The WallVietnam Veterans Memorial · The Lake Norman Brief
The last Marines of the U.S. Embassy security guard land aboard USS Okinawa, 30 April 1975.
The last Marines of the U.S. Embassy security guard land aboard USS Okinawa, 30 April 1975. Photo: GySgt Russ Thurman, USMC, public domain. Shown for the time and place, not a photograph of Robert W Ross.

The Wall › Panel 1W › California › Robert W Ross

ROBERT W ROSS

Sergeant · U.S. Air Force

July 9, 1954 – May 13, 1975

Service record

Robert W Ross, of Cypress, California, served as a Sergeant in the U.S. Air Force. He died on May 13, 1975, in Thailand, at age 20. His name is inscribed on Panel 1W, Line 129 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.

On the Wall

Panel 1W · Line 129

Position of Panel 1W 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. Air Force
Rank
Sergeant (SGT)
Service
Regular
Born
July 9, 1954
Home of record
Cypress, California (Orange County)

Casualty

Date of death
May 13, 1975
Age
20
Country
Thailand
Casualty type
Non-hostile
Category
Accident
Circumstance
Helicopter Crash — Passenger (MC)
Aircraft
CH-53
Incident
Uss Mayaguez Capture

Context · from the records

What was happening

23 names on the Wall carry the date May 13, 1975. In May 1975, 42 Americans whose names are on the Wall died in the war.

He died in Thailand while the Mayaguez incident was under way. After Khmer Rouge forces seized the U.S. merchant ship Mayaguez in May 1975, Marines assaulted Koh Tang island; their names are the last on the Wall.

Also on Panel 1W, Line 129

From Cypress

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.