THE WALL OF FACES

Rest in peace PFC. Haynes, my heart goes out to you and your family.

PFC Jimmy Lawrence Haynes is buried in Garden LN, Section 139, Lot H, Space 89 of the Spring Grove Cemetery in Cincinnati, OH.

On May 16, 1971, a New York Times article described heroin use by American troops in Vietnam had reached epidemic proportions. The piece reported that 10 to 15 percent of lower-ranking enlisted men were heroin users, and military officials working in drug‐suppression estimated that as much as a quarter of all enlisted personnel, more than 60,000 men, were hooked. They added that some field surveys reported units with more than 50 percent of the men on heroin. In Vietnam, the drug was plentiful, cheap, and 95 percent pure. Its effects could casually be achieved through smoking or snorting, as compared to the U.S., where the drug was impure, only about five percent heroin, and had to be main-lined or injected into the bloodstream to achieve a comparable high. The habit, which cost $100 a day to maintain in the U.S., cost less than $5 a day in Vietnam. PFC Jimmy L. Haynes was a clerk-typist serving with Headquarters & Headquarters Company (HHC), 1st Supply & Service Battalion, 54th General Service Group, Army Support Command Cam Ranh Bay, 1st Logistical Command, U.S. Army Republic of Vietnam. On October 26, 1971, Haynes was in a food serving line when he collapsed. He was seen by a doctor who found him to have right facial paralysis and was referred to the 483rd U.S. Air Force Hospital. Upon arrival, Haynes was confused and incoherent with mild right facial weakness. The following day, his facial paralysis became more apparent combined with a right-sided partial paralysis of his right arm and leg. Haynes was seen the same day by a neurosurgeon who believed the cause of paralysis was a brain abscess or tumor and ordered his immediate transfer to the U.S. Air Force Hospital at Tachikawa Air Base in Japan for further studies. While awaiting medical evacuation, Haynes’ condition was downgraded to seriously ill. He was admitted to the USAF hospital at Tachikawa Air Base at 3:00 PM on October 28th where his condition was again downgraded to very seriously ill. Haynes admitted to medical staff that he had been using heroin for twelve years. He died the next day. A subsequent autopsy found the cause of death to be “brain abscess secondary to contaminated intravenous use of narcotics.” Haynes was 28 years old. [Taken from coffeltdatabase.org and “G.I. Heroin Addiction Epidemic in Vietnam.” New York Times (New York, NY), May 16, 1971]

Some may think you are forgotten
Though on earth you are no more
But in our memory you are with us
As you always were before….

Private First Class Jimmy Lawrence Haynes, Served with the Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 1st Supply and Service Battalion, 54th General Support Group, United States Army Support Command (Cam Ranh Bay), 1st Logistical Command, United States Army Vietnam.