Army Capt. Clayton was assigned to the 842nd Military Training and Transition team, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division, Fort Riley, Kansas. Clayton died of wounds sustained when an improvised explosive device detonated under his Humvee while he was conducting combat operations. Hayes family moved to Georgia from Tennessee when he was very young. He graduated from Marietta High School in 1996 where he played defensive end and defensive back on the varsity football team and was also on the honor roll. He is remembered as a great football player and one of the special ones who had a huge heart. Hayes joined the Army after graduating from Fort Valley State University in Middle Georgia because he hoped to one day run for office. He was a political science major in college and wanted to actually know what it was like to be in the service if he was ever going to be in a position to send troops into battle. He and his wife, Monica, had been married for a little more than a year and his son, Hayes Clayton III, was born in July, two months before he left for duty in Iraq. Hayes knew the risks of what he was doing, but was prepared to face them. When he was getting ready to leave for Iraq, he didn't complain – it was his job and it was part of who he was.
Army Capt. Clayton was assigned to the 842nd Military Training and Transition team, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division, Fort Riley, Kansas. Clayton died of wounds sustained when an improvised explosive device detonated under his Humvee while he was conducting combat operations. Hayes family moved to Georgia from Tennessee when he was very young. He graduated from Marietta High School in 1996 where he played defensive end and defensive back on the varsity football team and was also on the honor roll. He is remembered as a great football player and one of the special ones who had a huge heart. Hayes joined the Army after graduating from Fort Valley State University in Middle Georgia because he hoped to one day run for office. He was a political science major in college and wanted to actually know what it was like to be in the service if he was ever going to be in a position to send troops into battle. He and his wife, Monica, had been married for a little more than a year and his son, Hayes Clayton III, was born in July, two months before he left for duty in Iraq. Hayes knew the risks of what he was doing, but was prepared to face them. When he was getting ready to leave for Iraq, he didn't complain – it was his job and it was part of who he was.
