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saiii, “because after »i year-and-a-IkiII ol training, everybody was kind nt glad we were headed lor the real thing. 'Dial’s what we were trained lor.We diove up (onto the beach) on 11 tick*, and everybody Iroin oJficer% on ikiwn scmed building to.xholes because the Germans weie still shelling the Ixiaelt. ‘Die ground was pruliy mU. and il didn't take you lone m dig n hole, especially if a shell landed ue.u-by Dray said he had a close call a few weeks liik'i when, on a warm daw lie decided to leave the foxhole and lie outside. He heard shelling and tumped hack in the »o\holo. and five minutes later a mortal landed right where he had beenThe 79l!i drove northwest up the peninsula to Cherbourg, where ihc German army was entrenched, and was the first U.S. unit to enter Chcibourg. After taking the city, the 79th swung south and in September 1944 was the first across the Seine River and into the ••Defense of Paris’* peri meter. They continued through Belgium, “bul I missed the Battle of the Bulge.lo l.uxombouig. Holland, and six months after landing in France the division ometed Germany.Gray's job was eanying ammunition in the guns.We'd run up to the guns with aimnuniluin. then we d get away last, because as soon as we’d Mail firing. they'd fire hack.Gray said il was difficult inremember events 54 years ago, yel he quickly recalled eating the K-ration's 4-ouncc can ol cheese and crackers and sandwich, and lhe lalcr C-ralion with candy or cookies.They weicn't had, but they got I ires Dine uflcr awhile, 1 never did go hungry, Gray said.Gray went through the war without a scratch and sailed iliiuugh the Strait of Gibraltar to the U.S. in October 1945. He returned to work at Goodrich m Novcmhct and stayed lor the next 27 years.Die Grays, who will cclchralc their 61st wedding anniversary June 29, retired anil moved in 1976 lo Pollock Pines, where son Jim Gray also lives.Gray's name, along wiih oilierveterans, is now inscribed on Ihc Normandy Wall in France. He said lie is ttol in touch with veterans from his old battalion. On war anniversaries like D-Day, “1 always think about II. It’s a pretty important day. But 1 don’t go toany gct-logcthcrs.Military secrecy being whal ii was, Gray said the pack mule artillery unit’s destination wns never revealed, though he later heard they operated in Italy. He also said he never tried lo determine where in England he had been and was not inclined lo revisit the European battle sites.I'd just as soon forget about it. I've not the least desire to gb hack.” Gray said. “I haven’t even hecn back to the camp in )Colorado.” \
Newspaper Details
Placerville Mountain Democrat
Placerville, California, US
Fri, Jun 05, 1998
Page 4
Full Page
Clipped by
Carolyn R.
USA 22 Jun 2019
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