Family plans visit to wounded soldier Penobscot man likely to be flown to D.C.

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Family members of a soldier seriously injured Sunday in an insurgent attack in Iraq are preparing to travel to Walter Reed Hospital in Washington, D.C., to see him.

Sgt. Harold Gray, 34, of Penobscot is one of three members of the Maine National Guard’s 133rd Engineer Battalion who were injured when insurgents attacked their convoy in Mosul.

The names of the other two soldiers, who were treated and returned to duty, are not being released, Maj. Peter Rogers, Maine Army National Guard spokesman, said Tuesday.

Gray underwent six hours of neurosurgery in Iraq before being stabilized and flown to Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Germany, his father, George Gray, said Monday in a phone interview.

Harold Gray now is in an induced coma to allow his brain to rest, his father said.

Once the soldier is considered stable enough to fly again, he will be transported to Walter Reed Hospital in Washington, D.C. Family members in Bangor and Penobscot said they have been told this may happen today and were waiting Tuesday for military officials to provide their travel instructions.

“We don’t go anywhere until he’s in flight, and then we go last minute,” Laurie Gray, the sergeant’s wife, said Tuesday afternoon.

Harold Gray’s three young daughters will have to wait at home.

“The worst part is that he’s in the hospital right now,” Mercedes Gray, the soldier’s 5-year-old daughter, said Tuesday. “That’s really hard.”

Harold Gray’s three daughters, all from his first marriage, played Tuesday on the floor at their grandmother’s house in Bangor as they talked about their dad. The little girls have fond memories of times before the war – before their dad went to Iraq.

“He used to read us all kinds of books,” Natalie, 7, said. The two eldest girls explained that one of their favorites was “Blueberries for Sal,” while Isabelle, 3, said she preferred “Winnie the Pooh.”

The girls also remembered their dad taking them for walks, going for bicycle rides, and trips to “Grampie Phil’s” to feed and ride his horse, Mary.

“Those three little girls are his world,” Claudette Gray, Harold Gray’s mother, said Tuesday. “Always have been.”

Gray’s daughters talked to him on the phone and by computer whenever possible, “about stuff that happens when he’s not there,” Mercedes said.

“And stuff that we do,” Natalie added.

The girls likely will visit their father in the hospital at some point, their grandmother said.

“If anything would bring him out of it, I think they would,” she said.

The soldier suffered injuries to both eyes and to his left arm and has shrapnel in his brain and chest, according to his father, George Gray.

“They seem to be taking it pretty good,” Claudette Gray of Bangor said of her granddaughters.

After hearing Tuesday morning from Gray’s wife, Claudette Gray said she learned that her son’s vital signs remain stable and medical staff have put a feeding tube in him.

The soldier’s mother said she had not been contacted by any Army officials since her son was injured.

“Nobody has called me whatsoever from the Army,” Claudette Gray said. “All my information is either second-, third- or fourthhand.”

Gray remarried just before he left for Iraq, and military officials have been following protocol and relaying all information to his wife, Laurie Gray. “Notification depends on the next of kin identified by the soldier on his or her paperwork,” Rogers said.

The soldier’s wife, mother and father are planning to visit the wounded soldier as soon as military officials supply them with travel orders and confirm that Gray is being sent to Washington, D.C.

Gray’s niece, Courtney Gray, 13, of Bangor said she talked to her uncle while he was overseas about school and things going on at home.

“I got really upset when I heard he got hurt,” Courtney said Tuesday while sitting on the edge of her grandmother’s bed. “He loved his girls and his mom and his family. He’s really stubborn so I know he can make it through this.”

One of Courtney’s favorite things about her uncle is his eyes.

“They get really big when he’s watching TV,” she said. “He has really pretty eyes.”

Courtney said she’s worried that her uncle, an active man, may not be able to do all of the things he once enjoyed because of the extent of his injuries.

She said she is proud of him.

“He did what he had to do,” Courtney said. “He did his job.”