B160788 Rifleman Allan Francis Gray was born in Hamilton, Ontario on 26 October 1925, the son of Frank Osborne Gray and Ethel Goatley. He had one younger brother and attended King George School and one year at Frank R. Close Technical Institute in Hamilton, Ontario, leaving at age 16. Gray was Presbyterian.

He worked as a general labourer with the Steel Company of Canada when he enlisted in the active service army in Hamilton on 13 April 1944.

He trained at Brantford and Camp Borden before reporting for duty in the United Kingdom on 10 December 1944. Gray arrived in Northwest Europe on 23 Jan 1945 and was posted to The Queen’s Own Rifles on the 31st.

Rifleman Gray was killed in action on 5 March 1945 aged 19. He is buried in Groesbeek Canadian War Cemetery, grave reference VII. F. 16.

His family had the following engraved on his grave marker:

“IF GOD BE FOR US,
WHO CAN BE AGAINST US?”
ROMANS VIII.31
MOTHER