LIEUTENANT GENERAL
D'WAYNE GRAY, USMC
(RETIRED)
Lieutenant General D'Wayne Gray retired from the Marine Corps on 1 October 1987. General Gray was presented the Distinguished Service Medal for exceptionally meritorious service as Commanding General, FMF, Pacific and as Commander, Marine Corps Bases, Pacific, Camp H.M. Smith, Hawaii from August 1985 to September 1987, upon his retirement.
General Gray was born on 9 April 1931. In 1952 he was commissioned a Marine second lieutenant. Since that time General Gray served in Fleet Marine Force, Pacific and high level staff assignments in Washington, D.C., interrupted only by studying and teaching in professional schools.
His first experience came as a second lieutenant artillery forward observer in Battery A, 1st Battalion, 11th Marines, 1st Marine Division, during the final part of the Korean War. After Korea, General Gray served twice in artillery assignments at Twentynine Palms, California, and in the 1st Provisional Marine Air-Ground Task Force at Kaneohe Bay, Hawaii, where he was the executive officer of the Marine Corps' last 75mm pack howitzer battery.
Following came three years in the G-3 Division, Headquarters Marine Corps. He then returned to the Fleet Marine Force for three years in the 3d Battalion, 12th Marines, 1st Marine Brigade, at Kaneohe Bay, where he commanded Batteries G and I. He completed his between-wars service by attending the Junior School at Quantico and studying French and Vietnamese at the Foreign Service Institute in Washington.
In January 1965, General Gray, serving in III Marine Expeditionary Force on Okinawa, was ordered to Vietnam for temporary duty as an advisor with the Vietnamese Marines. After the Marine landings in Vietnam, he served at III Marine Amphibious Force headquarters coordinating Marine operations with those of the Vietnamese forces. He completed his first tour of duty in Vietnam as the executive officer of the 2d Battalion, 3d Marines, 3d Marine Division.
General Gray spent 1966 teaching in the Marine Corps Education Center, Quantico. Then came three and a half years as an East Asia politico-military plans officer in the Joint Planning Group at Headquarters Marine Corps. During academic year 1970-71, General Gray was a student at the Naval War College, Newport, Rhode Island.
In July 1971 General Gray returned to Vietnam to command the only Fleet Marine Force unit remaining in Vietnam Sub Unit 1, 1st Air and Naval Gunfire Liaison Company. After a year of delivering air and naval gunfire support to the Vietnamese and Korean Marines and to the U.S., Vietnamese, Korea, and Australian Armies throughout Vietnam, General Gray returned to Headquarters Marine Corps for two years as the head of the Enlisted Assignment Branch, Personnel Management Division.
In June 1974 he began three years as the Special Assistant and Marine Corps Aide to the Under Secretary of the Navy. After being promoted to brigadier general, he served two years as the Assistant Division Commander of the 1st Marine Division at Camp Pendleton, California, where he also commanded the 5th and 7th Marine Amphibious Brigades during periods of activation for training exercises.
General Gray then returned to Headquarters Marine Corps where he served consecutively as Director of Plans, Director of Operations, and Director of Personnel Management. He was promoted to lieutenant general on 20 May 1983, and assigned as Chief of Staff, Headquarters Marine Corps. He was assigned duties as Commanding General, FMF, Pacific and Commander, Marine Corps Bases, Pacific, Camp H.M. Smith, Hawaii on 31 July 1985. He served in this capacity until his retirement from the Marine Corps on 1 October 1987.
In addition to a bachelor of arts degree from the University of Texas, General Gray holds a master of science in international affairs degree from The George Washington University and has completed the Executive Program in National and International Security at Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government. He has been a director and chairman of the editorial board of the United States Naval Institute, Annapolis, Maryland, and a member of the Maritime Policy Study Group of Georgetown University's Center for Strategic and International Studies. He was the Marine Corps' first delegate to the Inter-American Defense Board and served on the Secretary of State's Advisory Panel on Overseas Security.
His personal decorations are the Legion of Merit with Combat "V" and a gold star in lieu of a second award, Bronze Star Medal with Combat "V", Meritorious Service Medal with gold star in lieu of a second award, Air Medal with Numeral 5, Joint Service Commendation Medal with Combat "V", Navy Commendation Medal with Combat "V", and the Combat Action Ribbon.