Staff Sgt. Wesley Ray remembered
by friends as ‘a fellow warrior’
By Wayne Specht, Misawa
bureau chief
Wayne Specht / Stars and Stripes
A table in the Misawa Air Base, Japan chapel holds a folded American flag and a portrait
of Staff Sgt. Wesley Ray who died Aug. 18 while deployed to Turkey with the 13th Fighter
Squadron. |
MISAWA AIR BASE, Japan — Friends and co-workers remembered Air
Force Staff Sgt. Wesley Ray for his unabated passion for life during a chapel service here
Friday.
Ray, of Lake Village, Ark., died Aug. 18 near Mersin, Turkey,
following a motorcycle accident. He was 24.
Ray was deployed with the 13th “Panthers” to Incirlik Air
Base, Turkey, where the squadron is pulling a 90-day stint supporting Operation Northern
Watch sorties over Iraq. About a month remained before the squadron was to return to
northern Japan.
“Wesley would never say ‘it’s not my job,’”
Lt. Col. Curtis L. Sheldon, acting 13th Fighter Squadron commander, said during the
remembrance. “He would always get the job done in a combat zone and at Misawa. He was
a friend, and a fellow warrior.”
Ray was remembered for frequently hosting large parties to welcome
home the squadron from a deployment. He always remembered to have designated drivers or
taxis available for those who needed them. “He hosted those parties,” Sheldon
said, “to encourage unit morale and cohesiveness. He cared about his squadron, he was
a Panther.”
During his three years at Misawa, Ray deployed with the 13th to
Southwest Asia for Operation Southern Watch, to Singapore for Commando Sling exercises,
and to Nevada for Exercise Red Flag.
While on Southern Watch deployment, Ray earned the squadron’s
prestigious Eldridge award for his leadership and maintenance skills. “He manned his
post to guarantee peace on his watch,” Sheldon said. “We need to learn from his
example.”
“There was no challenge he couldn’t make once he set
himself to it,” Matthew Compagna said. “And he lived to the extreme like [the
time] he avoided his demise in a blizzard.”
Ray’s near brush with death on Dec. 13, 1999, happened in the
Hakkoda Mountains, 50 miles west of Misawa, where he and a friend went to enjoy one of his
passions — snowboarding.
After becoming separated from friends, Ray headed down Mount
Tamoyachi on his snowboard, becoming disoriented in whiteout conditions. He ate snow and
sang “Jingle Bells” to himself while he came up with a game plan.
Eight hours after a massive search by U.S. and Japanese Self-Defense
Forces was suspended because of darkness, Ray walked into a lodge at the bottom of the
mountain, camera and snowboard in hand, none the worse for wear.
“He never let life get the best of him, and treated everybody
like he was your best friend,” Compagna said.
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