George Price Hays

Who was George Price Hays?

George Price Hays was a United States Army general who served during World War I and World War II. He earned the Medal of Honor as a young artillery officer during the Second Battle of the Marne in World War I. During World War II, he commanded the 10th Mountain Division in the last few months of the Italian Campaign.

Hays was born on September 27, 1892, in China, where his parents worked as Presbyterian missionaries. He was commissioned a second lieutenant in 1917, and by July 14, 1918, was a first lieutenant serving in France with the 10th Field Artillery, 3rd Division. On that day, during the Second Battle of the Marne near Greves Farm, his unit came under a heavy German artillery barrage and the communication lines were destroyed. Despite the intense fire, Hays rode on horseback between his unit, the command post, and two French batteries for the rest of that day and the next. Although he was severely wounded and had seven horses shot out from under him, his efforts contributed to the halt of the German advance. For these actions, he was awarded the Medal of Honor the next year, in 1919.

He commanded the 99th Field Artillery from 1940 to 1941; among his subordinates was Captain William Orlando Darby, who went on to found the U.S. Army Rangers. After the United States' entry into World War II, Hays participated in the Battle of Monte Cassino in early 1944. He commanded the 2nd Infantry Division's artillery on Omaha Beach during the invasion of Normandy in June of that year.