Ray was shipping out to Viet Nam the next day where he would serve as a hospital corpsman with the Third Marine Division at Con Thien. He was seriously wounded a couple of weeks later, on October 26th, by a mortar shell that exploded near him. He was first hospitalized in Danang and then Yohasuka, Japan, where he was awarded two Purple Hearts. He was flown back to the USA on December 6th and sent to the Naval Hospital in Jacksonville, FL where he stayed until March 1968. While at Jacksonville he was awarded the Bronze Star, the Cross of Gallantry, the Vietnamese Cross of Gallantry, the Presidential Unit Citation, the Vietnam Combat Medal and the Distinguished Service Medal. After hospitalization in Jacksonville he was transferred to the Great Lakes Naval Hospital in Illinois and finally medically retired from the Navy.

Ray passed away at home while under hospice car on the evening of March 6, 2016, at age 69 after a three and a half year valiant battle with prostate cancer that spread. Fortunately my wife Karen and I were able to visit with him late that afternoon and we had our goodbyes with him. Our last vision of Ray was him waving goodbye from his wheelchair with his nurse and his wife Lynda by his side as we drove away. Rest In Peace good buddy of over a 55-year span in time, I will truly miss you but I'll never forget you and all the crazy things we did together in our lifetime.