One of the medics who knew Lt Gray described the incident that took the life of Lt. Gray and left 23 other men wounded. He knew that Lt. Gray had finished undergrad work and decided to do his military service before continuing on to Law School. He had left behind his young fiance. He and Lt. Gray had many talks and they became friends. Their compound was hit with rocket fire early on June 13, 1971. Twenty four men were severely injured. Lt. Gray had been hit in the back of the head by a piece of shrapnel. The medic was spread thin to treat those wounded of the 145 men assigned to the compound. After the attack was over, while waiting for the MediVacs to arrive, as he checked Lt. Gray while waiting for medevac helicopters to arrive, Lt. Gray looked up and said 'Don't worry about me, Doc, go help the men, they need you more than I do'. Lt. Gray was successfully medevaced but died the next day from his injuries. Boston area papers announced his death similart to article below: Shortly thereafter, funeral arrangements had been made:      1LT Richard Joseph Gray was survived by his mother Elisabeth F. (Woods) Gray McDavitt (1917-1996), brother John M. III, and grandfather, John Mathew Gray, Sr (1887-1977), all of Salem, Massachusetts. He was preceded in death by his father, John Mathew Gray, Jr., (1915-1970) his paternal grandmother Ella A Gibbons Gray (1887-1960) and maternal grandparents, Mary Elizabeth (Fitzgerald) (1883-1928) and Martin J. Woods (1880-1970). 1LT Richard Joseph Gray is buried along with all of the family in Saint Mary's Cemetery, Salem, Essex County, Massachusetts. - - The Virtual Wall, December 20, 2018

Contact Us

© Copyright 1997-2019 www.VirtualWall.org, Ltd ®(TM)

Last update 08/15/2019