Swope Health announces a new edition of its podcast, One on One with Swope Health, featuring Robert E. Gray III, First Sergeant, Retired, US Marine Corps.
Eric Wesson, founder and publisher of The Next Page KC, a newspaper focused on the Black community, hosts the show’s conversations with Kansas Citians about issues of importance to the community’s health and wellbeing.
Gray, a teacher and military historian, is passionate about ensuring Black veterans receive the recognition and honor they deserve. A native of Kansas City, Gray graduated from Southeast High School in 1977 then joined the US Marines in 1978. He retired in 2003 then taught junior ROTC programs in history and discipline at Hickman Mills High School for 10 years.
While still in the Marines, Gray began researching Black leaders in the military. Using a list from the Department of Defense, he began digging into the stories of the Black Marines who built the foundation for his own career. He came across a story about seven African Americans who received the Medal of Honor in World War II, including Pfc. Willy Frederick James Jr., a Kansas City native from the 18th and Vine area.
James’s award, according to the National WWII Museum, was delayed by decades of bias and discrimination. Gray embarked on a mission to ensure that James – and his family – receive the proper military honors, ceremony, and flag on behalf of a grateful nation.
He learned that the White House in 1997 presented the medal to James’s widow, who died in 2002. The administration hadn’t been able to find James’s mother or sister, still living in Kansas City. Further, since no photos of Pfc. James could be found, the ceremony used a likeness drawn by an FBI sketch artist. There still are no photos of James, he said.
Gray dug deeper into the family’s history. He learned the medal had been passed on to the widow’s niece and he later found James’s sister, age 104. He also learned Pfc. James was eligible for the Purple Heart and set about working closely with the U.S. Army to correct its omission and present the honor to the family.
Gray led an initiative for a 2023 Kansas City commemoration of Pfc. James. His name was added to the Black Veterans Memorial at 12th and the Paseo, and the Black Archives has a display featuring the medal, artifacts and records of Pfc. James. In 2025, a second initiative bestowed an honorary posthumous diploma from Lincoln College Preparatory Academy to James and honored his sister.
“I wanted to find out why he chose to go into the military,” Gray said. “It’s 1941, with everything going on around him, in a segregated society, (segregated) laws, why did he choose to go into the military?” He continued: “Was he doing it for us? For his family? Yes, he was doing it for all of us.”
Gray said he believed James “wanted to prove that African Americans belong to be part of American society and be called American.”
James is buried at the Netherlands American Cemetery in Margraten, less than 30 miles from where he was killed in Germany. Dutch families in Margraten have adopted the gravesites and faithfully tend them, a display of respect and gratitude for the American sacrifices in the war.
Gray has now launched a new initiative, called Operation Tulip, which will help the U.S. Army correct its omission in neglecting to present the Purple Heart to James’s next of kin in a ceremony at the gravesite. A second goal is to show appreciation to the Dutch families who have tended the gravesites for generations.
Gray is working on the details for the event, which will be scheduled in 2027, with members of James’s family, the US Embassy, Army representatives and if possible, family members of the 52 Kansas City-area soldiers buried in the Netherlands cemetery at Margraten.
Learn more about Gray’s research in the full discussion: https://youtu.be/WEEjsNOPpXI.
