Christopher Andrew Grosse, Jr. was a Private First Class in the United States Army when he went Missing in Action in South Vietnam on 28 March 1968. Grosse was born on 06 January 1945, and his home city of record is Harlingen, Texas. |
The Incident
On 28 March 1968, PFC Grosse was a rifleman assigned to Company A, 1st Battalion, 7th Cavalry, 1st Cavalry Division on a search and destroy mission in Thua Thien Province, Republic of Vietnam. While his platoon was moving in file down a trail, with Grosse as the second man, the platoon was ambushed by an enemy force.
The point man, PFC Johnson, who was 8-9 meters ahead of Grosse, observed him fall, wounded, with blood on his head and neck. Due to the situation, Johnson did not have time to double back to see if PFC Grosse were alive. Johnson said, however, that Grosse lay completely still and appeared to be dead.
The intense enemy fire forced the patrol to withdraw from the area without PFC Grosse. Efforts to reach him later that day were unsuccessful, due to hostile fire in the area. A search of the area the next day failed to locate Grosse.
It was not uncommon for the Viet Cong to bury American casualties, and in doing so bury them in places so hidden that they could not be found. Since Grosse was wounded, it is possible that this occurred. However, since his death is not certain, it is also quite reasonable to expect that he could have been captured as his platoon withdrew.
Sources
Biographical and incident of loss information was obtained from either POW/NET and/or Task Force Omega, Inc (unless otherwise noted). Additional information may be found via remembrances at The Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund or The Virtual Wall Vietnam Veterans Memorial.
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