He was born in Dalton, Ohio, as the oldest of four children to William and Helen Reese Berg. His father, a carpenter for Martin Construction Company and Republic Steel, built desks and other furniture that he sold for $35 each. Raymond graduated from Dalton High School in 1940, joined the U.S. Army on December 5, 1942, and was sent to Camp Beale near Yuba City, California for basic training. All his training sergeants, he says, had served in the horse cavalry at Fort Riley, Kansas. "They still had their cavalry boots," he recalls. Placed in the 93^rd Cavalry Reconnaissance Squadron of the 13^th Armored Division, he sailed with the unit from Fort Dix, New Jersey. German submarines, however, "kept circling us," he recalls, so his ship returned to New York. They sailed later on the USS America, a former German passenger ship. His squadron of 900 men filled the vessel. The ship arrived at Le Havre, France in the fall of 1944. In the advance on Germany, Raymond rode in an armored car as radio operator and gunner of a 37-millimeter gun and a 30-caliber machine gun. Once, he and another man captured nine German soldiers. He traveled in a "section" consisting of ten men, two jeeps, and an armored car. He had reached Simbach, Germany by VE Day. From Berchtesgaden he brought home a piece of marble from Hitler's mountain hideaway. Back in the States by July of 1945, Raymond was to train in California for the invasion of Japan. The war ended, however, and the division was deactivated at Camp Pendleton. He was transferred to Camp Stoneman near Pittsburg, California, where he spent six months helping to ship troops home. He worked at the train station with troop rosters, seeing that the men and their service records were aboard. Raymond himself was discharged on February 26, 1946. He returned to Dalton to work at Timken Roller Bearing Company. After a year he went to Westinghouse making flow meters. In 1950 he was appointed Dalton's village marshal, and remained with the police department until 1981 when he retired to Louisiana. On May 18, 1981 he married Linda Legg. He has two children, two stepchildren, and four step grandchildren.