Master Sergeant Hays was a veteran of World War II. In Korea, he was a member of Company C, 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment, 25th Infantry Division. He was taken Prisoner of War while fighting the enemy in North Korea on November 28, 1950 and died while a prisoner at Camp #5, Pyoktong, North Korea on May 4, 1951. His remains were not recovered. His name is inscribed on the Courts of the Missing at the Honolulu Memorial.