William
Gray Ross, 1967 MY PROUD MARINE Sent in by Betty Gentry, former girlfriend of William Gray Ross Being a girlfriend of a Marine during the Vietnam War meant staying behind and waiting and hoping he would return. Waiting for a letter. Knowing each one was a treasure to get, and to hear he was still fighting and thinking about you. I knew the sacrifice Gray made giving up a life and family to fight in a war that no one wanted to be in. Yet he went to serve his country, as he was so proud to do.
Gray and Betty When we met, I knew I had met the man I wanted to spent my life with. The memories we had together then are what kept me going all these years, wishing and hoping he wasn't gone, but knowing he was.
Gray in Vietnam, 1967 When he went off to the war in Vietnam in 1967, we didn't know how long it would be. Never did we think it would be forever. He asked me to go on with my life, not wait for him. But I knew in his heart he wanted me to. Asking me not to wait for him was heart breaking for him. Even though he didn’t show it, I heard it in his voice and as he turned his head not to look at me, I knew he had no other choice than to try to keep his pain from showing. My heart was broken just as his was. I would had waited forever had I known he was coming back.
2Lt. William Gray Ross and his India 3/5 Marines He spoke of me to his men, hoping someday to come back and have a family. He in his heart knew he would never get to do that, he was so right yet too, it was so sad that he lost such a good life he lived while he was here. He touched so many lives. His men spoke of a good leader, a man they looked up to. He was a friend who listened when they needed a helping hand, and a person who lived his life as a Christian.
Betty Gentry, 1967 I waited and hoped for him to come back someday for our love was written in letters from afar, and that's what held us together. When they stopped, so did my heart.There would be a hole in my heart forever. I cried that day I found out he was gone. My heart broke that day and for years no one filled that hole.
Betty's sister, Wanda, at The Wall pointing out where Gray's name is I went on with my life, marrying, wishing it was him, having children, wishing they were his. I stayed in denial thinking he could find his way back somehow. The day I saw his name on the Traveling Wall made a believer out of me. I knew I had lost him then, but I had to see his name. My denial was over. I did lose him that sad day June 15, 1968. Although his life was short, he was a wonderful person who affected my life enough for me not to forget him, and to have a determination to find where he was laid to rest and pay my last respects for giving me something to hold on to all these years. I still cry on days I wish he was here, but now as I look at our picture together, I can smile, knowing our love is forever and can never be taken away from me. I'm a whole richer person today, knowing he was and will always be, watching over me until we met again. He will always be My Marine. "For, There you'll be...Always in my heart". Love Always, Betty 2Lt. William Gray Ross Memorial page
2Lt. Ross's sister Datha Corbett (left) and Mom (right) with Betty Gentry Fate has its way of finding ones who were meant to be together, I found his family this year in March, 2002 and along with them I found the men he served with. With these men were stories of his love for me and his thoughts. My heart was filled with the love I thought I lost forever, and a mending of the hole that was left when he died. Although I still didn't have him back, I heard and got answers to questions I had when he died.The pictures of us and of him in uniform then, are treasures I lost, but have now...thanks for a loving mother who knew the girl in them had to be special to him. Finding his family and men was a blessing and a starting of a new life. I am so honored to live now that I know the love he had left with his men to tell me later in life when it meant so much to a girl who thought she was not worthy to be his wife.
Betty and 2Lt. Ross's sister, Datha Corbett visited together at the 3/5 Marines Reunion with Marines who served with 2Lt. Ross in La Grange, Georgia, May 2002 I’m so honored to know I will have a part in his award for his past service to his country in an award ceremony at the 3rd Battalion, 5th Marines Reunion May 17, 2003 that is long overdue, not only to him but to hundreds of men who now lay at rest and who are alive and are not yet given the acknowledgements they so deserve. I will always be grateful to him for coming into my life and knowing his love and mine are still strong.
3/5 Reunion May 17, 2003
Guardian
Angel made by Betty Gentry
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