Posted on 11/16/2003 6:51:36 AM PST by SandRat
|
| Mary Bixby displays the Medal of Honor awarded to her brother, Petty Officer 2nd Class David R. Ray, to Master Chief Petty Officer Phillip Avery that will be on display at the new HM2 David R. Ray Troop Medical Clinic on Fort Huachuca. (Ed Honda-Herald/Review) |
For one who gave: Fort clinic named after Navy corpsman who received Medal of Honor
FORT HUACHUCA -- A hero's name lives on at this Army post.
It is not the name of a soldier. It is the name of a sailor who gave his life providing medical treatment to Marines as they fought off an attack in South Vietnam.
Petty Officer 2nd Class David Robert Ray, a hospital corpsman, had the Troop Medical Clinic named after him Friday morning.
As the fog slowly lifted Friday, Ray's sister, Mary Bixby, and his nephew David Lentz, heard glowing words about brother and uncle.
Maj. Gen. James Marks, commander of Fort Huachuca, said there was a special poignancy in naming the medical clinic after Ray, who was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor.
The date Ray was killed in action was March 19, 1969. More than 34 years later to the day, more American servicemen and women were putting their lives on the line when the war with Iraq began.
"His task was clear, so that others may live." Marks said.
Ray lived up to the Vietnam-era corpsman creed that started with the words, "My task is to provide to the utmost limits of my capability the best possible care for those in need of my aid and assistance. I will aid those who are needful, paying no heed to my own desires and wants; treating friend, foe and stranger alike, placing their needs above my own," the general said.
When an enemy force tried to overrun a Marine howitzer battery, which they were nearly successful at doing, Ray was wounded in the early part of the fight but continued providing first aid to his comrades.
The sailor was wounded additional times as he treated the wounded Marines, even fighting off the enemy as he did his lifesaving work.
In what the citation to the Medal of Honor states was Ray's last heroic act, the sailor threw himself on a wounded Marine protecting him from the blast of an enemy grenade that took Ray's life.
Ray's involvement was part of life that he had no choice but to do the best he could, and he succeeded, Marks said.
A soldier's first duty is to remember, and the general said Friday that it was an honor to remember a sailor whose actions saved many Marines on March 19, 1969.
"We'll remember. Thank you for giving us 24 years," the general said.
For Bixby, she knew Ray -- Bobby Ray as she called him -- as "my big brother who protected me, even though I annoyed him."
Today, Bobby Ray would probably be called Bob since if he had lived he would be 58 years old, Bixby said, because Bob is more dignified for an older man.
She described her brother as funny, intelligent and a tall man. He loved Saturday morning cartoons and enjoyed reading Aristotle, Bixby said.
Two years younger than her brother, Bixby said the last time she saw him he was holding her young son, David, who was a few weeks old in his big arms.
After the formal ceremony, she said the death of her brother in combat was a redefining moment for her late parents, David and Donnie Ray.
The Medal of Honor was presented to the family by then Vice President Spiro Agnew.
"When they learned what he did, it gave them great comfort," she said.
If her brother had survived combat, Bixby said he would be a doctor today.
During the dedication, sailors and Marines stood at attention, as did soldiers and airmen. At other ceremonies, such as the commissioning and decommissioning of a destroyer named after her brother, only sailors were present.
"It was wonderful to see all the services here," she said.
She has temporarily loaned her brother's Medal of Honor and certificate to be displayed in the clinic's foyer.
Master Chief Petty Officer Phillip Avery said there is more to the story of Ray's heroism.
Usually there are two Navy hospital corpsmen assigned to a company-sized Marine unit, but the day of the attack one of the sailors was on a rest-and-recuperation break, said Avery, who is the senior enlisted sailor at the Navy's Center for Cryptology Detachment on the post. Of the 220 men in the unit, 20 were killed and everyone else was wounded.
For Joe Holder, a retired master chief petty officer, the idea of naming the clinic for a sailor began in 1999 when he was assigned to the detachment. The process took some time to go through the Army and Navy channels.
Saying he thought the clinic should be named for a Navy hospital corpsman because the sailors and Marines go through the Intelligence Center on post and use the troop medical clinic, Holder said he researched Medal of Honor recipients from World War II, Korea and Vietnam and decided it would be appropriate to find someone from the Vietnam War.
"There were 14 Navy Medal of Honors given to sailors, and two of them went to corpsmen," Holder said.
Perhaps some day in the future, the sailors and Marines who use the now named David Robert Ray Troop Medical Clinic may be treated by a Navy hospital corpsman.
Avery said a request to have a sailor working at the clinic is making its way through Army medical channels.
For Bixby, the Army's approval of a Navy request is a great honor to her brother and the family.
"He (Ray) will always be fixed in my mind as 24 years old," she said.
The barracks at Lakehurst, NJ are named after a Navy Corpsman, Robert Casey.
Here's a link to his story.
just a small unit of the Navy Detachment on this post.
From our Veteran's Day Parade, just a smalll part of our USMC Det.
When an enemy force tried to overrun a Marine howitzer battery, which they were nearly successful at doing, Ray was wounded in the early part of the fight but continued providing first aid to his comrades.
The sailor was wounded additional times as he treated the wounded Marines, even fighting off the enemy as he did his lifesaving work.
In what the citation to the Medal of Honor states was Ray's last heroic act, the sailor threw himself on a wounded Marine protecting him from the blast of an enemy grenade that took Ray's life.
David R. Ray Image cropped from a group photograph. Hospital Corpsman Second Class David R. Ray was awarded the Medal of Honor, posthumously, for heroism while serving in the Republic of Vietnam. Official U.S. Navy Photograph. |
 |
USS DAVID R RAY (DD-971), decommissioned Feb 2002, now in mothballs Bremerton, WA.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.