World War II Honoree

Harry Eugene Gray

Branch of Service

U.S. Marine Corps

Hometown

Arlington, Massachusetts

Honored By

Orville L. Kline

Rank: Private. Inducted into the United States Marine Corps September 17, 1943 at Boston, Massachusetts, with recruit training assigned to the Ninth Recruit Battalion Training Regiment; Marine Corps Base Parris Island, South Carolina. Upon his graduation from Boot Camp, he was transferred to Camp Geiger, North Carolina for combat training. Following his basic and infantry training, he served as a Rifleman with the Thirty-Fourth Replacement Draft Battalion, and assigned to the First Battalion, Ninth Marines an element of the Third Marine Division. His division participated in the amphibious assault on the Volcanic Island of Iwo Jima (Battle Dates: February 19-March 26, 1945) Code Name: Operation Detachment. On March 13, 1945 he was mortally wounded, during combat operations against the Imperial Japanese forces, with burial in the Third Marine Division battlefield cemetery on Iwo. Succeeding hostilities with Japan, the family of this Marine requested that he be buried at the Military section of Arlington Cemetery Arlington, Massachusetts, and later he was re-interred with Military Honors at Saratoga National Cemetery, May 18, 2000 Location: Schuylerville, New York. This American Patriot was awarded the Purple Heart posthumously, for his ultimate sacrifice in defense of his country.