Petty Officer 2nd Class Michael Jason Gray
Born: July 30, 1971
Died: March 5, 2004 in Sabahiya, Kuwait
Petty Officer 2nd Class Michael J. Gray of Richmond, Virginia was a Manchester High School graduate. He was a former Richmond police officer and Henrico County sheriff’s deputy. He was activated for military duty on Jan. 27 2004 and was deployed to the Middle East in early February. Michael was a highly competent police officer who would look out after younger officers on the midnight shift. He was a patrol officer who worked out of the department’s Midlothian Station on North Providence Road. He was a very likable, dedicated officer and could always be trusted to do the job right. He received a Chief’s Commendation Award in October 2003 for what was described as superior work. Recipients receive the award for acts of bravery, or for making a significant contribution to law enforcement. He also worked as a Third Precinct patrol officer in Richmond from May 12, 1997, to April 1, 2001. Before joining the Richmond department, he worked as a Henrico deputy sheriff from January 1996 to May 1997. Michael had been a reservist since January 2002 and part of the DART 8 unit in Richmond for about a year. He would normally report to drills at the Yorktown Naval Weapons Station. Deeply religious, he expressed his faith in an untraditional way, with rhyme. He was known as ‘Mikey G, Rapper for Jesus.’ In one of his raps he said he was ready for death, and he spoke of his vision of heaven: “Won’t be no guns/ won’t be no knives/ Hear the best preaching that/ you ever heard in your lives.” Michael was killed at age 32 while traveling to Kuwait Navy Base when his vehicle was struck in the rear by a civilian vehicle in Kuwait. He is survived by his wife, Tisha; four daughters, Cameron, Emma, Amanda and Avery; his mother, Jean Gray; his maternal grandmother, Joyce Gray. Michael is believed to be the first Richmond-area police officer to die while deployed as part of the U.S. military effort in the Iraq region.
Navy Detachment
Deployable Ammunition Reporting Team
DART unit
Kuwait Navy Base
Burial is at Dale Memorial Park in Midlothian, Virginia
The Petty Officer 2nd Class Michael Jason Gray by Freedom Remembered, unless otherwise expressly stated, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 3.0 United States License.
