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11-13-2009, 10:57
COLONIE -- When you've hid out for 77 days in a jungle with 2,000 Japanese soldiers and 45 dogs searching for you, being awarded a surprise medal for bravery more than six decades later is not overwhelming.


On Wednesday, Cornelius "Neil" Gray was rather nonchalant as he listened to Army National Guard Brig. Gen. Michael Swezey read from a commendation that told of Gray's heroism after he parachuted behind enemy lines in Burma in 1945.


The 85-year-old Gray was certainly appreciative, and he said so as more than 100 veterans and their families, along with public officials, gave him a standing ovation. But the veteran of three wars -- after World War II, he served in Korea and Vietnam -- took in stride the honor of having former Rep. Michael McNulty pin a Bronze Star on him at the Joseph E. Zaloga VFW Post No. 1520 on Everett Road.


As the ceremony was about to start, Swezey went to Gray's table and accompanied him to the front of the room without telling him why.


The Bronze Star was a long time coming for the Brunswick resident, and he has his brother, the late attorney Bill Gray, to thank for it. Working with McNulty, Bill Gray gathered the information the Pentagon required to get his brother the recognition.


A popular lawyer and familiar face on the streets of Albany, Bill Gray, who served in private practice and the public defender's office, died in late August at age 78.
Neil Gray was 21 years old and a sergeant when he made a parachute jump behind Japanese lines in Burma in June 1945. He then carried out his mission "in a superior manner," with "selflessness and dedication to duty," the commendation reads.


"He trained 650 Korean and Burman guerrillas who joined our forces," Swezey told the audience. "In dealing with difficult native guerrillas and guides, he showed tact and leadership. For 77 days he was behind enemy lines with Japanese patrols hunting him in numbers from 100 to 1,900, using 45 dogs and many Burman informers. At one time, the jungle was covered by a barrage of 37mm guns and machine guns about 500 yards from his camp. Sgt. Gray, under fire, kept his nerve and gave confidence and courage to his native runners and guerrillas." His mission ended in September 1945.
What the commendation doesn't say is that Gray jumped into Burma -- now known as Myanmar -- on a mission for the Office of Strategic Services -- OSS -- the wartime intelligence agency and forerunner of the Central Intelligence Agency and Army Special Forces.


He had undergone a couple of months of "intensive training by the OSS on the island of Ceylon," Gray said, apparently plucked from the forces for the intelligence work.
"At that time I was a sergeant, but I stayed in for Korea and I stayed in for Vietnam," Gray said. Her retired as a major after 271/2 years of service.
Among those congratulating him were his wife, Cheryl, and his daughter, Mary Jo Gray-Hughes. "The lives he saved ..., " his wife said, referring to his bravery. "After graduating from CBA, he went in."
Gray, who was a close friend of the late Assemblyman Richard Conners, got a degree from Siena College after World War II and was working on a master's at Georgetown's School of Foreign Service when he was "called back" to fight in Korea, he said. Later, in Vietnam, he was with the 11th Armored Calvary. During his military career, he spent three years as an Army reservist. His photo is hanging in the Air Commando Hall of Fame in Fort Walton Beach, Fla.


"I was with the OSS between tours of duty," he said, serving with Army intelligence. Upon retiring from the Army in 1968, "I got an honest job," Gray said with a chuckle.


He worked for the Atomic Energy Commission in Niskayuna as an inspector of classified operations, and then at West Milton in security during the building of a prototype of the Ohio-class Trident submarine. He retired in 1985.


"Now I work for my wife, and it's the toughest job I've ever had," he said with a smile. Cheryl Gray is a vendor at flea markets and he accompanies her, but said he spends most of his time reading magazines.


The medal is dated July 1997. Bill Gray had tucked it away, and his wife, Helen, found it while cleaning out his belongings, said Lawrence Wiest, an Army veteran and retired Albany County assistant district attorney. "Bill was waiting to get a Silver (Star)" working with McNulty, so he held on to the Bronze Star, Wiest said. It was difficult, however, to gather the information because he had to get it

from his brother.