Family remembers Aggie soldier killed by suicide bomber in Iraq

By: Nick Badger

Posted: 2/11/08

First lieutenant Jeremy E. Ray, who gave the ultimate sacrifice for his country on Dec. 20, was remembered at an Echo Taps Thursday night.

Ray was a student at Texas A&M from 2000 to 2006. He joined the H1 unit of the Corps of Cadets his freshman year, which led him to join the United States Army.

Ray was born Nov. 26, 1981 in Jersey Village, Texas, near Houston. He grew up in Jersey Village and attended Jersey Village High School where he was an Eagle Scout and played football throughout high school.

"Normally, growing up, he played little league baseball and then baseball in junior high school," said Randy Ray, Jeremy's father. "And then he started playing football and stopped playing baseball. He was a pretty good football player.

"He was really good at playing the guitar, he was an avid outdoorsman. He loved to fish and hunt, [and] he loved to go saltwater fishing," Randy said.

Ray graduated high school in 2000 and came to A&M to join the Corps of Cadets.

"The H1 unit was very athletic, and he fit right in," Randy said. "They won a lot of awards for different competitions that they were in between the units."

Ray joined the Army Reserves while at A&M. He graduated in May 2006 and accepted his commission.

"When he graduated, he was sent to Oklahoma to Fort Sill, where he was trained for artillery," Randy said.

His next assignment was at Fort Hood in Killeen, Texas, and from there he was deployed to northern Iraq on Dec. 8.

"Really we only got to talk to him by e-mail three times, and I talked to him one time by phone" Randy said.

On Dec. 20, Ray and several members of his unit were assigned to help guard an Iraqi sheik.

"This tribal leader that was trying to make things better for his country and trying to quell the violence to work with the new Iraqi government was apparently targeted by a terrorist," Randy said.

Ray's parents were told that a suicide bomber rode by on a bicycle and detonated himself, killing Ray and wounding 13 others.

"He was a very good man and a very good person," Randy said.

"Dedicated, professional and compassionate - those are words that describe Jeremy as a person," said Ray's mother, Debbie Ray.

"It says a lot about his character and how he felt about the men he was leading, that on the day he was killed, that he was in the front along with them," Debbie said.

Ray leaves behind his parents Randy and Debbie and his brother Justin Ray.