Bob Ray born in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. He was desperate to join the war effort, and at age 16, carried around the enlistment papers in his back pocket, hoping to get his father to sign the papers. He could never find the right moment to ask his father, fearing he only had one chance. When his father was admitted to the hospital for emergency surgery, Bob took advantage of his father being under the influence of anesthesia, and he managed to get his father to sign the papers. The day he signed the papers, Bob said goodbye to his family, and enlisted in the Navy. He left that day and didn't return until after the war.
Bob trained as a corpsman with Fox Company in San Diego, and at Camp Tarawa, Hawaii. He landed on Iwo Jima with his unit, and was injured on D+7. He does not recall an explosion, but only being hit with shrapnel. He was with three others Marines when they were hit with the same blast. Bob was the only survivor. He tried to crawl toward the aid station, but due to the loss of blood, passed out several times along the way. At one point, he recalled being awoken by a Japanese soldier kicking him. Startled to realize that Bob was alive, the Japanese man lifted a small hand gun and pointed it at Bob. Just as the Japanese soldier was about to pull the trigger, another Marine shot the Japanese soldier, and he dropped to the ground next to Bob.
Bob was evacuated to Guam for rehabilitation, and soon thereafter boarded a ship to Honolulu. After a few weeks in Hawaii, he was transferred to Oak Knoll Naval Air Station near Oakland, California. He recalls being in Oakland when President Roosevelt died. He was later sent to San Diego, and spent another month in a rehabilitation hospital, until he was given the option to leave San Diego for a hospital closer to home. Bob opted to go to New Orleans, where he was eventually discharged.
Because of his young age, Bob opted to go back to high school to finish his education. He quickly tired of being treated like a child, and he left high school to become a welder.
After learning to be a welder, he could not find work in Louisiana, because he was too young to hold a union card. He traveled to San Antonio, where he worked at Kelley AFB, as a Welder. He worked on the aircraft repair line, and in the sheet metal shop for 25 years. Eventually the noise of the rivet guns took its toll on Bob’s hearing, and was given a desk job as scheduler for the precision measurement equipment laboratory. He retired in 1982.
Bob has always been an avid motor cycle enthusiast, preferring to ride BMW motorcycles. He has traveled throughout North America, over a half million miles, riding his bike as far as the Mexico/Guatamala border to the south,and Nova Scotia to the North. Bob resides in San Antonio, Texas.
