‘Always been taught the ‘hero’ way:’ Nephew of Rodney Davis embraces his calling

Veterans Elementary gets its name from the grid of streets that stand guard on the hill above it in a Bloomfield neighborhood.

Lafayette. Pershing. Bradley. York. All were veterans and military leaders.

Edgar Ray reports to work every day at Veterans, where he has been assistant principal for the past four years.

Although Ray is not a veteran, he comes from a military family. His father, the late Edgar Ray Sr., was a captain in the Army and later became an FBI agent. Ray was born in Italy where his father was stationed. There is a long list of other relatives who wore the uniform. 

Veterans opened in 2016 and was built on the same ground as the former Morgan Elementary. Morgan consolidated with nearby Barden to form the new school. 

The school’s nickname is the Heroes. 

Ray grew up in the company of heroes.

They are part of the narrative of his life.

John Hollis, a family member, wrote a book titled, “Sgt. Rodney Davis: The Making of a Hero.’’

Rodney Davis was the uncle that Ray never knew. He was the brother of his mother, Debra Ray. He died on a September afternoon 57 years ago during Operation Swift, one of the fiercest battles of the Vietnam War.

Davis threw himself on an enemy grenade in a trench, absorbing its deadly impact and saving the lives of the others in Bravo Company of the First Battalion, Fifth Regiment of the First Marine Division.

He was 25 years old. He left behind a wife and two children. He posthumously received the Medal of Honor, the nation’s highest award for valor. 

Only 3,517  have been issued, and just 268 were awarded for heroics during the Vietnam War.

 Davis is the only person from Macon ever to receive the award.  

“I heard those stories from the time I was 2 years old,’’ Ray said. “My grandfather would tell them. My uncles would tell them on days like Memorial Day and Veteran’s Day. They would tell those stories … and we still tell them.’’

His grandparents, the late Gordon Davis Sr. and Ruth Davis, never missed an opportunity to keep their son’s memory alive. Davis enlisted in the Marines after finishing Peter G. Appling (now Northeast) High School in 1961. 

“My grandfather would talk about how strong Rodney was and the kind of person he was,’’ Ray said.  “And that was the same person who showed up in Vietnam.’’

Ray said Davis protected and defended kids who were bullied in the Pleasant Hill neighborhood where he grew up one of five children.

“He protected people,’’ Ray said. “And that’s what he was doing when he lost his life.’’

Davis could have been buried in Arlington National Cemetery. Instead, his family brought him home to historic Linwood Cemetery, a 130-year-old Black cemetery tucked away in the woods at the upper end of Walnut Street in Pleasant Hill.

When the cemetery fell into various stages of neglect and disrepair over the years, Ray’s grandfather would take him to his uncle’s gravesite to pick up sticks and other trash. When he got older, he would cut the grass, too.

For many years, the grave was visible from a small clearing near the I-75/I-16 interchange, which is named after Maj. Bobby Jones, an Air Force flight surgeon from Macon.

 Jones was a passenger on an F-4 that was shot down on its way to deliver medical supplies on a non-combat mission to Vietnam on Nov. 28, 1972  – five years after Davis was killed.

His portrait hung in the lobby at T.D. Tinsley Elementary on Pierce Avenue, where Ray was once a student.

Davis has been honored in his hometown and elsewhere. His Medal of Honor is on display at the Tubman African-American Museum, along with his Purple Heart and dress uniform.

There is a memorial to him in Rosa Parks Square in front of City Hall. There is a life-size statue of him kneeling with his weapon at the Veterans Memorial in the parking lot at the Macon Coliseum.

A Macon housing project, Davis Homes, and a Junior ROTC classroom at Northeast High School both bear his name. He was the first Black Vietnam veteran to have a ship named in his honor – the U.S.S. Rodney Davis, a Navy missile frigate.

Ray’s grandmother, Ruth Davis, would brag about how much of his uncle’s personality she saw in him. Ray often went to her for guidance and advice.

“She asked me what my plans were, and I told her I wanted to go into the Air Force and become a pilot,’’ he said. “She said she wanted me to go to college.’’

He embraced the idea of becoming an educator.  It became his calling. Most of his 23 years in education were spent at Bruce Elementary on Houston Avenue. 

And he considers it providence that he is now at a school named Veterans.

With the nickname Heroes, of course.

“I have always been taught the ‘hero’ way,’’ he said. “It’s something my family truly believes in. Honor, integrity, excellence in everything,  respecting yourself and others and ownership of actions.

“Those were not just the rules,  those were the expectations. They are the expectations of our students here, but they have always been the expectations in my family.’’

Ray is married and the father of four. Two weeks ago, he traveled with three family members to Vietnam. About a dozen others accompanied them on the trip.

“The purpose was to recognize fallen soldiers who had given their lives in Vietnam,’’ Ray said.

He was joined by Davis’ daughter, Nicky Davis, Davis’ niece, Regina Davis, and great-nephew, Davis Hollis. 

They became the first members of the Davis family to visit Vietnam since the death of Rodney Davis 57 years ago. They toured three cities in seven days and got out before a deadly typhoon hit the country on Sept. 7, killing more than 250 people and injuring almost 900.

Davis died in what was once the Quang Nam Province of South Vietnam. The grenade was tossed into the trench during a heavy ambush by the North Vietnamese soldiers. 

Ray said he was surprised the dugout trench was still there, and his party was able to climb into it.

“We were actually in the crater where Rodney gave his life,’’ he said. “It was about 6 feet deep, so we could see where enemy fire would have been coming from.’’

All the years of trying to visualize what it looked like … and there it was.  

It was an emotional experience and one he will never forget.

“My aunts and uncles have done a good job of keeping Rodney’s name alive,’’ he said. “It’s up to us to make sure we remember what his sacrifice meant not only to our family but to other families as well.’’