Winifred E. Hayden was born on September 2, 1923, in Sunnyvale, Dallas County, Texas. He was the son of Edgar M. Hayden and Carrie Lee Lewis Hayden. He attended Mesquite High School before entering military service and later trained at Fort Knox, Kentucky, spending about two and a half years overseas. T4 Hayden served in the United States Army with the 740th Tank Battalion in World War II. Known as the “Daredevil Tankers”, the 740th was a separate battalion that fought from Utah Beach all the way to the Baltic Sea in support of various divisions of the US war effort.

T4 Hayden was Killed in Action on January 4, 1945, in Belgium during the Battle of the Bulge. He is now buried in the Long Creek Cemetery, Sunnyvale, Dallas County, Texas, USA. In honor of Hayden and fellow soldier John L. Hanby, the U.S. Army Reserve Center in Mesquite was later dedicated as the Hanby-Hayden Memorial.

Source of information: www.findagrave.com