[aaatripp]

18 Nov 44 --- we remember this day when Ray was killed by shrapnel from a German mortar. He was out of his foxhole, which he shared with William B. Williams. They were just east of the Intl. Hwy which marked the border of Belgium & Germany, in the woods just 1/2 mi. west of Udenbreth, Germany. Across from them were the German lines and a Wehrmacht mortar crew had the American positions registered. When Ray lit his cigarette, his buddy Bill told me it was only seconds before a mortar barrage was on its way and the shells exploded nearby. Ray was hit immediately and Bill hauled him back into the foxhole. Ray moaned once.

Ray was thinking of his brother, Bud, a P-51 pilot with the 353FS. A letter from his mother, Blanche, had recently reached him to inform him that Bud had been shot down (9 Aug 44) and was MIA. Ray was convinced that his brother Bud was dead. As Ray lay dying, his brother was in fact a POW in the German camp Dulag-Luft Wetzlar.....less than 100 mi. to the east.....it was Bud's birthday.....