George Warner Ray was born at Nashville, Tennessee, the son of George William Ray. Husband of Bessie Greer.
He was a passenger on the HMT Rohna. The Rohna and four other troop ships left Oran in French Algeria with cargo and troops. Off Béjaïa, Algeria the convoy was attacked by an estimated 60 German Luftwaffe Heinkel 177’s. One of the 177’s, piloted by Hans Dochtermann, released a glide bomb that hit Rohna on her port side and she eventually sank.
1,138 men were killed, including 1,015 U.S. personnel. The attack is the largest loss of US troops at sea due to enemy action in a single incident. 35 U.S. troops of the 2,000 originally embarked later died of wounds.
The Nashville Banner, 12 June 1944
S/Sgt. George Warner Ray, 27, son of Mrs. Ola Ray of Old Hydes, Perry Pike, was killed in action in North Africa November 27, 1943, it was announced today. He was with an engineering division. In the service since November, 1942, he had been oversees for about a month. Sergeant Ray attended Hume-Fogg High School and was assistant editor of the Chattanooga Times when he went into the Army. Previously he was on the staff of the Nashville Times. He was employed as an elevator operator at The Banner when the offices were located on Third Avenut, South, where his father had been a Banner employe for many years. His widow, Mrs. Bessie Ray, lives at 733 Fourth Avenue, South. A brother, Vernon D. Ray; seaman first class with the Coast Guard is in California.
George W. Ray is memorialized at the Tablets of the Missing at North Africa American Cemetery, Carthage, Tunisia.
- Rank: Staff Sergeant
- Date of birth: 2 March 1916
- Date of death: 27 November 1943
- County: Hamilton
- Service Branch: Army/Army Air Forces
- Division/Assignment: 853rd Engineer Battalion, Aviation
- Theater: North Africa
- Conflict: World War II
- Awards: Silver Star, Purple Heart
- Burial/Memorial Location: North Africa American Cemetery, Carthage, Tunisia
- Location In Memorial: Pillar XI, Top Panel
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