Michael Douglas Gray

Private First Class
H&S CO, FLSG ALPHA, FORCE LOG CMD
United States Marine Corps
31 October 1948 - 06 March 1968
Temple, Texas
Panel 43E Line 019

FORCE LOG CMD

FLSG ALPHA
Purple Heart, National Defense, Vietnam Service, Vietnam Campaign

The database page for Michael Douglas Gray

05 Nov 2003

I was on patrol on the 82 boat when I got a letter from my mom telling me that Michael had been killed in Vietnam. We didn't know each other well, you couldn't even call us friends. I even had a hard time remembering his face after reading his name. He was a year younger than me and we didn't run with the same people. When we got back to An Thoi I went through some old pictures and there he was standing in the background in front of the new high school. Looking at that picture of Michael and re-reading my mom's letter I saw the pain my mother must have had to write it.

When I got back to Temple I went to Michael's grave and a few others and I found that our small town had eight young men taken from us by the war. I had changed, the town had changed, and my friends had changed. Not one of my friends had enlisted or got drafted.

As I visit Temple from time to time I go by each grave site and say "thank you". I can not answer the question that has nagged me for more than thirty years, I don't know why I came back and they didn't. I do know you can love someone you have never met, and a friendship can grow even it the other person is gone. Michael and I are good friends now and I still have his picture and I am honored to have known them all.

Walter Weddell
EN3 US Navy
PCF 82 Boat
www143@earthlink.net

A Note from The Virtual Wall

On 06 March 1968 a C-123 from the 311th ACS crashed after being hit by enemy fire while making a troop lift into the Khe Sanh combat base. PFC Michael D. Gray was one of the men aboard the aircraft. A description of the incident and the names of those who died in the crash can be found on The Virtual Wall's

C-123 Down Memorial



The point-of-contact for this memorial is
a friend and comrade,
Walter W. Weddell
www143@earthlink.net



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With all respect
Jim Schueckler, former CW2, US Army
Ken Davis, Commander, United States Navy (Ret)
Memorial first published on 6 Nov 2003
Last updated 07/10/2006