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0602105401
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Ross Franklin Gray was born to Benjamin Franklin and Carrie Clyde (Wood) Gray in Marvel Valley, Alabama on 01 August 1920. He attended the elementary schools of Bibb County and
went on to Centreville High School, which he left in 1939 after attending for three years. He went to work for his father as a carpenter. He had already worked at that trade part-time for three
years and now worked another three years before he enlisted in the Marine Corps Reserve. He played football and basketball at Centreville High and enjoyed hunting and fishing. He was a devout
Protestant; so much that in fact, in the Marine Corps he was called "The Deacon." Gray enlisted in the Marine Corps Reserve in Birmingham, Alabama on 22 July 1942, and was assigned to active duty
the same day. After receiving his recruit training at Parris Island, South Carolina, he went to New River, North Carolina, and in September joined the 23rd Marines, 4th Marine Division. Promoted
to private first class in April 1943, he was transferred to Company A, 1st Battalion 25th Marines, a month later. Private First Class Gray left for overseas duty on January 13, 1944 and landed at
Kwajalein in the Marshall Islands where he took part in the Roi-Namur campaign. He was made an engineering corporal in March and in June made another assault landing — this time at Saipan. At the
conclusion of the fighting at Saipan, Cpl. Gray took part in the landing on Tinian Island, also in the Marianas.
With his unit, he next took part in the bitter battle for Iwo Jima. On 21 February 1945, northeast of Airfield Number One, Gray cleared a path through heavily mined area, then, while continually
under fire, attacked and destroyed six Japanese emplacements with satchel charges. Although he remained unscratched through his twelve trips back and forth among enemy mines, constantly under
heavy fire, Sgt. Gray was killed six days later, on 27 February 1945, by an enemy shell which inflicted fatal wounds in his legs. For his personal valor, daring tactics, and tenacious perseverance
in the face of extreme peril on 21 February, Sgt. Gray was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor by President Harry S. Truman. Sergeant Gray was initially buried in the 4th Marine Division Cemetery
on Iwo Jima, but later his remains were returned to the United States for private burial in the Ada Chapel Bible Methodist Church Cemetery in Woodstock, Alabama.
USS Gray (DE 1054) was the first ship named in his honor.
(U.S. Navy photo #NH 103802 from the U.S. Naval Historical Center) |
Mike Smolinski
Clifton, N.J.
Archive Manager
DE / FF / LCS Archive
Navsource |
0602105424 |
128k |
19 November 1966: Seattle, Wash. - The keel of the future USS Gray (DE 1054) is laid at Todd Shipyard Corp. - Seattle.
(U.S. Navy Photo #1119343 from the United States National Archives) |
Mike Green
Port Angeles, Wash. |
0602105428 |
355k |
cica 1970: USS Gray (DE 1054) underway in the Pacific.
(U.S. Navy National Archives photo #USN 1143228 from the Naval History and Heritage Command) |
Mike Smolinski
Clifton, N.J.
Archive Manager
DE / FF / LCS Archive
Navsource |
0602105322 |
292k |
Spring 1971: Yokosuka, Japan - Three U.S. Navy Knox-class destroyer escorts at Yokosuka, Japan (l-r): USS
Hepburn (DE 1055), USS Gray (DE 1054) and USS Roark (DE 1053).
(U.S. Navy photo from the All Hands Magazine, May 1971) |
0602105423 |
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no date / location: USS Gray (DE 1054) moored at an unknown port. |
0602105422 |
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Summer 1971: San Diego, Cal. - USS Gray (DE 1054) underway of the San Diego coast. |
0602105430 |
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13 July 1973: the Pacific Ocean - A port bow aerial view of USS Gray (DE-1054) operating off the coast of Oahu, Hawaii.
(U.S. Navy photo by PHC/AC C. C. Curtis) |
Craig Chaddock
San Diego, Cal. |
0602105427 |
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Summer 1973: the Gulf of Tonkin - USS Gray (DE 1054) is being refueled off the coast of Vietnam. |
Tommy Trampp
Benton City, Wash. |
0602105425 |
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Two views of USS Gray (FF 1054) off the California coast. She's departing San Diego in the lower photo, you can see Point Loma in the background.
Both photos appear to be ship portraits from George Barber's Marine Photos. |
Mike Green
Port Angeles, Wash. |
0602105426 |
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0602105421 |
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Summer 1980: San Diego, Cal. - USS Gray (FF 1054) anchored in San Diego harbor. |
Richard Stiles |
0602105429 |
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09 March 1982: At sea - USS Gray (FF 1054) underway executing a turn off the coast of California.
(U.S. Naval Historical Center photo #NH 107488 by PH1 R. G. Swan from the Naval History and Heritage Command) |
Mike Smolinski
Clifton, N.J.
Archive Manager
DE / FF / LCS Archive
Navsource |
0602105401 |
151k |
09 March 1982: At sea - A port beam view of the Knox class frigate USS Gray (FF 1054) underway off the coast of California.
(U.S. Navy photo DVID #DN-ST-84-00103 by PH1 R. G. Swan from the Defense Visual Information Center) |
0602105403 |
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09 March 1982: At sea - A port beam view of Gray underway.
(U.S. Navy photo DVID #DN-ST-84-00104 by PH1 R. G. Swan from the DVIC) |
0602105404 |
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09 March 1982: At sea - A port bow view of Gray underway.
(U.S. Navy photo DVID #DN-ST-84-00105 by PH1 R. G. Swan from the DVIC) |
0602105405 |
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09 March 1982: At sea - A port bow view of Gray underway.
(U.S. Navy photo DVID #DN-ST-84-00106 by PH1 R. G. Swan from the DVIC) |
0602105406 |
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09 March 1982: At sea - A port bow view of Gray underway.
(U.S. Navy photo DVID #DN-ST-84-00107 by PH1 R. G. Swan from the DVIC) |
0602105407) |
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09 March 1982: At sea - A port bow view of Gray underway.
(U.S. Navy photo DVID #DN-ST-84-00108 by PH1 R. G. Swan from the DVIC) |
0602105408 |
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09 March 1982: At sea - A port quarterview of Gray underway.
(U.S. Navy photo DVID #DN-ST-84-00109 by PH1 R. G. Swan from the DVIC) |
0602105409 |
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09 March 1982: At sea - A starboard beam view of Gray underway.
(U.S. Navy photo DVID #DN-ST-84-00110 by PH1 R. G. Swan from the DVIC) |
0602105410 |
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09 March 1982: At sea - A high angle starboard bow view of Gray underway.
(U.S. Navy photo DVID #DN-ST-84-00111 by PH1 R. G. Swan from the DVIC) |
0602105411 |
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09 March 1982: At sea - A starboard bow view of Gray underway.
(U.S. Navy photo DVID #DN-ST-84-00112 by PH1 R. G. Swan from the DVIC) |
0602105412 |
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09 March 1982: At sea - A starboard bow view of Gray underway.
(U.S. Navy photo DVID #DN-ST-84-00113 by PH1 R. G. Swan from the DVIC) |
0602105413 |
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09 March 1982: At sea - A starboard bow view of Gray underway.
(U.S. Navy photo DVID #DN-ST-84-00114 by PH1 R. G. Swan from the DVIC) |
0602105414 |
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09 March 1982: At sea - A starboard bow view of Gray underway.
(U.S. Navy photo DVID #DN-ST-84-00115 by PH1 R. G. Swan from the DVIC) |
0602105415 |
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09 March 1982: At sea - A high-angle bow view of Gray underway.
(U.S. Navy photo DVID #DN-ST-84-00116 by PH1 R. G. Swan from the DVIC) |
0602105416 |
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09 March 1982: At sea - A bow view of Gray underway.
(U.S. Navy photo DVID #DN-ST-84-00117 by PH1 R. G. Swan from the Defense Visual Information Center) |
0602105417 |
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09 March 1982: At sea - A high-angle stern view of Gray underway.
(U.S. Navy photo DVID #DN-ST-84-00118 by PH1 R. G. Swan from the DVIC) |
0602105418 |
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10 February 1986: At sea - An aerial view of Naval Reserve Force frigates USS Wadsworth
(FFG 9), USS Duncan (FFG 10), Gray, USS
Lang (FF 1060) and tank landing ship USS Racine (LST 1191) underway with fleet oiler USS
Cimarron (AO 177), frigate USS Stein
(FF 1065), and Canadian guided missile destroyer HMAS Hobart (D-39). The ships are participating in an anti-submarine exercise off the coast of California.
(U.S. Navy photo DVID #DN-SC-86-03122 from the DVIC) |
0602105419 |
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01 January 1987: At sea - An aerial portside view of Gray underway. Exact date shot unknown.
(U.S. Navy photo DVID #DN-SC-05-06675 from the DVIC) |
0602105420 |
753k |
01 January 1987: At sea - An aerial port side view of Gray with the USN Newport Class Tank Landing Ship USS Racine (LST 1191) in trail
underway at sea. Exact date shot unknown.
(U.S. Navy photo DVID #DN-SC-05-06662 from the DVIC) |
