The Marine Who Crossed a Minefield Unarmed to Wipe Out Japanese Defenses on Iwo Jima
Sgt. Ross F. Gray charged through a minefield under Japanese fire in a heroic Pacific War action that earned him the Medal of Honor.
By
Allen Frazier
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Ross F. Gray, a Marine from Alabama, earned the Medal of Honor for his heroic actions on Iwo Jima. (Wikimedia Commons)
Sgt. Ross F. Gray carried a satchel charge through a minefield while under heavy Japanese fire. The explosive weighed 24 pounds and left no room for a rifle. He went in unarmed anyway.
Behind him, three Marines provided cover. Ahead, a fortified Japanese bunker anchored one end of a network of gun emplacements that had stopped his platoon cold on Feb. 21, 1945, two days into the bloodiest battle in Marine Corps history. Gray had already mapped a route through the field on foot, under fire, without triggering a single mine. Now he was going back in to finish what he had started.
He destroyed the first position. Then he went back for another charge to repeat the process.
What followed became one of the most extraordinary individual actions of the Pacific War, earning Gray the Medal of Honor. Six days after that, an enemy artillery shell took his life.
https://www.military.com/the-marine-who-crossed-a-minefield-unarmed-to-wipe-out-japanese-defenses-on-iwo-jima
