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USS Gray (FF 1054)

USS GRAY was the third ship in the KNOX class. The frigate's last homeport was San Francisco, Ca. GRAY was decommissioned after only 21 1/2 years of service. Stricken from the Navy list on January 11, 1995, scrapping of USS GRAY was completed by July 2001.

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Crew List:

This section contains the names of sailors who served aboard USS GRAY. It is no official listing but contains the names of sailors who submitted their information.

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USS GRAY Cruise Books:

• WestPac Cruise Book 1972-73
• WestPac Cruise Book 1980-81

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USS GRAY History:

The contract for USS GRAY was awarded to Todd Shipyards Corporation on July 22, 1964. Her keel was laid at the company's Seattle, Washington, yard on November 19, 1966, and she was launched and christened on November 3, 1967. GRAY was delivered to the Navy on March 27, 1970, and commissioned at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard, Bremerton, Washington, on April 4, 1970, with Commander Frederick C. Johnson in command. She subsequently operated with the Pacific Fleet from San Diego and initially served with Destroyer Squadron 17.

Following commissioning, GRAY completed fitting-out, trials, shakedown and training along the Pacific coast before beginning preparations for overseas service. Her first major deployment began on March 2, 1971, when she departed San Diego for the Western Pacific. The deployment brought the new destroyer escort into the operational environment of the Vietnam War less than a year after commissioning. By 1971, the United States was withdrawing ground forces from South Vietnam under the policy of Vietnamization, but U.S. naval forces continued extensive carrier aviation, surveillance, search-and-rescue and support operations throughout the western Pacific.

During the deployment GRAY operated in Japanese and Korean-area waters as well as in Southeast Asia. She was photographed at Yokosuka, Japan, during the spring of 1971 in company with USS HEPBURN (DE 1055) and USS ROARK (DE 1053). Operations in and near the Sea of Japan remained an important Cold War responsibility because of the concentration of Soviet naval forces in the Far East and the continuing military tension surrounding the Korean Peninsula. Ships such as GRAY combined anti-submarine training with surveillance and escort duties as part of the continuing American naval presence in the region.

GRAY subsequently operated in the Gulf of Tonkin and performed search-and-rescue duties in support of air operations connected with the war in Vietnam. Surface ships assigned to the rescue stations supported efforts to recover American aircrews forced down during missions over North Vietnam or nearby waters and also served as communications, surveillance and helicopter-support platforms. These duties placed GRAY within the wider carrier and air-warfare organization of the Seventh Fleet while also providing operational experience in the escort and anti-submarine missions for which the KNOX-class had been designed. GRAY completed her first Western Pacific deployment and returned to San Diego on August 25, 1971. Commander Gary R. Susag relieved Commander Johnson as commanding officer on December 6, 1971.

GRAY returned to the Western Pacific in 1972 for her second deployment, this time during a major escalation of the Vietnam War. The North Vietnamese Easter Offensive began on March 30, 1972, and resulted in a substantial expansion of American naval and air activity. U.S. carrier aircraft conducted Operation Linebacker against military and transportation targets in North Vietnam, while surface ships performed naval gunfire support, radar-picket, carrier-screening, search-and-rescue and coastal surveillance duties.

By July 1972, GRAY was operating from Subic Bay in the Philippines and shortly afterward became involved in one of the more unusual incidents of her Vietnam service. On July 19, GRAY was serving as the close surface-security, or "shotgun", escort for USS BIDDLE (DLG 34), which was operating on a Positive Identification Radar Advisory Zone station off North Vietnam. BIDDLE used her long-range radar and communications equipment to maintain an air-surveillance picture and assist American aircraft operating in the area. Because the station lay relatively close to the North Vietnamese coast, the ships also had to be prepared for possible attack by aircraft or surface craft.

During the night of July 19, North Vietnamese MiG fighters attacked BIDDLE in two separate raids. BIDDLE engaged the attacking aircraft with Terrier surface-to-air missiles and gunfire and was credited with destroying at least one MiG. As the second attack developed at very low altitude, BIDDLE's commanding officer released GRAY from her close surface-security assignment so that the destroyer escort could concentrate on protecting herself. The attack was principally directed against BIDDLE, and available records do not establish that GRAY herself destroyed any aircraft.

GRAY continued operations in Vietnamese waters during the summer and autumn of 1972, with periods at Seventh Fleet support facilities between assignments. On October 7, while the ship was in Da Nang Harbor, her motor whaleboat went ashore to collect mail. Da Nang remained one of the principal naval and logistical centers in the northern part of South Vietnam even as American forces were progressively withdrawn.

The ship remained in the western Pacific through the closing months of 1972 while negotiations intended to end direct American involvement in the war continued in Paris. On December 26, GRAY departed Subic Bay for the United States in company with USS HOEL (DDG 13), USS SHELTON (DD 790) and USS JAMES E. KYES (DD 787). The ships conducted type training during the eastward Pacific transit. GRAY returned to San Diego in January 1973, completing her second Western Pacific deployment.

GRAY received a flotilla Battle Efficiency "E" for her performance during the 1972 deployment. After returning to the United States, she also became the first Pacific Fleet ship to qualify for unrestricted steaming before the Navy's 1,200-psi Propulsion Examining Board, an important engineering qualification for the high-pressure steam propulsion plant used by the KNOX-class. Commander John P. Walker Jr. relieved Commander Susag as commanding officer on May 4, 1973.

GRAY remained active on the U.S. West Coast during the first half of 1973. In early June, she participated in the Portland Rose Festival fleet visit in Oregon, one of the traditional public port visits made by Pacific Fleet ships between operational commitments. By July, she was again heading west for her third Western Pacific deployment. On July 13, 1973, GRAY was photographed operating off Oahu, Hawaii, during the trans-Pacific passage. She subsequently returned to Southeast Asian waters and was photographed being refueled in the Gulf of Tonkin during the summer.

The strategic circumstances of this deployment differed substantially from those of 1971 and 1972. The Paris Peace Accords had been signed on January 27, 1973, and direct American combat operations in Vietnam were ending, although the Seventh Fleet continued to maintain a substantial presence in Asian waters. GRAY's deployment soon shifted away from Southeast Asia in response to a new international crisis in the Middle East.

On October 6, 1973, Egypt and Syria launched attacks against Israeli forces in the Sinai Peninsula and on the Golan Heights, beginning the Yom Kippur War. As the conflict intensified and the United States and Soviet Union supported opposing sides, the possibility of a wider confrontation became a serious concern. On October 25 the United States placed its armed forces at Defense Condition III.

USS HANCOCK (CVA 19) was operating in western Pacific waters during the crisis. On October 26, Task Group 77.6 was formed under Rear Admiral Owen H. Oberg and included HANCOCK, GRAY, USS BAGLEY (DE 1069), USS LYNDE McCORMICK (DDG 8) and USS PREBLE (DLG 15). The task group initially steamed south to a holding area approximately 100 miles east of Singapore and was subsequently ordered through the Strait of Malacca into the Indian Ocean. It then proceeded westward toward the northern Arabian Sea.

The deployment coincided with Secretary of State Henry Kissinger's diplomatic efforts to stabilize the cease-fire between Israel and Egypt. For GRAY, the assignment marked a substantial geographic shift from the Vietnam-focused operations that had dominated her earlier deployments. The Indian Ocean was becoming increasingly significant to American naval planning because of the Persian Gulf oil routes, access to the Red Sea and East Africa and the expanding Soviet naval presence in the region.

Task Group 77.6 remained in the northern Arabian Sea for several weeks before moving toward the western Gulf of Aden. The strategic importance of the Bab el-Mandeb Strait had increased during the war because it controlled access between the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden. LYNDE McCORMICK and BAGLEY passed through the strait on November 29 for a visit to Massawa, Ethiopia, and returned to the Gulf of Aden on December 4. GRAY remained with the principal task-group force rather than participating in that port visit. The group ultimately spent 59 consecutive days at sea during the crisis deployment, sustained by underway replenishment from Pacific Fleet logistics ships. GRAY completed her third Western Pacific deployment and returned to the United States in January 1974.

Approximately six months later, GRAY entered Todd Shipyard in Seattle for her first extensive overhaul and modernization. The work restored machinery and combat-system readiness after three demanding overseas deployments and incorporated improvements required for continued fleet service. Commander Kenneth B. McGhee relieved Commander Walker as commanding officer on October 3, 1974. The overhaul was completed on April 16, 1975, after which GRAY returned to operational training.

On June 30, 1975, the Navy implemented a fleet-wide ship-reclassification system intended to bring American terminology more closely into line with international usage. GRAY was redesignated from destroyer escort DE 1054 to frigate FF 1054.

GRAY began her fourth Western Pacific deployment in November 1975. The deployment lasted approximately eight months and included an extended Indian Ocean phase. By that time, the Vietnam War had ended with the fall of Saigon on April 30, 1975, and U.S. naval activity in Asia was increasingly focused on the broader Cold War competition and on maintaining access to strategically important sea routes.

On January 10, 1976, Commander Roger P. Onorati relieved Commander McGhee as commanding officer. At approximately the same time, a surface force consisting of USS FOX (CG 33), GRAY, USS HEPBURN (FF 1055) and USNS PASSUMPSIC (T-AO 107) began a major Indian Ocean deployment as Task Group 75.1. The group proceeded through Southeast Asian waters and the Strait of Malacca before operating westward across the Indian Ocean.

During the deployment the task group made port calls that included Singapore and Karachi, Pakistan, and later operated in the western Indian Ocean and along the East African routes. The group also visited Mombasa, Kenya, and made calls or stops associated with its Indian Ocean itinerary at locations including Reunion and Diego Garcia. Contemporary records of the task group also document activity involving the Seychelles and Mauritius during the broader deployment. During the westward operations, the American ships approached waters near Socotra, where Soviet naval vessels used an offshore anchorage. GRAY and the other ships observed Soviet naval activity as part of the routine Cold War surveillance conducted by both navies. Such operations allowed U.S. forces to collect information on Soviet ship movements, formations, operating procedures and logistic patterns without entering into direct confrontation.

The deployment also included extensive oceanographic and acoustic work in the Arabian Sea. The task group conducted what Navy accounts described as the first extensive acoustic survey of those waters. For an anti-submarine frigate such as GRAY, environmental information about temperature layers, water structure and sound propagation had direct operational value because sonar performance depended heavily on local oceanographic conditions. The Arabian Sea and Indian Ocean presented different acoustic characteristics from the North Atlantic and western Pacific areas in which the U.S. Navy had accumulated more extensive anti-submarine experience.

Task Group 75.1 returned to Subic Bay in March 1976 after completing its principal Indian Ocean operations. GRAY then continued Seventh Fleet duties before beginning the homeward portion of the deployment. She returned to the United States on July 9, 1976, completing her fourth Western Pacific cruise.

On September 18, 1976, GRAY entered Long Beach Naval Shipyard for an important weapons modernization. During this availability she received the Harpoon anti-ship missile capability. The installation considerably improved the ship's ability to engage surface targets at long range and reflected the Navy's increasing emphasis on offensive surface warfare during the 1970s. After completion of the work, GRAY conducted inspections, training and weapons-system evaluation and served as an evaluation ship associated with the operational introduction of Harpoon.

GRAY departed again for the Western Pacific on September 6, 1977. Her fifth deployment differed from her earlier cruises because a substantial part of it was routed through the South Pacific. GRAY spent approximately 77 days in the region and visited Fiji, New Zealand, Australia and Indonesia. The itinerary combined multinational training, regional presence and port visits at a time when the United States continued to emphasize naval cooperation with Australia, New Zealand and other Pacific partners. During the deployment GRAY participated in Exercise Auckex '77, a combined exercise involving naval forces from the United States, Australia, New Zealand and Canada. The training included anti-aircraft warfare, anti-submarine warfare, naval gunfire support, underway replenishment and communications exercises. For GRAY, the anti-submarine elements were directly related to her primary fleet mission, while the broader exercise tested interoperability among allied ships using different command procedures and equipment.

The Australian portion of the deployment included a lengthy visit to Newcastle, New South Wales, during the Christmas period. The visiting American ships were expected to arrive on December 19, 1977, and the visit included official welcomes, public access and local events. Commander Onorati was interviewed by the local press during the stay. Contemporary reporting indicates that approximately 12,000 people visited the American ships during the nine-day port period. GRAY departed the Newcastle area around December 29 and continued the South Pacific and Indonesian portions of the deployment before beginning the homeward transit. She returned to the United States in April 1978.

Commander Eigil L. Hansen Jr. relieved Commander Onorati as commanding officer on April 21, 1978. GRAY continued operating along the Pacific coast during the following months. Her presence at Seattle from June 8 to 10, 1978, is documented, and she again operated in the Seattle area during maritime events later in the summer. Later in 1978, GRAY entered Todd Shipyard in Seattle for her second major overhaul. The availability lasted approximately 14 months and involved extensive machinery, hull, ship-service, sensor and combat-system work after years of repeated Pacific and Indian Ocean deployments. The overhaul was intended to extend her effective service life into the 1980s.

An unusual incident occurred during the shipyard period on May 26, 1979, when the living barge assigned to GRAY was damaged by an arson fire at Todd Pacific Shipyard. Reported structural damage to the barge exceeded one million dollars. The fire affected the temporary accommodation provided for the crew during the overhaul rather than GRAY's own hull. GRAY eventually completed the shipyard period and returned to San Diego on November 10, 1979.

During the following year, the frigate concentrated on restoring full operational readiness. She underwent inspections, engineering qualification, combat-system training and fleet exercises in preparation for another overseas deployment. GRAY departed San Diego on November 22, 1980, for her sixth Western Pacific cruise and was given tactical command of a small surface group that included USS LANG (FF 1060) and USS ELLIOT (DD 967).

The group sailed first to Hawaii, and GRAY reached Pearl Harbor on December 2. There, the American ships joined three destroyers of the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force for combined operations during the westward transit. The ships subsequently crossed the International Date Line together. Because of the calendar change associated with the crossing, the group passed directly from December 6 to December 8 and therefore did not experience December 7 in the normal local-date sequence, an unusual circumstance on the thirty-ninth anniversary of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. The Japanese ships detached on December 12.

GRAY, LANG and ELLIOT continued westward, made a brief stop at Guam and then proceeded to the Philippines. They arrived at Subic Bay on December 21, 1980. GRAY spent the remainder of the year there conducting upkeep and preparing for Seventh Fleet exercises and operations. Captain Michael A. Rose relieved Commander Hansen as commanding officer on January 16, 1981. Three days later, GRAY began a major anti-submarine exercise off the Philippines. From January 19 to 22 she participated in Anti-Submarine Warfare Exercise 81-3U with ELLIOT, USS WHIPPLE (FF 1062), LANG, USS JOHN YOUNG (DD 973), USS RAMSEY (FFG 2) and USNS NAVASOTA (T-AO 106). Commander Task Force 75 was embarked in JOHN YOUNG. USS BARBEL (SS 580) and USS GRAYBACK (SS 574) served as opposing submarines. The exercise emphasized anti-submarine operations in shallow water and the protection of a high-value unit passing through restricted waters, conditions substantially different from the open-ocean environment for which many traditional Cold War ASW tactics had originally been developed.

After further operations in Philippine waters, GRAY proceeded to Pattaya Beach, Thailand, which she visited from February 3 to 7, 1981. The port period was followed by further combined training and Seventh Fleet activity in the South China Sea. On February 24, GRAY participated in Anti-Surface Warfare Exercise 81-1 together with JOHN YOUNG, RAMSEY, LANG and USS BONEFISH (SS 582). The exercise concentrated on passive methods of locating and targeting surface ships for Harpoon missile attacks. GRAY's participation demonstrated how her mission had expanded since installation of Harpoon in 1976. Although anti-submarine warfare remained central to her design, the frigate was now also integrated into the Navy's development of long-range surface-warfare tactics intended to reduce dependence on active sensors that could reveal a ship's own position.

The deployment subsequently extended through other Seventh Fleet operating areas and into the broader Indian Ocean region. These operations occurred during a period of increased U.S. naval interest in the Arabian Sea and surrounding waters following the Iranian Revolution, the seizure of American hostages in Tehran, the Soviet intervention in Afghanistan and growing concern over access to Persian Gulf oil routes. Although the hostage crisis ended on January 20, 1981, the Indian Ocean remained an area of considerable strategic importance.

GRAY eventually returned to Subic Bay before beginning her return to the United States. On May 4, 1981, she departed the Philippines for Hawaii in company with LANG, JOHN YOUNG and NAVASOTA. After crossing the Pacific she returned to the U.S. West Coast later that month, completing another lengthy Western Pacific deployment.

During 1982, GRAY entered a new phase of her career when she was transferred to the Naval Reserve Force. She was initially based at Long Beach, California. The assignment did not place the frigate in inactive status. Naval Reserve Force ships retained a nucleus of active-duty personnel and incorporated Selected Reserve sailors into their crews, allowing the ships to maintain operational capability while supporting reserve training and mobilization requirements. GRAY continued to go to sea for exercises and fleet training and was photographed maneuvering off California on March 9, 1982.

During the early 1980s Naval Reserve Force frigates were increasingly integrated into major fleet training, giving their crews opportunities to maintain proficiency in anti-submarine, anti-surface and escort operations alongside active-duty units. In early 1983, GRAY undertook another substantial West Coast training period. On February 8, USS BADGER (FF 1071) began a six-week cruise in company with GRAY, LANG and USS COCHRANE (DDG 21). The ships participated in a Composite Training Unit Exercise, a Readiness Exercise and naval gunfire-support requalification. The cruise demonstrated that GRAY remained integrated into demanding fleet-level training despite her Naval Reserve Force assignment. Commander Michael P. Donnelly relieved Captain Rose as commanding officer on February 19, 1983.

GRAY continued reserve-force operations during 1983, 1984 and 1985, conducting readiness training, local operations and periodic exercises along the Pacific coast. She remained based at Long Beach during this phase. Commander David Van Saun relieved Commander Donnelly on July 13, 1985.

On February 10, 1986, GRAY participated in a major anti-submarine warfare exercise off the California coast. Other participating ships included Naval Reserve Force frigates USS WADSWORTH (FFG 9), USS DUNCAN (FFG 10) and LANG, tank landing ship USS RACINE (LST 1191), fleet oiler USS CIMARRON (AO 177), frigate USS STEIN (FF 1065) and the Royal Australian Navy guided missile destroyer HMAS HOBART (D 39). GRAY later participated in one of the most distinctive U.S. surface-force deployments of the mid-1980s. On May 13, 1986, USS NEW JERSEY (BB 62) departed Long Beach for a Western Pacific deployment accompanied initially by USS LONG BEACH (CGN 9), USS MERRILL (DD 976) and USS THACH (FFG 43). GRAY subsequently became part of the NEW JERSEY battleship battle group.

The deployment formed part of the Navy's 1980s development of battleship-centered surface action groups. NEW JERSEY combined her 16-inch guns with modern Tomahawk cruise missiles and Harpoon anti-ship missiles, while escorts such as GRAY provided anti-submarine protection and additional surface-warfare capability. For GRAY, screening a battleship-centered force was a natural extension of the escort mission for which she had originally been designed.

The battle group operated across the Western Pacific during the summer of 1986 against the background of continuing U.S.-Soviet naval competition. The Reagan administration's Maritime Strategy emphasized the ability of U.S. naval forces to operate aggressively across broad ocean areas, including regions close to Soviet operating zones. After completing the deployment, GRAY returned to the U.S. West Coast and resumed Naval Reserve Force duties.

During the first quarter of Fiscal Year 1987, corresponding to the autumn of 1986, GRAY's homeport was shifted from Long Beach to Naval Station Treasure Island in San Francisco Bay. Treasure Island became her final homeport and remained the center of her reserve-force activities during the remainder of her commissioned service. Photographic records from early 1987 show GRAY continuing to participate in large formation exercises with reserve and active ships. In one documented formation she operated with WADSWORTH, STEIN, DUNCAN, USS WILLAMETTE (AO 180), LANG, USS MacDONOUGH (DDG 39), RACINE and USS PREBLE, while SH-2F Seasprite helicopters operated above the group. Such exercises reflected the continued relevance of the older KNOX-class frigates to anti-submarine training even as newer OLIVER HAZARD PERRY-class frigates and SPRUANCE-class destroyers assumed a growing share of frontline duties. Commander Alan B. Dunn relieved Commander Van Saun on August 15, 1987.

GRAY remained assigned to the Naval Reserve Force during 1988, operating from the San Francisco Bay area and participating in reserve training and Pacific Fleet exercises. By this stage, the ship was approaching two decades in commission, but her sonar, helicopter capability and Harpoon armament still allowed her to contribute to a wide range of fleet-training requirements.

In June 1989, GRAY again participated in the Portland Rose Festival. The annual Portland visit required a lengthy transit of the Columbia and Willamette river system and combined seamanship training with public-access events. Later in 1989, GRAY participated in Pacific Exercise 89, conducted from September 5 through October 19. PACEX 89 was one of the largest U.S. Pacific Fleet exercises of the late Cold War and involved carrier, surface, submarine and support forces operating across the northern Pacific. GRAY served within the force associated with USS CONSTELLATION (CV 64). The exercise tested coordinated anti-air, anti-surface and anti-submarine operations over long distances while Soviet Pacific Fleet submarines, bombers and surface forces remained the principal conventional naval threat considered by U.S. planners.

Commander Wilson O. Shealy Jr. relieved Commander Dunn as commanding officer on October 10, 1989. Only one week later, while GRAY was back in the San Francisco Bay area, the ship became involved in a major domestic emergency. At 5:04 p.m. local time on October 17, the Loma Prieta earthquake struck northern California, causing extensive damage in San Francisco and Oakland, disrupting transportation and utilities and producing serious fires in San Francisco's Marina District.

Navy ships already present in San Francisco Bay were quickly used to assist local authorities. GRAY provided electrical services to Pacific Gas and Electric in support of damage-control efforts in the Marina District. LANG supplied steam services for power generation, while KANSAS CITY (AOR 3) and FLINT (AE 32) had helicopter detachments available for emergency support and USS TEXAS (CGN 39) assisted with communications coordination in the Bay Area. GRAY's participation in the earthquake response subsequently qualified the ship for the Humanitarian Service Medal.

The international environment changed rapidly during GRAY's final years. The Berlin Wall fell in November 1989, the Warsaw Pact began to collapse and the Soviet Union entered the political and economic crisis that would culminate in its dissolution in December 1991. The strategic requirement for the large Cold War fleet consequently declined, and older steam-powered ships such as the KNOX-class frigates were among those increasingly selected for retirement.

GRAY nevertheless continued Naval Reserve Force service through 1990 and most of 1991 from Treasure Island. She maintained reserve training and mobilization readiness while preparations gradually shifted toward deactivation. USS GRAY was decommissioned on September 29, 1991. GRAY's commissioned career had lasted approximately twenty-one and a half years. The frigate remained in Navy custody following decommissioning and was formally struck from the Naval Vessel Register on January 11, 1995. Photographs from December 1995 show the former GRAY laid up with other inactive ships at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard in Bremerton.

GRAY was ultimately selected for disposal rather than foreign transfer or preservation. On June 6, 2000, the former frigate was withdrawn from the Suisun Bay Reserve Fleet as part of the Navy's Ship Disposal Project-West and was taken to the former San Francisco Naval Shipyard at Hunters Point for dismantling. Ship Dismantlement and Recycling Joint Venture subsequently dismantled and recycled the hull, with federal maritime records indicating that the work was completed in August 2001.

During her commissioned service GRAY received Battle Efficiency recognition on several occasions as well as campaign, expeditionary, sea-service and unit awards associated with her operations. Her documented decorations included the Navy Expeditionary Medal, National Defense Service Medal, Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal, Vietnam Service Medal, Republic of Vietnam Campaign Medal, Sea Service Deployment Ribbon and Humanitarian Service Medal.

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Accidents aboard USS GRAY:

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About the Ship's Name:

Ross Franklin Gray was born in Talledaga Springs, Alabama, on August 1, 1920. He enlisted in the US Marine Corps Reserve in Birmingham, Alabama on July 22, 1942. He departed for overseas operations in the Pacific January 13, 1944. In March of that year he was promoted to Engineering Corporal. In June and July 1944 he participated in landings on Saipan and Tinian Islands in the Marianas Islands. In August he was promoted to Sergeant.

On February 21, 1945, two days after the intial landing on Iwo Jima the platoon lead by Sergeant Gray was pinned down by a heavy barrage of Japanese hand grenades. Withdrawing his platoon, the twenty-four year old Sergeant moved forward alone until his advance was held up by a series of enemy emplacements fronted by a mine field. Sergeant Gray, capitalizing on his earlier training in disarming and removing mines, cleared a path through the mine field before returning to his platoon for twelve satchell charges and three volunteers to cover his movements.

Sergeant Gray, under the cover provided by the three members of his platoon, crossed the mine field six times, each time carrying a twenty-four pound charge through heavy fire and systematiclly destroyed the Japanese emplacements. Following his one man offensive, Sergeant Gray went back to the mine field and completely disarmed it before returning to his platoon. A later count showed that he accounted for a machine gun, a small field piece, an ammunition dump, and twenty-five of the enemy. Although he remained unscratched through his heroic action, Sergeant Gray was killed six days later on February 27 by fragmentation from an enemy projectile.

Sergeant Gray was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor for conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty.

Citation:

For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty as a Platoon Sergeant attached to Company A, 1st Battalion, 25th Marines, 4th Marine Division, in action against enemy Japanese forces on Iwo Jima, Volcano Islands, 21 February 1945.

Shrewdly gauging the tactical situation when his platoon was held up by a sudden barrage of hostile grenades while advancing toward the high ground northeast of Airfield No. 1, Sgt. Gray promptly organized the withdrawal of his men from enemy grenade range, quickly moved forward alone to reconnoiter and discovered a heavily mined area extending along the front of a strong network of emplacements joined by covered trenches. Although assailed by furious gunfire, he cleared a path leading through the minefield to one of the fortifications, then returned to the platoon position and, informing his leader of the serious situation, volunteered to initiate an attack under cover of 3 fellow marines. Alone and unarmed but carrying a huge satchel charge, he crept up on the Japanese emplacement, boldly hurled the short-fused explosive and sealed the entrance. Instantly taken under machinegun fire from a second entrance to the same position, he unhesitatingly braved the increasingly vicious fusillades to crawl back for another charge, returned to his objective and blasted the second opening, thereby demolishing the position. Repeatedly covering the ground between the savagely defended enemy fortifications and his platoon area, he systematically approached, attacked and withdrew under blanketing fire to destroy a total of 6 Japanese positions, more than 25 troops and a quantity of vital ordnance gear and ammunition.

Stouthearted and indomitable, Sgt. Gray had single-handedly overcome a strong enemy garrison and had completely disarmed a large minefield before finally rejoining his unit. By his great personal valor, daring tactics and tenacious perseverance in the face of extreme peril, he had contributed materially to the fulfillment of his company mission. His gallant conduct throughout enhanced and sustained the highest traditions of the U.S. Naval Service.

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USS GRAY Image Gallery:

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