Oral History Interview with William Gray, July 24, 2007

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with William Gray. Gray was drafted into the Army Air Forces in December of 1943. He was selected as an Aviation Cadet. By December of 1944 Gray completed Bombardier Training at Tuskegee and Gunnery School at Tyndall Field in Florida. He went on to complete Advanced Bombardier Training in San Angelo, Texas. He graduated as one of the only six “colored” cadets in a class of 114 and was appointed as a Flight Officer. He was assigned to primary pilot training in Class 46-A at Tuskegee, though the end of the war ended his aeronautical training and in February of 1946 he separated briefly from the military. In September of 1947 Gray’s artistic abilities and Cadet and Flight Officer experiences brought him back to the military to serve as a Sergeant performing duties in teletype, cryptography and special services. In 1952 Lieutenant Gray was commissioned in the Air Force Reserve, from where he retired in June of 1973