An Appalachian Trail Hike in Honor of 1Lt. Pete Gray
by Mike Galyean
In early April of 1969 2nd Lt. Pete Gray, 2nd Lt. Johnny Glass and I went camping in the Blue Ridge Mountains southwest of Front Royal, Virginia. With us were Pete’s fiancé, Ginger, from Randolph Macon College, her roommate, and Nancy McNew, from Washington, DC, who I had recently started dating. Since Pete was from Virginia, he was very familiar with the area and he took us to a beautiful camping spot in a cleared meadow on top of a mountain overlooking the Valley of Virginia.
It was a spectacular location and the Appalachian Trail ran right through the clearing. We spent the weekend exploring up and down the trail. It was the first time I’d ever been on the Appalachian Trail, and I didn’t know much about the hiking path that wanders for 2,175 miles along the spine of the Appalachian Mountains through 12 states between Georgia and Maine.
The three of us, Pete, Johnny and I, were in our fourth month of The Basic School in Quantico. Johnny was one of my roommates and Pete lived across the hall at O’Bannon Hall at TBS. The weekend was one of those rare experiences that remain so firmly engrained in memory, the years don’t seem to have any effect on its recollection or importance.
In early April of 1969 2nd Lt. Pete Gray, 2nd Lt. Johnny Glass and I went camping in the Blue Ridge Mountains southwest of Front Royal, Virginia. With us were Pete’s fiancé, Ginger, from Randolph Macon College, her roommate, and Nancy McNew, from Washington, DC, who I had recently started dating. Since Pete was from Virginia, he was very familiar with the area and he took us to a beautiful camping spot in a cleared meadow on top of a mountain overlooking the Valley of Virginia.
It was a spectacular location and the Appalachian Trail ran right through the clearing. We spent the weekend exploring up and down the trail. It was the first time I’d ever been on the Appalachian Trail, and I didn’t know much about the hiking path that wanders for 2,175 miles along the spine of the Appalachian Mountains through 12 states between Georgia and Maine.
The three of us, Pete, Johnny and I, were in our fourth month of The Basic School in Quantico. Johnny was one of my roommates and Pete lived across the hall at O’Bannon Hall at TBS. The weekend was one of those rare experiences that remain so firmly engrained in memory, the years don’t seem to have any effect on its recollection or importance.
Arthur Powell Gray IV had graduated from the University of Virginia in 1968. He had attended Episcopal High School in Richmond and entered UVA on an Honor Award Scholarship. Pete was well known for his heart and intensity as a three year starter for the UVA football and track teams. A member of the Raven Society and the prestigious Omicron Delta Kappa honors fraternity, Pete was elected student president of the College of Arts and Sciences and chairman of the university’s Honor Committee. He had received the Alumni Association’s Distinguish Student Award and the Atlantic Coast Conference Scholar-Athlete Award, and was a Rhodes Scholar nominee. After his death it was revealed that he had been a member of the university’s secret Seven Society. After graduation from UVA, he entered the Marines Corps’ Officer Candidate School training at Quantico.
I had not known Pete during OCS because we were in separate companies, but upon entering TBS we were thrown together in the same platoon of Golf Company commanded by 1Lt. Robert Riordan. The Golf Company XO was none other than Capt. Anthony Zinni, later to become NATO commander. Pete and my last names were close alphabetically and that put us rooming across the hall from each other. During the six months of Basic School, we drew closer and both took our Marine officer training very seriously, as we both were looking at certain deployment to Vietnam. Pete excelled at TBS, as he had done during his college days at UVA. His knowledge, leadership and dedication were an example that the rest of us always strived to match, generally falling short.
I had not known Pete during OCS because we were in separate companies, but upon entering TBS we were thrown together in the same platoon of Golf Company commanded by 1Lt. Robert Riordan. The Golf Company XO was none other than Capt. Anthony Zinni, later to become NATO commander. Pete and my last names were close alphabetically and that put us rooming across the hall from each other. During the six months of Basic School, we drew closer and both took our Marine officer training very seriously, as we both were looking at certain deployment to Vietnam. Pete excelled at TBS, as he had done during his college days at UVA. His knowledge, leadership and dedication were an example that the rest of us always strived to match, generally falling short.
At Basic School Pete received the Leadership Award and was the Honor Graduate of our 7/69 class. I don’t think anyone else was even close. His success allowed him to qualify for Army Ranger School and parachute training. Pete also finished number one in his Army Ranger class. He went to Vietnam as a 2nd Lieutenant and was assigned to 1st Reconnaissance Bn., leading eight long recon patrols behind enemy lines. While practicing for a rappelling demonstration at the Recon Base in Danang, Pete was severely injured and died in a hospital in Japan five days later on July 19, 1970.
Pete’s death was a blow to everyone who had ever known him. He was one of those rare people that has an effect on each person with whom he comes into contact. In 1970 the Gray Memorial Foundation was founded at UVA and later renamed to the Gray-Carrington Foundation with the death of a former classmate and close friend, who had excelled, as well, in academics and football at UVA. The Gray-Carrington Foundation is now one of the most prestigious scholarships at the University of Virginia and has the largest endowment of any scholarship at the university.
Fast forward to 1991 when I made the decision to start hiking the Appalachian Trail. Since I was teaching school, I only had the summers to hike, and therefore I was unable to be a “thru-hiker” and finish the trail in one hiking season. Instead I became what is known as a “section-hiker” and completed the trail in parts, starting where I had left off the year before. In the summer of 1991 I hiked across the meadow where Pete, Johnny and I with our three dates had camped during that idyllic weekend 22 years earlier. Needless to say, I paused for a while under the shade of a tree and reminisced. Twenty-one years earlier, my date that weekend, Nancy McNew, had become my wife. She and I both had considered Pete Gray to be a close and respected friend. It was at that moment, resting in that meadow atop the Blue Ridge, that I decided that I was going to finish the entire trail in memory of my good friend who had introduced me to the trail 22 years earlier
Pete’s death was a blow to everyone who had ever known him. He was one of those rare people that has an effect on each person with whom he comes into contact. In 1970 the Gray Memorial Foundation was founded at UVA and later renamed to the Gray-Carrington Foundation with the death of a former classmate and close friend, who had excelled, as well, in academics and football at UVA. The Gray-Carrington Foundation is now one of the most prestigious scholarships at the University of Virginia and has the largest endowment of any scholarship at the university.
Fast forward to 1991 when I made the decision to start hiking the Appalachian Trail. Since I was teaching school, I only had the summers to hike, and therefore I was unable to be a “thru-hiker” and finish the trail in one hiking season. Instead I became what is known as a “section-hiker” and completed the trail in parts, starting where I had left off the year before. In the summer of 1991 I hiked across the meadow where Pete, Johnny and I with our three dates had camped during that idyllic weekend 22 years earlier. Needless to say, I paused for a while under the shade of a tree and reminisced. Twenty-one years earlier, my date that weekend, Nancy McNew, had become my wife. She and I both had considered Pete Gray to be a close and respected friend. It was at that moment, resting in that meadow atop the Blue Ridge, that I decided that I was going to finish the entire trail in memory of my good friend who had introduced me to the trail 22 years earlier
A hike of the AT is a grueling task. The heat and rains of the early summer, the thousands of feet of elevation change almost every day while carrying a 35-40 lb. backpack, the cold blowing winds above the tree-line in New Hampshire and Maine — all take a severe toll on the body, as well as the spirit. There were many times that I was so miserable that quitting and heading for the nearest road and returning to Florida was a very attractive option. Every time that thought might cross my mind, memory of Pete Gray, his dedication, love of life and his exemplary leadership would remind me of my goal of finishing the trail in his honor. His leadership was still working, driving me northward toward the end of the trail on Mt. Katahdin in Maine.
Just before rotating home from Vietnam I had contacted Pete at the Recon HQ in Danang. We decided that I would come to see him for a visit, as we hadn’t seen each other since the end of TBS. When I arrived at the Recon Base and inquired about the whereabouts of Lt. Gray at the front desk, I was shocked beyond belief to hear of the rappelling accident in which he had been injured. Although I was told he had died, I didn’t know the exact date of his death.
After completing the AT on July 19, 1999, I contacted Pete’s brother Bill to inform him that my Appalachian Trail trek had been dedicated to his brother. It was then that I learned about the Gray-Carrington Foundation and that the exact date of Pete’s death had been July 19, 1970, twenty-nine years to the day before my finish of the AT on Mt. Katahdin ... one of those unexplained events that are more than a coincidence, but are totally unplanned.
Just before rotating home from Vietnam I had contacted Pete at the Recon HQ in Danang. We decided that I would come to see him for a visit, as we hadn’t seen each other since the end of TBS. When I arrived at the Recon Base and inquired about the whereabouts of Lt. Gray at the front desk, I was shocked beyond belief to hear of the rappelling accident in which he had been injured. Although I was told he had died, I didn’t know the exact date of his death.
After completing the AT on July 19, 1999, I contacted Pete’s brother Bill to inform him that my Appalachian Trail trek had been dedicated to his brother. It was then that I learned about the Gray-Carrington Foundation and that the exact date of Pete’s death had been July 19, 1970, twenty-nine years to the day before my finish of the AT on Mt. Katahdin ... one of those unexplained events that are more than a coincidence, but are totally unplanned.
A hike of the AT is a grueling task. The heat and rains of the early summer, the thousands of feet of elevation change almost every day while carrying a 35-40 lb. backpack, the cold blowing winds above the tree-line in New Hampshire and Maine — all take a severe toll on the body, as well as the spirit. There were many times that I was so miserable that quitting and heading for the nearest road and returning to Florida was a very attractive option. Every time that thought might cross my mind, memory of Pete Gray, his dedication, love of life and his exemplary leadership would remind me of my goal of finishing the trail in his honor. His leadership was still working, driving me northward toward the end of the trail on Mt. Katahdin in Maine.
Just before rotating home from Vietnam I had contacted Pete at the Recon HQ in Danang. We decided that I would come to see him for a visit, as we hadn’t seen each other since the end of TBS. When I arrived at the Recon Base and inquired about the whereabouts of Lt. Gray at the front desk, I was shocked beyond belief to hear of the rappelling accident in which he had been injured. Although I was told he had died, I didn’t know the exact date of his death.
After completing the AT on July 19, 1999, I contacted Pete’s brother Bill to inform him that my Appalachian Trail trek had been dedicated to his brother. It was then that I learned about the Gray-Carrington Foundation and that the exact date of Pete’s death had been July 19, 1970, twenty-nine years to the day before my finish of the AT on Mt. Katahdin ... one of those unexplained events that are more than a coincidence, but are totally unplanned.
Just before rotating home from Vietnam I had contacted Pete at the Recon HQ in Danang. We decided that I would come to see him for a visit, as we hadn’t seen each other since the end of TBS. When I arrived at the Recon Base and inquired about the whereabouts of Lt. Gray at the front desk, I was shocked beyond belief to hear of the rappelling accident in which he had been injured. Although I was told he had died, I didn’t know the exact date of his death.
After completing the AT on July 19, 1999, I contacted Pete’s brother Bill to inform him that my Appalachian Trail trek had been dedicated to his brother. It was then that I learned about the Gray-Carrington Foundation and that the exact date of Pete’s death had been July 19, 1970, twenty-nine years to the day before my finish of the AT on Mt. Katahdin ... one of those unexplained events that are more than a coincidence, but are totally unplanned.
I am proud that I was able to make my hike of the entire Appalachian Trail, but prouder still that I carried 1Lt. Pete Gray with me every step. I know it was something he would have wanted to do had he lived. In my mind he did just that, because he pushed me up every steep, exhausting climb and through those times I ran out of water and was near quitting.
Pete is laid to rest in the graveyard of St. Peters Parish Church, New Kent, VA. The Episcopal church was established in 1701 as a Church of England. An earlier pastor of the church had married George and Martha Washington at Martha’s house nearby. Pete’s funeral was attended by Chesty Puller, a friend of the Gray family. I have visited Pete’s grave on several occasions, with Nancy joining me on a couple of those visits. A more peaceful location to lay in rest could not be found. Pete’s name is on Panel 8W / Line 31 of the Vietnam Wall.
Thank you, Pete. Thank you for your service and sacrifice. Thank you for accompanying me on my 2,175 hike from Springer Mountain, Georgia to Mt. Katahdin in Baxter State Park, Maine. And most of all, thank you for being my friend.
Pete is laid to rest in the graveyard of St. Peters Parish Church, New Kent, VA. The Episcopal church was established in 1701 as a Church of England. An earlier pastor of the church had married George and Martha Washington at Martha’s house nearby. Pete’s funeral was attended by Chesty Puller, a friend of the Gray family. I have visited Pete’s grave on several occasions, with Nancy joining me on a couple of those visits. A more peaceful location to lay in rest could not be found. Pete’s name is on Panel 8W / Line 31 of the Vietnam Wall.
Thank you, Pete. Thank you for your service and sacrifice. Thank you for accompanying me on my 2,175 hike from Springer Mountain, Georgia to Mt. Katahdin in Baxter State Park, Maine. And most of all, thank you for being my friend.
