Ronald GRAY ..

My Father, Ronald Gray, was born in Litherland, Liverpool in 1924. His mother married twice, first to a Mr Harrison, then to his Father Stanley Gray. He had 7 brothers and three sisters, so a full house.

Of the 8 boys 4 were Liverpool fans, 4 Everton fans. Which led for the need of two pairs of boxing gloves to be hung in the back yard to settle arguments.

When imaging their house, think of the TV program Bread. Ronald was the youngest of the boys, so often chosen by the Blue side of the house, to defend the honour of the Red side. Hence he became a very good boxer.

He left Liverpool to join the Marines in Lympstone Devon in 1940. He told them he was 18, when in fact he was only 16, but a big lad. But given where we were in 1940, I believe these details were not checked as they would be today. Whilst in training the group were asked if anyone was interested in becoming part of an elite force (to be known later as Commando's), he was, and with a friend stepped forward to be selected. This led to more training in Scotland at Achnacarry Castle and around Spean Bridge.

He went on to be part of the 41st Marine Commando, and saw service in many places, Salerno, D Day landings in Normandy, the Maas river and Walkren Islands. He was once captured by German forces after being shot in the leg, but with some colleagues managed to escape.

After the war he went on to play football for Bristol Rovers between 1952-54, had 4 children, 5 grand children, and by now 5 great grand children. He had a serious accident whist driving a HGV, leading to over 100 stitches in his head. He held both an HGV 1 licence, and a full PCV licence, once driving coaches at weekends. He was a transport manager for BRS, and a landlord for Whitbread. Pubs the Earl Russell in Bristol, and the Anchor Inn, Thornbury. He had a stoke while at the Anchor, and had to leave the Pub. He lost his first leg in 1979, the other two years later. He was wheelchair bound for 29 years.

Back in 1970, whilst living in Sea Mills, Bristol, the Bristol evening post ran an article "where were you on VE day". In fact my father and mother were getting married, at exactly the same time as the PM declared peace. Theirs was the first marriage in Bristol in peace time.

My mother wrote into the Post, my father thought this was crazy, but they won. The prize being a trip to Germany for one! So Ronald went. Whilst their he told stories of his time in the war, which led to the post doing a weekly article. The called it 'One Mans War", which once my father saw it, he complained about the title. They then changed it to "One man at War" which he was happy with.

A man of two sides, he never believed in taking prisoners in life or war, but loved Christmas and would shed a tear at any sad story. A force to be reconded with all through his life, we all thought he was indestructible, sadly in the end he was not!

R.I.P Dad, I miss you every day
Adrian xx
YNWA

A very moving account of this brave mans life, thank you for sharing it.

RIP hero

And this is why I love this site!
Awesome info @Adrian thank you, thank you for sharing this information about your dad

@28th61st

Absolutely wonderful to read your dad's story @Adrian, one of the "greatest generation". Thanks for adding to the knowledge on this site, it's why I enjoy coming here every day

What an absolutely fantastic man, with a real spirit. So moved by this very well composed and detailed story of his life. The family must be so proud of him. Thank you for letting us share him.

Thanks Guys for all your kind words.

Just one footnote worth mentioning. Ronald was made up to Sergeant in the field of a small "tommy gun group", but following an altercation with a junior officer who felt his opinion was more important than the safety of Dads group of Heroes, (those early boxing lessons gave him an advantage again) he was demoted back to Corporal. But the good news is he was back up to Sergeant Gray by the end of the war.
Like I said, Dad never took prisoners, particularly from those he deemed privileged by birth, but inexperienced in actual real life situations. He could take orders though, but only from those who had earned their command.
From what I know that I cannot print here, it would have been a great You Tube watch if they had had social media back then ;-)

Dad never took prisoners, particularly from those he deemed privileged by birth, but inexperienced in actual real life situations. He could take orders though, but only from those who had earned their command.

Click to expand...

A man after my own heart pal, thanks again for sharing his story

Hi
Just thinking of my Father today and how scared but brave he and all his fellow heroes were 75 years ago today.
Will we truly appreciate and understand just how much we owe that generation?
RIP Dad

All heroes mate and will never be forgotten
Respect

True heroes, watched on TV this morning, all the very proud men, brought a few tears to my eyes. Thinking of my late next door neighbour Sergt. Ron Green, who was a Para dropped behind enemy lines to secure two bridges on this day. He was injured, lost a lot of his men but they were able to achieve their objective.
Such respect, they must never be forgotten.