Ailey Berdean Hurley

Ailey Berdean Hurley was born in Newton and his family moved to Livonia, where he graduated from high school. He attended a barber college and then worked at Wells Barber Shop in Montezuma. Hurley was married in November 1965 in Montezuma. According to friends and family he was also a talented musician. After marriage they moved to Altoona where Ailey was drafted into the Army in September 1966. He attended basic training at Fort Leonard Wood, MO. PFC Hurley was then assigned to Company A, 1st Battalion, 7th Cavalry in the First Cavalry Division out of Fort Polk, LA. He arrived in Vietnam in April 1967. A little over a month after arriving in country, on May 10, 1967, PFC Hurley was on a combat operation in the Binh Dinh Province, South Vietnam. He was hit by hostile sniper fire and killed. Ailey B. Hurley was the Montezuma area’s first fatality of the Vietnam War. Memorials were held at the Montezuma Methodist Church on May 21, 1967 as well as at Livonia Baptist Church in Livonia, MO where his family lived. He was buried in Jackson Township Cemetery in Montezuma. He was survived by his wife, parents, and two brothers.