He was a rifleman in Easy Company, and he did what riflemen do in that kind of fighting: he moved forward when ordered, he took cover when he could, he fired at positions when he could identify them, and he watched men around him get hit.

By February 22 — three days after the landing, and four days of combat — the regiment had fought its way to the base of the summit cone.

On the morning of February 23, a patrol of forty Marines was selected to push to the top.

Easy Company’s 3rd Platoon was among them.

Hayes was part of that patrol.

The patrol moved up the summit cone, through terrain that had been fought over for days and now showed the evidence of it — shattered rock, destroyed Japanese positions, the residue of battle.

They encountered resistance but less than they had feared.