Gary was born July 23, 1903, in Findlay, Ohio, to parents Henry and Katherine Gary, who already had seven children, three of whom had passed away before he was born. His parents had one more boy after him, but that son also died at a young age.
Gary attended one year of high school before enlisting in the Navy on Dec. 12, 1919, when he was 16 years old. In a speech he wrote later in life, Gary said he'd always wanted to be a fireman, so he joined the service to see the world and hopefully learn some skills that could help him find a job when he returned home, according to the Congressional Medal of Honor Society.
Gary initially received training in San Francisco before being transferred to the Philippines, where he served on a gunboat and then a survey ship. He later told the Los Angeles Times that he had no plans to turn the Navy into a career, but after six years of service, he decided he liked it enough to stay, reenlisting in February 1926.
