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Harvey Joseph Hayman was born in Rhode Island on May 27, 1920 . His Mother Eva Senecal Hayman died when she was just 33 years old in 1926. That left his father Robert Campbell Hayman to raise 5 year old Harvey and his five siblings, Leah 14, James 9, Dorothy 7, Robert 2 and a new born Marie. The family moved to Port Chester in the early 1930s and soon after to Rye. Tragically after a long illness their father passed in December of 1940, by then Harvey and the younger kids were living with their married sister Leah Adams and her husband George at 398 Rye Beach Avenue. Harvey enlisted and served in the U.S. Navy during World War II.
At the time of his fathers death Harvey had already enlisted in the Navy. He was an Aviation Machinist and a member of the crew of the PBY-5A Catalina. When the War broke out Harvey was stationed in Hawaii. It was April 5, 1942, four months after the Pearl Harbor attack, and a Harveys flight crew of nine men patrolled the waters off Oahu. The weather was rainy and windy, with poor visibility and the storm was getting worse. They had flown more than 12 hours on a long-range patrol, searching for enemy subs and ships. The crew was aboard one of four Navy planes that flew out of Kaneohe Naval Air Station that day.
One returned to Kaneohe before the storm worsened. Another went to Kauai, and a third touched down at Pearl Harbor. But the crew of the PBY-5A Catalina was dangerously off course. In their confusion, the crew mistook the lighthouse beacon from Makapuu for the Barbers Point lighthouse. Harvey was killed when his plane slammed into the hillside 200 yards south of the Makapuu lighthouse.
At the time, the Islands were under martial law and the military didn't report such accidents to the newspapers. During the war, there were crashes almost daily on Oahu. From 1942 to 1945, there were about 800 aviation deaths on the island
Below is how his death was reported by the Rye Chronicle
First Rye Man Killed in War Harvey J. Hayman Reported Victim of Airplane Crash in Line of Duty
Rye lost its first man in the war through the death of Harvey J. Hayman, 21-years old, killed in an airplane crash in line of duty. A telegram to this effect was received on Friday from the Navy Department by his sister, Mrs. Leah Adams, 14 Oakland Gardens. An aviation machinists mate, Hayman had been in the Navy almost three years.
He left home four years ago for a CCC camp at Moab, Utah. The telegram was from Rear Admiral Randall Jacobs, Chief of Bureau of Navigation, and was addressed to the boys father, the late Robert Campbell Hayman, who died in December, 1940.
It read: "The Navy Department regrets to inform you that your son, Harvey Joseph Hayman, aviation machinists mate, third class, U. S. Navy, is reported to have been killed in airplane crash in line of duty. Body recovered and temporary interment in locality of death pending cessation of hostilities. Further information will be communicated to you by his commanding officer. The department extends to you its sincerest sympathy in your great loss."
He was last heard from on March 24 and his last known station was Kenoha Bay Naval Air Station, Hawaii. Surviving are his sisters, Mrs. Adams and Marie Hayman, a Rye High School student; a brother, Robert, Rye High School football star, and another brother, James, of Amsterdam, N. Y.
RYE, NEW YORK, FRIDAY, APRIL 17, 1942
In an article written by Suzanne Roig for the Honolulu Advertiser in 2005 she reported about the Hawaii Aviation Preservation Society.
At the time, the Islands were under martial law and the military didnt report such accidents to the newspapers, said Colin Perry, a historian with the Hawaii Aviation Preservation Society.
During the war, there were crashes almost daily on Oahu. From 1942 to 1945, there were about 800 aviation deaths on the island, Perry said. No one has ever done anything for these men, he said. The preservation society doesnt want those deaths forgotten.
After months of planning and working with the state Department of Land and Natural Resources, the society has obtained permission to erect a granite monument listing the mens names and ranks. At first, the society didnt know the home states of the Navy men. That information came from WFI Research Group, an Internet aviation database of more than 700,000 World War II aviation and at-sea casualties.
To this day, one can find some rusted-out landing gear, engine parts, and small pieces of metal at the crash site. The society was able to determine the type of plane by matching aircraft data plates found at the site, said Perry, a retired Air Force and airline pilot. The Navy plane wasnt even the only one to go down that night.
An Army plane crashed into the Pali, killing all 10 aboard. The preservation society plans to place a granite marker at that site next year. The small group that makes up the Hawaii Aviation Preservation Society has worked for the past eight months to mark the spot at Makapuu.
The society is responsible for other such markers along the Aiea Loop Trail, the Pali Lookout and the Honouliuli Contour Trail and at the former Barbers Point Naval Air Station. No date has been set for a dedication, but the group hopes to have a Navy chaplain say a prayer for the men who died.
They died in obscurity, Perry said. It will be nice to know that someone doesnt forget.
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