Ray
was born in Wakefield, Yorkshire on 9th January 1934.
He did his National
Service from 1952, first with the King's Own Yorkshire Light Infantry and
then with the Durham Light Infantry. He served in Hong Kong, Japan and Korea
before being invalided back to UK after a knee
injury.
On recovery he
was posted to Germany until the completion of his required two years service
in 1954.
The Territorial unit
with which he undertook his subsequent three year commitment was the 4th
Battalion KOYLI and he voluntarily continued beyond this until 1959, when he
transferred to the 12/13 Parachute Battalion (TA).
He did his parachute
course at Abingdon at the end of 1959 and went to Cyprus for a one month
exercise in 1962. He spent a total of five years with the 12/13 Para's until
1964 when he left and migrated to Australia.
He died in
22nd October 2003, aged sixty-nine after a prolonged
illness.
R.I.P.
