Charles W. Gray

My father was an amazing, loving and loyal man. He married my mother in 1967 and then was immediately shipped off to Germany. As my mother and I (in her tummy :) ) were preparing to move to Germany, my father received orders for Vietnam. My father finished his tour and came home. The excitement of coming home to his family was destroyed when he stepped on American soil. The way he and all Vietnam veterans were treated is just disgusting. PTSD was something for the future. My father never talked about the war. When we could get a word out of him about it he would end up in tears. His life went on and eventually had 3 children. He lived "The American Dream." No matter how he felt about Vietnam, he was always a proud American. He wanted nothing to do with VA or anything related. Several years ago he was diagnosed with colon cancer. All went well and the cancer and part of his colon were removed. A few years later, he had a recurrence of colon cancer. Once again, he beat it! My father, the superhero! My dad never took anything seriously. He was a wiseguy, a comic. He was always going around the house singing. As he started to age, all the kids in our neighborhood use to call him Hulk Hogan. He really did look like him! He loved it! As the years went on I tried to re-introduce Vietnam to my dad. I wanted him to know how proud I was of him! I have a sweatshirt that states "Some people never meet their hero's, I was raised by mine. I am proud to be a Vietnam Veteran's daughter." I started buying him Army memorabilia and he accepted them with gratitude. My dad loved his family, especially his grandbabies. He was the best husband, father and poppop in the world. He made a very difficult decision and sold our family home of 40 years and retired to Rehoboth Beach, Del. Within the first month of his retirement in his beautiful home at the beach he was diagnosed with metastasis/liver cancer stage 4. Our world stopped. On May 21, my father went home in peace with his family surrounding him. I miss him so much. There will never be another Charles W. Gray. The mold has been broken.