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<p><em>Douglas Taylor Gray III</em> graduated with the United States Military Academy “None Will Surpass ’67 Class” during the height of the Vietnam War. Doug was born to Douglas Taylor Jr. and Helen Lovelace Gray on July 13, 1943. He was raised in King George County, Virginia and attended grades one through six at the elementary school on base at Dahlgren, VA. Doug then graduated from King George High School as an honor graduate and was a standout athlete, starring in football and track.</p>
<p>Doug’s dad graduated from Virginia Polytechnic Institute (VPI) and was commissioned as a second lieutenant in 1943. Wounded in 1944 in France, he received a Silver Star for valor in addition to a Purple Heart. Returning home militarily retired, Doug’s dad finished out his working years as a mechanical engineer at the Naval Weapons Laboratory at Dahlgren. Doug followed in his dad’s footsteps and joined the Corps of Cadets at VPI as a “rat.” Surviving the rigors of “rat year,” he completed two years of study at VPI. His training at VPI stood him in good stead for the hardships of plebe year at the United States Military Academy. During the early months of his rat year, the upperclassmen and his classmates recognized that Doug was destined to be a leader. His VPI rat year classmate and a USMA Class of 1966 graduate, John Geiger, stated that Doug quickly gained respect through his unselfish contributions toward improving the situation of those at the bottom of the ladder. His classmates at VPI knew that he would succeed when he received his congressional appointment to USMA, and they respected his decision to join the Long Gray Line.</p>
<p>Doug graduated 432 out of 583 graduates of the West Point Class of 1967 and did exceptionally well in leadership roles while at the Academy. He was able to avoid the ravages of company tables in the mess hall his plebe year by participating as a breast stroker on the Swim Team and as a running back for the 150-pound Football Team. Doug was an intel cadet on the very successful kidnapping of the Navy goat by members of the classes of 1967 and 1966, as was related in Rick Atkinson’s book The Long Gray Line. Doug struggled trying to learn enough Spanish to pass his WGRs and was turned out and found in electricity. His “aptitude for the military service” made him an asset that the officer cadre wanted to keep, so Doug received the help he needed to continue on to graduation and commissioning as an infantryman. He did the obligatory Ranger, Airborne, and EIB training and testing on his way to his first duty assignment at Fort Wainwright, AK. After Alaska, he did Special Forces training at Fort Bragg, NC before leaving for service in the Republic of Vietnam (RVN) on July 19, 1969. Doug served as the senior advisor to a company of Civilian Irregular Defense Group (CIDG) soldiers near an area close to the Special Forces camp located at Dak Pek, Kontum Province, RVN. He was a member of Detachment A-242, Company B, 5th Special Forces Group (Airborne), 1st Special Forces. Doug was killed in action on December 9, 1969. According to his Silver Star citation, he died from a shrapnel wound to his chest from an incoming round. He died after rushing across an open area under enemy fire to save two of his CIDG soldiers who were wandering around dazed from incoming B-40 rocket fire. While under fire and administering aid to the wounded soldiers and simultaneously coordinating air strikes, he was mortally struck and killed. His forward observer that day said Doug lost his life “doing what he was trained and wanted to do.” Doug was not scheduled to go on the mission that took his life, but “he volunteered after whoever was supposed to go couldn’t make it. Again, an example of his courage and sense of duty.”</p>
<p>Doug was survived by his wife, Mary Ellen; a son, Douglas Taylor Gray IV; his parents; and a sister, Jane. His son, Doug IV, has a daughter, Saylor.</p>
<p>According to a classmate, Doug “had a devilish sense of humor and was loaded with common sense.” As a plebe, he probably saved the life of his roommate, who was unbelievably sick with acute appendicitis but refused to go on sick call, afraid of the pressure of being considered a wimp. Doug got him to the CQ and within an hour his roommate was in surgery. He lived on the edge as a cadet, as evidenced by his collusion with the goat stealers to impaling a large pumpkin onto the Frenchman’s saber on the French Monument, visible to the whole corps the next morning against the snow covered Plain.</p>
<p>The Naval Support Facility Dahlgren named its dining hall after a local hero who was raised in Dahlgren, graduated from local schools, and was appointed to USMA as the first cadet from the geographical area to attend the United States Military Academy. Douglas Taylor Gray III was one of 30 members of the Class of 1967 who died too young in the service of their country in a faraway place called Vietnam. Doug lived by the tenets of West Point: Duty, Honor, Country. He was buried with full military honors at Oak Hill Cemetery, Fredericksburg, VA on December 17, 1969.</p>
<p><em>— Ken Strong</em></p>
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