Jay "Chef" Hicks (1926-1969) was an Engineman 3rd Class in the US Navy during the Vietnam War.
Biography[]
Jay Hicks was born in New Orleans, Louisiana in 1926, the son of a family of chefs. Hicks became a saucier, and he studied at the Escoffier school in Paris, France, hoping to become a professional chef. Hicks later joined the US Navy, believing that they would make the best food, but he was disappointed by the poor-quality spare ribs that the Navy produced. Hicks served on a Navy PBR during the Vietnam War, holding the rank of Engineman 3rd Class in George Phillips' crew. In 1969, Captain Benjamin L. Willard took command of the vessel and headed up the Nung River to track down Colonel Walter E. Kurtz, who had gone rogue, and Hicks spent time with Playboy "Miss May" on the boat at one point. After Phillips and Tyrone Miller's deaths, Hicks decided to accompany Willard on his mission to kill Kurtz, and he was told to stay with the boat and call in an airstrike on Kurtz's camp if Willard did not come back alive. However, Hicks was presumably ambushed at night and beheaded, and his severed head was thrown on Willard's lap as Willard was tortured by Kurtz, causing Willard to have a panic attack and cry.