A disabled veteran in eastern North Carolina is making sure the third anniversary Monday of the deaths of a dozen American service members, including one from Camp Lejeune, in a suicide bombing as U.S. citizens were being evacuated from an airport in Afghanistan.
John Hayduke of Hubert served in the U.S. Navy from 1974-1978, in a helicopter combat search and rescue squadron on the U.S.S. Oriskany and the U.S.S. Coral Sea.
"It was something I'll never forget. I met a lot of great guys and I'm still friends with all of them," he said, "Yeah, we get together and we remember the guys that were lost.”
He spends most of his time these days creating memorials for U.S. service members who have died in the line of duty, including Camp Lejeune Marine Corps Sgt. Nicole Gee and 12 other military personnel killed in a bomb attack in Kabul in 2021.
Hayduke said his own experiences in the Navy have called him to make sure that the words “never forget” ring true, including the death of a captain who was killed in a failed landing aboard an aircraft carrier during a training exercise.
"The copilot slid across the deck, and he lived, but the pilot fell into the ocean and couldn't get his parachute off, and he passed," he said, "We couldn't do anything. We got to him, and we did get to him, but we couldn't get the harness off from his chute.”
In the early morning of October 23, 1983, the First Battalion, 8th Marines Headquarters building in Beirut was destroyed by a terrorist-driven truck, filled with explosives. That attack killed 241 Marines, Sailors, and Soldiers, who are memorialized at Lejeune Memorial Gardens. Hayduke is pushing to add a memorial to those killed in Kabul three years ago.
"Hopefully I can get permission to put that kind of a memorial in the memorial up in Jacksonville. On Montford (Point).”
Hayduke maintains a Facebook page called “Fallen Hero Tribute Rocks” that showcases his art dedicated to those that have died in the line of duty.
The memorial to the victims of the Kabul attack will be in place in the front yard of Hayduke’s home at 300 South Windy Ridge Rd. in Hubert through the end of the month.
