David Ephraim Hayden

Pharmacist's Mate Third Class, U.S. Navy

Medal of Honor Recipient

World War I

Pharmacist's Mate Third Class David Ephraim Hayden (2 October 1897 - 18 March 1974) was a U.S. Navy hospital corpsman who received the U.S. military's highest award for valor, the Medal of Honor, for his heroic actions during World War I.

David Ephraim Hayden was born on 2 October 1897 in Florence, TX, and enlisted in the U.S. Navy during World War I. He received training in San Diego Naval Base, CA, and Quantico, VA. During the war, he was attached to the 2/6th Marines as a Hospital Apprentice First Class. The Marine outfit saw action in France at the Battle of Saint-Mihiel, during which Hayden ran through heavy enemy fire to administer aid to a wounded Marine. For this action, he was awarded the Medal of Honor.

Medal of Honor

Rank and organization: Hospital Apprentice First Class, U.S. Navy, serving with the 2d Battalion, 6th Regiment, U.S. Marines.

Place and date: Thiaucourt, France, 15 September 1918.

Citation: For gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty. During the advance, when Cpl. Creed was mortally wounded while crossing an open field swept by machinegun fire, Hayden unhesitatingly ran to his assistance and, finding him so severely wounded as to require immediate attention, disregarded his own personal safety to dress the wound under intense machinegun fire, and then carried the wounded man back to a place of safety.

After the war, Hayden was promoted to Pharmacist's Mate Third Class. He served aboard the troop transport Princess Matoika until the summer of 1920.

As a civilian, he then served as a U.S. Marshal in California until the age of seventy.

Death and Burial

Pharmacist's Mate Third Class David Ephraim Hayden died on 18 March 1974. He is buried at Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, VA, in Section 35, Lot 1864.