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Gray William Harold

Name:
William Harold Gray
Rank:
Private
Serial Number:
36757237
Unit:
462nd Amphibious Truck Company
Date of Death:
1944-04-28
State:
Illinois
Cemetery:
Cambridge American Cemetery, United Kingdom
Plot:
Tablets of the Missing
Row:
Grave:
Decoration:
Purple Heart
Comments:

William Harold Gray was born on April 29, 1915. He was the son of William David Gray and Emma Lucrecia Byxbe Gray. He served in the 462nd Amphibious Truck Company as a Private during World War II. William Harold was aboard the USS LST 531 and was killed during the Exercise Tiger--one of the large-scale rehearsals for the D-Day invasion of Normandy. This took place in April 1944 in Slapton Sands, Devon in the UK. An Allied naval convoy involved in the exercise was attacked by German submarines, and coordination and communication problems resulted in friendly fire deaths. At least 749 American servicemen were killed. Because of the impending invasion of Normandy, the incident was highly classified and the full story did not come out until years later after the war. PVT Gray was declared "Missing in Action" on April 28, 1944 and his name is memorialized on the Tablets of the Missing, Cambridge American Cemetery, Cambridge, United Kingdom.