UNT Special Collections 2021 Research Fellowship Awardee

Hayley Hasik

Project Title

The Helicopter War: Unraveling the Myth and Memory of a Vietnam War Icon

Project Description

This project focuses on examining the legacy of the “Helicopter War” in Vietnam. This project hopes to bring together traditional military history and cultural history to examine how the military and industry participated in and directed the creation of the helicopter narrative and mythology in the Vietnam War and its memory. Her project allows us to better understand the deep connections and lasting implications of the military-industrial complex.

Biography

Hayley Hasik received her bachelor’s degree in history and English from Texas A&M University-Commerce in 2014, a master’s in public history from Stephen F. Austin State University in 2017, and is currently a PhD candidate at the University of Southern Mississippi working under the direction of Dr. Heather M. Stur. Hayley has extensive oral history experience and co-founded the East Texas War and Memory Project in 2012. Her previous scholarly research focused on the American POW experience during WWII and the Vietnam helicopter experience using the life history of a Warrant Officer as a case study. Hayley has presented at numerous academic conferences and has published several articles in the Sound Historian and War, Literature, and the Arts.