Gen William Ross

U.S. Army Brigadier General. A highly decorated World War II and Vietnam War combat veteran, he rose in rank to become the commander of the 199th Infantry Brigade in South Viet Nam. He was the 5th U.S. Army general killed in the Vietnam War and the first to be killed in direct ground combat while commanding his infantry unit. After completing high school, he attended the University of Maryland at College Park, Maryland with a Bachelor's Degree in political science and history. In 1940, he enlisted in the United States Army and within two years he achieved the rank of staff sergeant. In 1942, he was chosen to attend the Officer Candidate School at Fort Knox, Kentucky and graduated in September of that year with a commission as a 2nd lieutenant of Infantry. Assigned to the 82nd Airborne Division, he was sent to North Africa with the 1st Ranger Battalion and participated in the July 1943 invasion of Sicily (known as Operation Husky). He then volunteered for duty with "Darby's Rangers" (which later evolved into the U.S. Army Rangers), was assigned to the First Ranger Battalion, and lead his company in the Salerno landings (known as Operation Avalanche) in September 1943. The following January his unit landed at Anzio, Italy (known as Operation Shingle) as part of the Italian Campaign and following a night attack at Cisterna, he was captured by the German Army and held in a prisoner-of-war camp in Poland. When Russian Army breached the German lines in early January 1945, he escaped to the Soviet lines and for several weeks became part of a Soviet Reconnaissance Detachment, before returning to the western Allied lines. He then volunteered for duty in the Pacific Theater of Operations and was training at Fort Benning, Georgia, when the Japanese surrendered in September 1945 and was assigned to occupation duty in Korea where he began to study Asian social and cultural patterns. In mid-1949, he was selected as a member of the United Nation's truce team and sent to Palestine. In 1950, he returned to Fort Benning to attend the Advanced Infantry Course and helped to establish the Airborne Ranger Training and remained with this program for almost a year. In 1959, he was assigned to his first tour in South Vietnam as a part of the U.S. Military Assistance Advisory Group and was appointed to the post of Deputy Chief of Staff for Operations. He was promoted to the rank of colonel and in 1960, he was assigned to the Office of the Chief of Staff, US Army, in Washington, D.C. where he was instrumental in the development of an Army capability for counter-insurgency. He was Chief of Plans and Policy and Deputy Director of Special Warfare there from 1962 until the summer of 1964. He became commander of the 2nd Brigade, 101st Airborne Division and after suffering a heart tremor the following year, he was found medically unfit for duty. After several appeals, he was assigned to Thailand and became the J-3 of the Military Assistance Command and elevated to the post of Chief of Staff in 1966. In September 1967, he returned to the US and organized and conducted the 9th Conference of American Armies in Washington, D.C. In August 1969 he was promoted to the rank of brigadier general and reported to South Vietnam for his 2nd tour as commander of the 199th Light Infantry Brigade the following November. In April 1970, at the age of 51, he was killed by sniper fire shortly after landing in his command helicopter to oversee an operation 70 miles northeast of Saigon. He had served in the U.S. Army continuously for 30 years. Among his military and foreign awards and decorations include the Army Distinguished Service Medal (with one oak leaf cluster), the Silver Star (with one oak leaf cluster), the Legion of Merit (with one oak leaf cluster), the Distinguished Flying Cross, the Bronze Star )with one oak leaf cluster and combat "V" device), the Purple Heart, the Air Medal (with eight oak leaf clusters), the Army Commendation Medal, the Prisoner of War Medal, the American Defense Service Medal, the American Campaign Medal, the European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal, the World War II Victory Medal, the Army of Occupation Medal, the National Defense Service Medal (with star), the Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal (with star), the Vietnam Service Medal, the Vietnamese Gallantry Cross (with palm), the Vietnamese Honor Medal (1st class), the Vietnamese Military Merit Medal, the Republic of Vietnam Campaign Medal, and the Order of the Crown of Thailand (Knight Commander).