George Ernest Hayward Obituary

Born Mar 15, 1949, George Ernest Hayward attended Mentor High School in Mentor, OH. View the obituary, post a memory, or share a photo about George Ernest Hayward.

Graduation Year	Class of 1967
Date of Birth	Mar 15, 1949
Date of Passing	Feb 05, 1969
About	United States Army Warrant Officer. He co-piloted a UH-1H Huey helicopter that was shot down and crashed and burned in Thua Thien, South Vietnam. Three other crewmen aboard; aircraft commander, WO1 William E Boehm, crew chief, SP4 Timothy M Harrington, and gunner, SP4 John E Nordell Jr were also killed in the crash.
Events	PUBLISHED: November 11, 2008 at 8:52 AM EST \| UPDATED: July 16, 2021 at 2:06 AM EDT Words were hard to come by for Donna Harmon and Barbara Lorek during a Veterans Day observance at Mentor High School. The highlight of Tuesday’s program was the dedication of the school’s new Wall of Freedom. Installed at the center of a 30-by-40 foot mural, painted as a waving American flag, is a plaque bearing the names of 31 former Mentor students killed in military service to their country. Among the names inscribed on gold plates are those of Harmon’s son, Joshua S. Harmon, and Lorek’s son, Joseph W. Lorek. U.S. Army Cpl. Josh Harmon was just a few months shy of his 21st birthday when he and 13 fellow soldiers died in August 2007 when their helicopter crashed in Iraq. “I’m speechless, overwhelmed. This is such a great honor,” Donna Harmon, a Mentor-on-the-Lake resident, said of Tuesday’s event. Joe Lorek, a 23-year-old former U.S. Marine diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) after three tours of combat duty in Iraq, committed suicide Jan. 6 in Madison Township. “You deal with this kind of loss in stages. There are good moments and bad. Honors like this are wonderful,” Barbara Lorek said. Tuesday’s ceremony at the school was the culmination of an effort that began in January when Mentor High School teacher Steve Couch, fellow teachers and school administrators learned of Lorek’s death. “The reason this project got started is because of the way we lost Joe,” Couch said. For years, on the same space now given over to the Wall of Freedom, the school had a Freedom Shrine that marked watershed moments in U.S. history. Couch said the space had lost some luster with the passage of time and was ripe for refurbishing. “We wanted to honor our Mentor students killed in military service because their sacrifices made the freedoms we all have possible,” Couch said. In addition to the plaque, the Wall of Freedom has facsimiles of 30 historical documents donated by the Exchange Club of Western Lake County. “Teachers and administrators came up with the idea, but it was students who did the work,” said Joseph Spiccia, principal of Mentor High School and director of secondary education for Mentor Schools. Jess Herbert, a senior, is one of the eight students from teacher Michelle Kane’s Fine Arts IV class who restored the wall and painted the mural. “We’re all very fortunate to have the freedoms we have,” Herbert said. “This is our way of thanking the veterans by doing something patriotic.” Herbert’s mother, Kim, was every bit the proud parent as Tuesday’s ceremony unfolded. “I am so impressed and so moved by what Jess and her classmates did. This is such an inspiring project,” Kim Herbert said. Work on the Wall of Freedom was completed in time for an inspection by Republican presidential candidate Arizona Sen. John McCain during his campaign appearance at the high school on Oct. 30. The former U.S. Navy jet pilot and prisoner of war in North Vietnam used a black marker pen to leave this handwritten note on the wall: “John McCain, Thanks to all who serve.” A piece of clear plastic covers the inscription, found on the far left side of the mural. “This project is a great legacy for the students, especially with John McCain coming here and signing it,” Kane said. The formal part of Tuesday’s program took place in the Fine Arts Center. Speakers included Brian Halan, a 2000 Mentor graduate and Concord Township resident. Halan is one of five surviving members of the “Mentor Seven,” a group of Mentor graduates who enlisted in the Marines before and after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. Deceased members of the group are Lorek and Mark Smykowski, a U.S. Marine killed in action in Iraq in June 2006. “When we were in high school, we were just friends. In the Marine Corps, we became brothers,” Halan said. Addressing an audience of several hundred students taking U.S. government classes, Halan said he and his six friends joined the Marines for idealistic reasons. “There was something inside all of us that wanted to make a difference,” Halan said. “We wanted to be on the front line, protecting the nation. I would like to think veterans represent the red, white and blue threads holding the flag together.” The Mentor High School Concert Mixed Choir, under the direction of Terry Herschman, opened the program with “God Bless America.” The choir also performed the national anthem and the school’s alma mater. Perry Township resident and U.S. Army veteran Jack Martin played bagpipes as he led the nine-man color guard into and out of the auditorium. Bud Spreng, a U.S. Army veteran who fought in Korea, is commander of the George E. Hayward Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 9295 in Mentor. Hayward, a 1967 Mentor graduate, died in combat in Vietnam in 1970. Spreng delineated the history of Veterans Day, which was first observed on Nov. 11, 1919, the first anniversary of the end of World War I.