The WallVietnam Veterans Memorial · The Lake Norman Brief
Soldiers of the 101st Airborne Division leap from a UH-1D during an air assault.
Soldiers of the 101st Airborne Division leap from a UH-1D during an air assault. Photo: SP4 Johnnie Jackson, U.S. Army, public domain. Shown for the time and place, not a photograph of Columbus Virgle Gross.

The Wall › Panel 3W › Indiana › Columbus Virgle Gross

COLUMBUS VIRGLE GROSS

Sergeant · U.S. Army

April 10, 1950 – May 21, 1971

Service record

Columbus Virgle Gross, of Rensselaer, Indiana, served as a Sergeant in the U.S. Army. He died on May 21, 1971, in Quang Tri Province, South Vietnam, at age 21. His name is inscribed on Panel 3W, Line 45 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.

On the Wall

Panel 3W · Line 45

Position of Panel 3W on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial

Names are inscribed in the order of loss, starting at Panel 1E at the apex and ending at Panel 1W. At the Memorial, find the panel number at the base and count down from the top line.

Remember

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Service

Branch
U.S. Army
Rank
Sergeant (SGT)
Service
Regular
Occupation
Combat Engineer (12B)
Unit (as recorded)
5 INF DIV MECH
Born
April 10, 1950
Home of record
Rensselaer, Indiana (Jasper County)

Casualty

Date of death
May 21, 1971
Age
21
Province
Quang Tri
Country
South Vietnam
Casualty type
Hostile
Category
Killed in Action
Circumstance
Artillery/Mortar/Rocket

Context · from the records

What was happening

33 names on the Wall carry the date May 21, 1971; 31 of them were lost in Quảng Trị Province. In May 1971, 202 Americans whose names are on the Wall died in the war.

The unit recorded as “5 INF DIV MECH”, his unit in the record, lost 40 of its members that month.

Also on Panel 3W, Line 45

Same unit, same day

From Rensselaer

Source. U.S. Department of Defense, Defense Casualty Analysis System, Vietnam Conflict Extract Data File (as of April 29, 2008), Records of the Office of the Secretary of Defense, Record Group 330, National Archives (NAID 2240992). Panel and line as recorded in that file. This page presents the official record and its historical context; no biography has been written for him yet. See something wrong? Report a correction.