. He went to a movie there with a woman he met. During the movie, a bayonet touched him in the side. They were playing the national anthem and he was not standing. There was a lot of poverty and people looking for money. They had nothing. [Annotator's Note: The interviewer asks Hayes if he was in China when the Communists were pushing the Nationalists out.] Hayes left China in the last part of June 1946. He knew nothing about what was happening outside the city. They had to make sure they had nothing in their pockets because it would get stolen. These people were beyond help. They stopped in other cities along the northern coast. He went to a little town to exchange for some Chinese money. The money was colorful but no good. The people would do anything for food or money. If they had a girl, you could have the girl no matter what. The only place he saw some Japanese was on the Huangpu River. They were on a cruiser going the other way and they saluted the USS Tortuga (LSD-26) as they went by. Hayes went to Japan on the way home. They transferred a person aboard and then they went to California. They brought a lot of troops back. He left the Tortuga in Shanghai. The war was over. He returned in July 1946. He took a week or two at home. He was discharged on 19 July [Annotator's Note: 19 July 1946] in Boston [Annotator's Note: Boston, Massachusetts]. He left as a Fireman First Class. He tried to go to school at URI [Annotator's Note: University of Rhode Island in South Kingstown, Rhode Island]. There was no work around and he did not have much money. He got a little job in an electric motor shop. He used the G.I. Bill then. He had no trouble transitioning back to civilian life. His brother was a policeman in Providence [Annotator's Note: Providence, Rhode Island] and was talking to a manager of Payne Elevator Company. His brother told him Hayes was looking for work. He went to work for them and retired 40 years later from Otis Elevator Company. He was hurt seriously and had to retire when he was 49 years old. He was hit head-on by another car on the highway. The other man died.

Raymond Hayes' most memorable experience of the war was going aboard ships and doing what he had to do. Like it or not, you had to do it. He grew up very fast. He went over when he turned 18 and when he came home he knew a little bit about life. Hayes served because he knew he would have to go in one way or another. He wanted the Navy because he loved the ocean. He felt he could help, maybe he could do something. The war made him a man. He saw unbelievable things and did not know life could be so cruel and yet be so good. He knew how lucky he was when he saw how some people had to live around the world. He grew up overnight. He is proud he served, he raves about it all the time. He went to Washington, D.C. with the Honor trip [Annotator's Note: Honor Flights are conducted by non-profit organizations dedicated to transporting military veterans to visit the monuments and memorials in Washington, D.C. at no cost to the veterans]. There were a lot of tears. He will never forget it. If America did not go to war in World War 2, where would America be today? We were lucky to have the technologies to subdue them. We hear of the horror stories of these second and third-rate countries. He thanks God for America and the good people running the country. Some he has doubts about, but all in all it is a good country. It could be better and it could be worse, but he thanks God he and his family are here. You cannot move somewhere better. Do not ever look down at America. He flies his flag. He positively thinks there should be places like the museum [Annotator's Note: The National WWII Museum in New Orleans, Louisiana] to teach about the war.