Raymond Havas Grantham

I first met ol' Ray Grantham
When '43 met '44'
He was just a country boy,
I thought I knew the score
But pretty soon he taught me
Some things I never knew,
Like what a good friend really is,
A buddy who's true blue.

I met Ray out in Tucson,
Where he dearly loved to fly,
And I never saw that rascal
Without that twinkle in his eye.
A great guy up at altitude,
A great guy on the ground,
A great guy to drink beer with,
(He'd buy every second round.)

I remember when we were flying
The long way to the war.
South America to Africa
No way was that a bore.
But Africa to England
In the middle of the night
Except for ol' Ray Grantham
Would have been an awful flight.

Two hours north of Africa
Above the cold Atlantic,
The bail-out signal sounded,
A real reason to get frantic,
But Raymond knew those engines
Were just purring like a charm,
And when Bill Clark tried to bail out
Ray held firmly to his arm.

When you talk of calm in combat,
Out alone there in the nose,
When the plexiglas exploded,
Ray ignored his feet that froze.
Too many times to recall,
Under enemy attack,
Ray proved to all who knew him,
He's the guy to watch your back.

I've heard that he's called "Havas"
Though I learned to call him "Ray",
You can call him what you want to,
But there's this I have to say,
That country boy named Grantham
Will be known until the end,
By the best name that I call him.
Me? I'm proud to call him "Friend".

- Robert L. Bloch, 832nd