Able Seaman John Teaton Gray was born in Central Kingsclear, New Brunswick, on November 25, 1924, to parents Robert Michael and Florence Grace (née Pincombe) Gray.

Gray enlisted with the Royal Canadian Naval Volunteer Reserve on October 28, 1942. The letters in the collection were written while he was stationed at the shore establishments of H.M.C.S. Brunswicker, H.M.C.S. Cornwallis, and H.M.C.S. Stadacona; and while serving aboard H.M.S. Caldwell and H.M.C.S. Huron. Gray was demobilized on September 20, 1945.

Most of the letters in the collection were written by Gray to members of his family back home on the family farm near Fredericton, New Brunswick. But also included is a letter written to Florence Grace Gray from her brother Private Phillip H. Pincombe (Ser# G50737), serving with 25th Canadian Forestry Corps in Scotland.

External links:
Gray’s Service Record (Serv/Reg# V50367), as with most records of WWII veterans not killed in service, is not publicly available at this time.