David R. Ray

Ray was posthumously presented the Medal of Honor in a White House ceremony on April 20, 1970, with his father accepting the medal on his son's behalf from Vice President Spiro T. Agnew.

In the early morning of March 19, 1969, Fire Support Base Phu Loc 6, located on a hill adjacent to Liberty Bridge in Quảng Nam Province and the command post of the 1st Battalion, 5th Marines located near them, were both attacked by an estimated battalion of People's Army of Vietnam (PAVN) soldiers. Ray, the senior corpsman for Battery D, moved from parapet to parapet during the attack rendering medical aid to the wounded Marines. While doing this he was seriously wounded and then had to confront two PAVN soldiers attacking his position, killing one and wounding another. After he refused to be aided by the other Battery D corpsman, he continued his lifesaving efforts under oncoming enemy fire.

Rank and organization: Hospital Corpsman Second Class, U.S. Navy, 2d Battalion, 11th Marines, 1st Marine Division (Reinforced), III Marine Amphibious Force. Place and date: Quang Nam Province, Republic of Vietnam, March 19, 1969. Entered service at: Nashville, Tenn. Born: February 14, 1945, McMinnville, Tenn.

In May 1968, Ray requested a tour of duty with the Fleet Marine Force and was sent to Field Medical Service School, Camp Pendleton, California, to become a FMF corpsman upon successful completion of the course. On July 12, he was sent to and arrived in South Vietnam, and was assigned to Battery D, 2nd Battalion, 11th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division (Reinforced), located at An Hoa, South Vietnam.

Ray enlisted in the U.S. Navy in Nashville, Tennessee on March 28, 1966 and reported to Recruit Training Command, Naval Training Center, San Diego, California. Afterwards, he attended the former Naval Hospital Corps School in San Diego and became a hospital corpsman and promoted to hospitalman on June 20. His first assignment as a corpsman was aboard the USS Haven where he was promoted to hospital corpsman third class on April 16, 1967. In December, following his tour on the hospital ship, he was assigned to the former U.S. Naval Hospital in Long Beach, California, where he was promoted to hospital corpsman second class.

David Robert "Bobby" Ray (February 14, 1945 – March 19, 1969) was a United States Navy hospital corpsman second class who was killed in action during the Vietnam War while assigned to an artillery battery of the United States Marine Corps. He was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor for his heroic actions above and beyond the call of duty on March 19, 1969.

Ray was born on February 14, 1945 to David F. and Donnie M. Ray of McMinnville, Tennessee. He graduated from City High School in McMinnville in 1963. He was a University of Tennessee Alumni Scholarship winner and attended classes at the Knoxville campus from 1963 to 1966. He also received an associate in arts degree in 1965 from Cumberland University in Lebanon, Tennessee. A memorial to Ray was placed on the Cumberland campus in 2003 in honor of his service and sacrifice.