Marine in iconic Ole Miss photo killed in weekend wreck

A Marine pictured in a photo that was almost iconic to the Ole Miss community was killed in a car accident over the weekend.

CPL Justin Sanders Haynes, 26, was killed on Highway 30 outside of Oxford on Saturday. Services for the Clarksdale native will be held Monday at 2 p.m. at North Oxford Baptist Church, and burial will follow in Eastover Memorial Cemetery in Oxford.

Mississippi Highway Patrol spokesman Cpl. Joey Miller said the wreck took place around 1:30 a.m. when Haynes' vehicle left the roadway on the right side and overturned. Investigators are still looking into what caused the crash.

Haynes' face was seen all over the country when the photo of him and fellow Marine Cpl. Eric Nix posing with an Ole Miss flag sent to Afghanistan by the Ole Miss Athletic Department was posted on the Ole Miss Alumni Association website, where former Dean of Students Sparky Reardon said it carried a record number of hits. HottyToddy.com's John Cofield posted the photo on his Facebook page and on his website.

Cofield said it was one of the most popular ever posted on the "Forever OLE MISS" Facebook page.

"It was celebrated by Rebels around the world," said Ed Meek, HottyToddy.com publisher, on their website.

Haynes and Nix knew each other from their time at Ole Miss. As fate would have it, they ended up assigned to the same company in the same platoon. That was the beginning of a friendship Nix could only describe as closer than a brother.

"I've got three blood brothers and I've got a different relationship with them," he said. "With Justin it was family, we spent every day together and a bond grows there. Back here, we might not see each other for months, but it picks right back up where we left off."

Haynes served in Afghanistan with Bravo Company, 1st Battalion, 23rd Marines, one of only nine Marine reserve battalions in the country. He had been with a different unit previously, but when he and fellow Ole Miss fan Nix heard the 1/23rd was leaving for Afghanistan, they called their friend Cpl. Michael Pounders and the three of them switched platoons and headed out.



"I got a call, and they were like, 'Hey, do you want to go?'" Pounders said. "After I hung up the phone, I called my boss and said, 'Hey, I'm going to Afghanistan, and I don't know when I'll be back.' We literally checked out on our lives to go."

Pounders said he remembers meeting Haynes when the two were at boot camp together at Parris Island, South Carolina. They were in the same school of infantry and the same unit.

"He was the guide, he was a leader, and I was getting disciplined," he said. "We were opposite ends of the spectrum. I had heard he was from Mississippi, too, so we whispered to each other in line when we shouldn't have been talking. It was a pretty unique way to meet."

Allie Toliver grew up with Haynes. She said when his family would go out of town, he and his sister Randall would stay at her house.

"He used to call our house 'boot camp,' because my mom would get on him all the time," Toliver said. "His parents used to be apprehensive of him jumping on our trampoline. My mom had to make sure to keep him off the trampoline because his parents didn't want him on it, and every time she'd look outside she'd see him bouncing on the trampoline."

Toliver said Haynes grandfather had some land they called, "The Zoo," where they had all kinds of animals, including camels, zebras, and buffalo.

"There was this Christmas parade every year, and of course, where else were we going to get the camel?" she said.

When Haynes went into the Marines, Toliver said at first it surprised those who knew him.

"I think when it first happened, it was out of nowhere, and we were all like, 'What?'" she said. "But after he'd been in for a little while, it just fit so perfectly. It's where he was meant to be, and we saw that then."

Both Nix and Pounders said Haynes was defined by his leadership and his loyalty.

"He was an incredible guy, one of the most loyal friends in the world, and an excellent leader," Nix said. "He had this ability that in the worst situation possible he could find humor in things, and that helped a lot in getting through some of the tough times overseas."

"He was a natural born leader," Pounders said. "He never volunteered, people just saw what kind of person he was and he got stuck in those leadership positions. He was the type of guy that always had your back, and he was very loyal. He was just a great person."

The photo seen around the world was taken when the flag arrived for Haynes and Nix in a package from the Ole Miss Athletic Department.

"We're both huge Ole Miss fans, so we decided one day we were going to show our pride and take the picture with one of our vehicles," Nix said, adding that he never suspected it would have traveled so far. "We just did it for fun, and to send back to our friends back in the states."

The photo also started a trend. Other similar photos have since been seen with flags from other schools, including Vanderbilt and Tennessee, and there's even one with a Texas Rangers flag.

"It's kinda caught on," Nix said.

Haynes was engaged to a girl he met in Nashville, Nix said.

"He was head over heels about her," he said.

But once the full honors funeral is finished on Monday, Haynes' family and friends will go back to life without him.

"There's a big void now with Justin not being here," Nix said. "You've got to hold on to the memories and the good times you had together and the times that you spent together. I'll cherish those fro the rest of my life. I loved him and I miss him and he was a brother of mine."

Pounders said there have been calls from all over the country from people mourning Haynes' passing.

"I think his legacy – that's pretty deep. We didn't have him for a long time, but in the short amount of time he was here, made such a huge impact on people," he said.

Toliver said while Haynes was a dedicated Marine, and he loved his country and was dedicated to his duty, there are people who will always remember the man he was outside of his uniform.

"He was just so much more than that to so many of us," she said. "He was that person that was always there for you. If you needed him, he was going to be there. No matter where or when, he'd be there for you."

Haynes is survived by his parents, Kathy and Sandy Haynes of Oxford; his fiancee, Kaitlyn Rae Crosby of Oxford; a sister, Randall Haynes Mize and her husband, Lee, of Oxford; a brother, Austin Carter Haynes of Oxford; his grandmother, Mrs. Fletcher S. Haynes of Oxford, a niece, Bailey Katherine Mize of Oxford; and a family of brothers and sisters in the United States Marine Corps.

Memorial contributions in Haynes' honor may be made to:

Wounded Warrior Regiment, Attn: Charitable Giving Coordinator, 1998 Hill Avenue, Quantico, VA 22134.

Contact Therese Apel at tapel@gannett.com. Follow @TRex21 on Twitter.