Ernest L Gray

2nd Lt Ernest Gray was killed in action on 19 June 1944, serving with Company A, 741st Tank Battalion. On 19 June 1944, the 741st Tank Battalion was operating in support of the 23rd Infantry near Touze in the Berigny sector, with tanks and a dozer detached forward to assist the advance after word came that the 1st Battalion command post had been shelled. Moving to help, the tanks worked through a hedgerow under fire, but the dozer and a following tank became mired in wet, sloping ground and could not be freed despite attempts to tow them clear; as mortar and 88mm fire continued to fall, the crews were ordered to abandon the tanks, and it was in this action that Lt. Gray was killed while trying to direct another tank away from the fire. Elsewhere that day the battalion shifted officers between companies, sent replacement tanks and men forward from Ordnance, and recovered another bogged-down dozer crew under fire, reflecting the steady strain of combat losses and reinforcement across the unit as a whole. 2nd Lt Gray was killed in action that day; the report does not specify the individual circumstances.