thedrifter
10-17-07, 07:10 AM
Veterans to be honored
Wednesday, October 17, 2007
By GEORGE WERNETH
Staff Reporter
"Mobile and its World War II Generation," as well as one of its first black Marines -- forced to the back of a city bus when he returned home from war in uniform -- are being honored at this year's Nov. 12 Veterans Day celebration in Mobile.
John F. Gray of Mobile, one of several Mobilians featured in the Ken Burns PBS television documentary "The War," has been named Mobile Bay Area Veteran of the Year, officials said Tuesday. Gray, 82, was one of the first blacks to be admitted into the Marine Corps and served with a segregated unit for 19 months in the Pacific Theater during World War II.
The annual Patriot of the Year Award will go to "Mobile and its World War II Generation," said Jim Jordan, a spokesman for the Mobile Bay Veterans Day Commission, which sponsors the awards.
Mobile's contributions to the U.S. war effort in World War II -- both at home and on the front lines -- were featured in the Burns documentary which was recently televised nationally. The documentary also focused on three other American towns in World War II: Luverne, Minn.; Sacramento, Calif.; and
Waterbury, Conn.
When contacted about the award, Gray told a reporter, "I am just overwhelmed." He said he went through a separate Marine Corps boot camp for blacks at Montford Point at Camp Lejeune, N.C., in the spring of 1943.
He was one of the first blacks to serve in the Marine Corps. Blacks who went through boot camp in the Marines between 1942 and 1949 were known as "Montford Point Marines." Today, all Marines go through boot camps at Parris Island, S.C., or in San Diego.
Gray noted that he had to sit in the back of a city bus when he returned home to Mobile from the war in his Marine Corps uniform.
After he was featured in the Burns documentary, Gray said, he received in the mail an American Flag that had flown over the U.S. Capitol Building in Washington, and a letter of congratulations from U.S. Rep. Jo Bonner, R-Mobile.
He said Bonner enclosed a statement he read last month into the Congressional Record, honoring Gray. "I cried like a baby when I read it," Gray said. He said the honors being bestowed upon him late in life remind him of the old saying "Good things come to those who wait."
After returning from the war, Gray went on to receive a bachelor's degree in education from Alabama State University in Montgomery on the GI Bill. He later received a master's degree from Xavier College in New Orleans.
He served for 50 years in the Mobile County public schools, retiring as assistant principal at Shaw High School. He also is a former vice chairman of the Mobile Housing Board and a life member of the P.L. Wilson Detachment of the Marine Corps League.
A spokesman for the commission honoring Gray with the award, retired Navy Cmdr. Pete Riehm, said that Gray is being honored both for his military service and community service.
"His leadership and influence over his students was instrumental in making desegregation work for both his African-American and his white students." Riehm noted further, that despite the indignities that Gray endured as a black Marine, he went on to serve his country honorably in World War II and to distinguish himself in civilian life.
Gray and "Mobile and its World War II Generation" will be honored at the annual Veterans Day Honors Luncheon to be held at noon on Nov. 12 at Fort Whiting Armory at the foot of South Broad Street near the entrance to the Brookley Complex. Tickets are $15 each or $120 for a reserved table for eight. For reservations, call Jessica Powers at 431-8612.
Ellie
Wednesday, October 17, 2007
By GEORGE WERNETH
Staff Reporter
"Mobile and its World War II Generation," as well as one of its first black Marines -- forced to the back of a city bus when he returned home from war in uniform -- are being honored at this year's Nov. 12 Veterans Day celebration in Mobile.
John F. Gray of Mobile, one of several Mobilians featured in the Ken Burns PBS television documentary "The War," has been named Mobile Bay Area Veteran of the Year, officials said Tuesday. Gray, 82, was one of the first blacks to be admitted into the Marine Corps and served with a segregated unit for 19 months in the Pacific Theater during World War II.
The annual Patriot of the Year Award will go to "Mobile and its World War II Generation," said Jim Jordan, a spokesman for the Mobile Bay Veterans Day Commission, which sponsors the awards.
Mobile's contributions to the U.S. war effort in World War II -- both at home and on the front lines -- were featured in the Burns documentary which was recently televised nationally. The documentary also focused on three other American towns in World War II: Luverne, Minn.; Sacramento, Calif.; and
Waterbury, Conn.
When contacted about the award, Gray told a reporter, "I am just overwhelmed." He said he went through a separate Marine Corps boot camp for blacks at Montford Point at Camp Lejeune, N.C., in the spring of 1943.
He was one of the first blacks to serve in the Marine Corps. Blacks who went through boot camp in the Marines between 1942 and 1949 were known as "Montford Point Marines." Today, all Marines go through boot camps at Parris Island, S.C., or in San Diego.
Gray noted that he had to sit in the back of a city bus when he returned home to Mobile from the war in his Marine Corps uniform.
After he was featured in the Burns documentary, Gray said, he received in the mail an American Flag that had flown over the U.S. Capitol Building in Washington, and a letter of congratulations from U.S. Rep. Jo Bonner, R-Mobile.
He said Bonner enclosed a statement he read last month into the Congressional Record, honoring Gray. "I cried like a baby when I read it," Gray said. He said the honors being bestowed upon him late in life remind him of the old saying "Good things come to those who wait."
After returning from the war, Gray went on to receive a bachelor's degree in education from Alabama State University in Montgomery on the GI Bill. He later received a master's degree from Xavier College in New Orleans.
He served for 50 years in the Mobile County public schools, retiring as assistant principal at Shaw High School. He also is a former vice chairman of the Mobile Housing Board and a life member of the P.L. Wilson Detachment of the Marine Corps League.
A spokesman for the commission honoring Gray with the award, retired Navy Cmdr. Pete Riehm, said that Gray is being honored both for his military service and community service.
"His leadership and influence over his students was instrumental in making desegregation work for both his African-American and his white students." Riehm noted further, that despite the indignities that Gray endured as a black Marine, he went on to serve his country honorably in World War II and to distinguish himself in civilian life.
Gray and "Mobile and its World War II Generation" will be honored at the annual Veterans Day Honors Luncheon to be held at noon on Nov. 12 at Fort Whiting Armory at the foot of South Broad Street near the entrance to the Brookley Complex. Tickets are $15 each or $120 for a reserved table for eight. For reservations, call Jessica Powers at 431-8612.
Ellie