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Casualty Info
Home Town Philadelphia, PA
Last Address Gettysburg, Pennsylvania
Casualty Date Sep 30, 1965
Cause KIA-Killed in Action
Reason Gun, Small Arms Fire
Location Dinh Tuong (Vietnam)
Conflict Vietnam War
Location of Interment Gettysburg National Cemetery (VA) - Gettysburg, Pennsylvania
Ray Ellis and I along with about fifty other naval officers were part of a larger volunteer US Naval Advisory Group contingent selected for small craft advisory duty in the spring of 1965. As I recall we probably all responded to a call in ALLNAV-11 issued for this purpose in March of that year.
I recall an incident during our pre-deployment training in SERE - Survival, Evasion, Resistance and Escape - training conducted on Oahu in late spring. During the "capture" phase of our training we were placed in covered 4X4 trucks knowing we were headed for the compound interrogation phase. At one point on a mountain trail we slowed for a turn and Ray bailed out of the rear of the truck setting off an immediate alarm and response by our "captors". Although I didn't know Ray personally we all thought that there is a guy who is not afraid to act decisively under stress. Since we had some others who later failed to get through the "prison compound" phase even under training conditions we soon realized that we were entering a new and strange time in our lives.
After getting to the Republic of Vietnam I heard that Ray went into one of the RAGs(River Assault Groups). I was initially assigned to the PGM 604 with the Hai Quan Vietnam and later LSIL/LSSLs 331 and I recall 327 or 329.
Upon return from one of my patrols I learned that Ray had been killed in an ambush while on a river operation. Since the armored craft he was riding when killed was in port for repair in Saigon I went to view the damage. The craft was a monitor type which had received a rocket round through the central turret. Spalling from molten metal was evident.
I spoke to a US Naval Officer who showed me the knive Ray had worn on the patrol. It had been apparently shattered by a heavy calibre round such as a 12.7mm machine gun.
I have remembered Ray because he took action when he faced the unknown.
When I first went to The Wall years ago I went to the second panel easily - knowing we had been among the early ones. I found Phil Robinson on it too. Leaving The Wall was much more difficult as eventually, after a long time, I looked to the left - and then to the right - thinking - there are so many! So many!
It seems fitting that Ray was from Gettysburg - in ways that only those who have been tempered by fire would understand.
William D. Parsons CAPT USNR (Ret) Lake Forest, Illinois Posted by: William D. Parsons Email: captpars@aol.com Relationship: Fellow Naval Advisor Thursday, January 21, 1999