Corey Joseph Hayes

Corey Hayes

From: Ripples, NB.
Age: 22
Birth Date:  January 2, 1987
Unit: Royal Canadian Dragoons
Date of Incident:  March 20, 1999
Incident description:Improvised explosive device

Hayes, a trooper with the Royal Canadian Dragoons, was one of four Canadian soldiers to die in Afghanistan. He was due to rotate back to Canada in slightly more than a month.

Raised in Ripples, N.B., he attended Minto Memorial High School and Wawanesa High School in Manitoba.

He cared about his country. He cared about our freedom. He just wanted to be there, to help everybody. Corey was driven to the military as a way to assist others.— Courtney Boone, friend

Josh Peterson, a close friend of the 22-year-old Hayes, said his friend was proud to carry on a family tradition with the military.

“He wanted to do what his father and grandfather did. His grandfather fought, his stepfather Burt, he fought for what he did, his grandfather was also in the army,” Peterson said.

“They also fought for everything they did. They wanted to fight for their country.”

Matthew McCoy who has known Hayes since kindergarten  saw each other during the Christmas holidays. McCoy said Hayes was always upbeat when discussing his tour in Afghanistan.”He was always dependable, a real good guy, always had a good joke to say,” he said. “He was always trying to make people laugh. Just a real good guy.”

If you want to give condolences to the family, visit the website and sign the guestbook or leave a candle.