John Dinning Gray was born in Strathaven , Scotland on 18th August 1922. His family moved to Wolverhampton after the war in search of work. His father died when he was 8 years old, and he was taken into the custody of the Royal Orphanage. His childhood was a lonely one. At the outbreak of the war he was an apprentice engineer, and volunteered for the RAF in 1941, joining on the 9th July. He flew a full tour in the Sherriff crew with 100 Sqn, 22 of those ops in HW-N "N for Nan", one of the Lancs to complete over 100 operations. After the war he moved to Bristol and was a keen member of 100 Sqn Association. He sadly died in 1995.