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Pearl Harbor Survivor 'Gene' Hays Dies At 89 In Pasco

Family photo

On Dec. 7, 1941, Gene Hays was eating an apple aboard the USS Phoenix, when the Japanese bombing began.

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By GEOFF FOX

gfox@tampatrib.com

Published: January 8, 2009

NEW PORT RICHEY - Otho Eugene Hays' grandson described him as a "tough old bird."

Named after a World War I veteran, he fought during World War II and survived the attack on Pearl Harbor. He also was as slick with a sleight-of-hand magic trick as he was practiced with a welding torch.

Known as "Gene," Hays was 89 when he died Thursday morning at Marliere Hospice Care Center on Rowan Road in New Port Richey. The Kansas native, who served in the Navy from 1936 to 1959, died of bladder cancer.

"He grew up during the Great Depression and taught me a lot of values," said his grandson Brian Corley, Pasco County's supervisor of elections.

"He always used to say, 'The measure of a man is what you do when no one's looking.' He was old school. A handshake was a bond."

On Dec. 7, 1941, Hays was eating an apple aboard the USS Phoenix, when he looked up to see a Japanese plane drop a bomb on Ford Island in the middle of Pearl Harbor.

Hays immediately called the ship's wheelhouse, but no one believed him. The United States wasn't at war, and the Army often conducted drills and other training exercises around the area west of Honolulu.

It soon became clear the bomb was no joke.

"He manned a machine gun," Corley said. "He talked about passing the USS Arizona and seeing all the flames billowing."

A seaman when Pearl Harbor was attacked, Hays retired as a chief quartermaster responsible for a ship's command center and navigation. After retiring from the Navy, he was a welder in Long Island, N.Y.

"He was an attentive father, but very hard-working," said his son, Pat Hays of Buffalo, N.Y. "Back then, it was single-income households in the '50s and '60s, so he had to support everyone."

Hays described his father as a "man's man" who enjoyed a drink, but was also fond of surprising people with his magic tricks. He was married more than 40 years to Doris Hays, who preceded him in death; besides Pat Hays, the couple had a daughter, Sallyan Corley of New Port Richey.

Other survivors include Judy Hays, his wife of more than 20 years, six grandchildren and 11 great-grandchildren.

Visitation will be 2 to 4 p.m. Saturday at Dobies Funeral Home, 8825 Old County Road 54, New Port Richey. A funeral service will start at 4 p.m.

While his father was in the Navy, Pat Hays recalled living in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, before Fidel Castro came into power.

"I was young, 9, 10 or 11, and we could go off base; that wasn't an issue," he said. "I remember that twice we went up to Havana, which is on the other side of Cuba. My sister and I spent the night there. Before Castro, that was the place to be for casinos and things like that."

Gene Hays, who moved to Florida in the 1980s, earned several medals during his Navy career, including the Philippine Liberation Medal, European Service Medal and the World War II National Defense Medal.

"A couple years ago I asked him where the name Otho came from," Brian Corley said. "He said that when his mother was pregnant with him there was a World War I veterans parade in their town in Kansas, and there was a Native American World War I veteran named Otho in the parade.

"He always thought it was ironic that he was named after a World War I veteran and became a Pearl Harbor survivor."

Corley was so inspired by his grandfather's military stories that he established the "Vote in Honor of a Vet" program, implemented during the 2007-08 school year in conjunction with the county school district.

Through the program, veterans visit schools and describe what they went through during their military service, as Corley's grandfather was known to do. The goal is to inspire young people to vote.

The Pearl Harbor attack affected Hays for the rest of his life.

"The USS Phoenix was one of the few ships that made it out of the harbor during the attack," Pat Hays said. "Any ship that could get out stayed hid for the better part of a week.

"Then they all went back into the harbor and saw all the destruction. He said that was even more dramatic than seeing the attack."

Reporter Geoff Fox can be reached at (813) 779-4613.

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