VIEW ALL PHOTOS (6)
HONORED ON PANEL 29W, LINE 82 OF THE WALL
DAVID ROBERT RAY
WALL NAME
DAVID R RAY
PANEL / LINE
29W/82
DATE OF BIRTH
CASUALTY PROVINCE
DATE OF CASUALTY
HOME OF RECORD
COUNTY OF RECORD
STATE
BRANCH OF SERVICE
RANK
REMEMBRANCES
LEFT FOR DAVID ROBERT RAY
POSTED ON 7.25.2009
POSTED BY: just another old friend
I miss you Bobby Ray
I went to boot camp with a nice young fellow from Tennessee, an easy-going bean pole just escaped from the state university. He talked about wanting to be a pilot and about being disqualified because of his height. It was a done deal that a waiver was in the works and that he wouldn't be with us long because when the waiver came through he'd surely be off to flight school. He was David to the company, Bobby not an option until just before "graduation" when he let it be known that his parents were driving out from Tennessee to watch him do his final boot camp drills. I met them briefly, nice folks, and my memory says they showed up in a pickup truck with an Alaskan cabover camper. All I know for sure is that I was knocked over a few years later when I read in the newspapers that a new Navy destroyer was being named the "David R. Ray" after a Navy Medal of Honor recipient along with a picture of Bobby Ray. David Bobby Ray, my buddy for awhile in the early '60s, died hard and that troubles me to this very day. Picture a Tennessee stringbean singing "Blue Moon" at the top of his lungs a cappella with half a dozen other Tennessee hillbillys. Now picture that same wiry kid doing hand to hand combat trying to stay alive and do his job as a Hospital Corpsman. I respect the fact that you did your job well Bobby Ray but godammit I miss you dude. I'm sick of war, it's all I've known since 1966. On the bright side, I can't have many years left and if there is an afterlife I'm sure I'll run into Bobby Ray along with the rest of my generation who died way too young.
POSTED ON 9.19.2006
POSTED BY: HMCM John Bruneel, U.S.N. Retired
I'm the One Called Doc
"I'm the One Called "Doc…"
I shall not walk in your footsteps,
but I will walk by your side.
I shall not walk in your image,
I've earned my own title of pride.
We've answered the call together,
on sea and foreign land.
When the cry for help was given,
I've been there right at hand.
Whether I am on the ocean
or in the jungle wearing greens,
Giving aid to my fellow man,
be it Sailors or Marines.
So the next time you see a corpsman
and you think of calling him "squid",
Think of the job he's doing
as those before him did.
And if you ever have to go out there
and your life is on the block,
Look at the one right next to you…
I'm the one called "Doc".
Harry D. Penny, Jr. HMC(AC)USN
Copyright 1975
"Permission to reprint granted
by the author/copyright owner".
(Permission for both poem & graphic)
POSTED ON 12.31.2005
POSTED BY: Dave Avery
Who Shall We Send
"An God said who shall we send.I answered I am here,send me."
Isaiah 6:8
Facta Non Verba
Laus Deo
Isaiah 6:8
Facta Non Verba
Laus Deo
POSTED ON 3.19.2004
POSTED BY: Kayla Porzelius
Thank you
Dear David,
Our school has recently started what it calls the Gridley High School Posting Project where the students write remembrances to those who died during the Vietnam War. I wat to say thank you for all that you did. You will also be remembered.
Our school has recently started what it calls the Gridley High School Posting Project where the students write remembrances to those who died during the Vietnam War. I wat to say thank you for all that you did. You will also be remembered.
