USS David R. Ray (DD-971) Ship's Crest

Commissioned in 1977, the David R. Ray honors Hospital Corpsman Second Class David Robert Ray, who was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor for his actions near An Hoa, Vietnam, in March 1969—treating wounded Marines under direct enemy assault and, in his final moments, using his own body to shield a wounded Marine from a grenade blast. A Spruance-class destroyer homeported in San Diego, she served the Pacific Fleet for a quarter century, and her 1981 WestPac cruise is remembered for the rescue of some 50 Vietnamese refugees in the South China Sea.