Lieut. Hampton Gray, Nelson Navy Airman, Listed Missing

Lieut. Robert Hampton Gray has been reported missing while on active service, his parents. Mr. and Mrs. J. B. Gray, 815 Baker Street, were informed in a wire received from Naval Service Headquarters and dated Aug. 16.

A member of the Royal Canadian Naval Volunteer Reserve, the 26-year-old lieutenant was serving in the Middle East on a Royal Navy ship, the aircraft carrier Formidable. Loaned to the British Navy as a pilot, his job was that of Flight Commander, leading the flight from the deck of the carrier.

He was mentioned in dispatches after taking part in the air blows of the Royal Navy’s Fleet Air Arm, which resulted in the destruction of the German battleship Tirpitz, in August 1944.

After finishing his third year of a four year arts course at University of British Columbia, he joined the Navy in August 1940. By September 21, he was in Plymouth, England, and was attending Naval College there during the blitz.

He was last in Nelson in May, 1944, when he spent a month’s leave with his parents.

Lieut. Gray’s brother, Jack, who was a Sergeant-Gunner in the RCAF, was the first Nelson boy to be killed in the war. Both boys were native sons of Trail.

[caption below picture of Gray:]
LIEUT. R.H. GRAY
This picture was taken in front of his home in Nelson when he was still a sub-lieutenant.