John Ray was born on May 3, 1918, in Coronado, California. He entered the U.S. Military Academy at West Point on July 1, 1935, and graduated as a 2d Lt of Artillery on June 12, 1939. After completing Field Artillery School at Fort Sill, Oklahoma, Lt Ray served in Artillery Staff assignments in the U.S. until deploying to England in June 1942 to prepare for the Invasion of North Africa. Capt Ray deployed with II Corps to North Africa in November 1942, and he served as an Artillery and Ordnance Officer with Headquarters II Corps until serving as Commanding Officer of the 66th Ordnance Company from January to February 1943. He returned to Headquarters II Corps as an Ordnance Officer from February to September 1943, and during this time he was captured and taken as a Prisoner of War by Germany in Tunisia on April 26, 1943, and escaped and made it back to Allied lines by May 9, 1943. LTC Ray's next assignment was as an Ordnance Officer with Headquarters First Army in England from September 1943 until he participated in the D-Day Invasion at Normandy, France, in June 1944. He was captured a 2nd time during the Battle of the Bulge in Belgium on December 17, 1944, and was held at Stalag 6G in Bonn Rheinland, Prussia, until being liberated on April 20, 1945. After returning to the United States and recovering from his captivity, Col Ray served as an Ordnance Officer with Headquarters Army Ground Forces from October 1945 to March 1946, and then as an Instructor at the U.S. Military Academy from March 1946 to August 1950. He attended the Advanced Artillery Course at Fort Sill, Oklahoma, from August 1950 to April 1951, and then served as Commanding Officer of the 546th Field Artillery Battalion at Fort Lewis, Washington, from April to November 1951. Col Ray next attended the Special Weapons School at Sandia Base, New Mexico, in November and December 1951, followed by service as Executive Officer of Headquarters IX Corps Artillery during the Korean War from January to April 1952. He served as a Staff Officer with Headquarters Far East Command in Japan from April 1952 to May 1954, and then received an assignment to complete his Master's Degree at Tulane University in New Orleans, Louisiana, from June 1954 to January 1956. Col Ray served as Chief of the Human Research Division, Chief of the Research Branch, and then Deputy Commander of the Training Division with Headquarters Continental Army Command at Fort Monroe, Virginia, from January 1956 to May 1959, followed by service as Group Commander of the 80th Artillery Group (Air Defense) at Fort Wadsworth, New York, from June 1959 to February 1961. Col Ray attended Burmese Language training with the U.S. Army Language School at the Presidio of Monterey, California, from March 1961 to March 1962, followed by Attache and Counterinsurgency training. He served as an Army Military Attache for Counterinsurgency to Burma from September 1962 to October 1964, and then as Senior U.S. Army Advisor to the U.S. Army Reserve at Fort Wadsworth and Rochester, New York, from October 1964 until his retirement from the Army on August 1, 1968. John Ray died on November 18, 2008.