More detail on this person: Ross attended basic training and was accepted for Infantry Officers Candidate School while at Ft. Polk, LA, before attending Leaders Preparation Course at Ft. Ord California. Assigned to the 82nd Officers Candidate Company at Ft. Benning's Infantry School, he graduated and was commissioned a Second Lieutenant on August 24th, 1967. He was promoted to First Lieutenant a year later and to Captain on August 24th, 1969. After graduating from Officers Rotary Wing Flight School, he was assigned as an aviator with the 182nd Aviation Company at Ft. Bragg, N.C. He was ordered to Instructor Pilot School and deployed to Vietnam in 1969, assigned to the 57th Assault Helicopter Company, 52nd Combat Aviation Battalion, to support the highly secret Special Forces Studies and Observation Group (CCC Recon Co.) in Kontum. He served the company as first platoon leader and later flight operations officer, accumulated 1,056 combat flying hours, was shot down twice, and wounded once. He returned to the states in 1970, assigned as Executive Officer to an aviation support company at Ft. Stewart, Ga. He separated from active duty in 1971 and served in the inactive U.S. Army Reserves until 1982 when he was honorably discharged at the rank of Captain. For service to his country, Ross was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross, Bronze Star, Purple Heart, Air Medal with twenty-six Oak Leaf Clusters, Vietnamese Cross of Gallantry with Silver Star, and various campaign medals associated with service in Vietnam and stateside. Ross was the President of V.R. Ross Associates, an independent professional aviation and transportation consulting service. He served as undersecretary of the Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development from 1984 to 1988 and was previously cofounder, Vice President, and Director of Operations of Commercial Helicopters Inc., based in Lafayette, LA. Ross holds an Airline Transport Pilots Rating in Rotorcraft- with more than 5,000 hours of accident-free flying-and an Aviation Safety Certificate from the University of Southern California's Viterbi School of Engineering. He is a former member of the Greater Baton Rouge Airport Board of Commissioners, a Certified Aircraft Accident Investigator with more than forty-nine years of experience in aviation, and a member of the International Society of Air Safety Investigators. Ross was divorced and had two adult children, Katherine Ross (LSU Alum) and Vaugh Jr (Navy Vet) and one granddaughter, Isla Alexandria, 8 years old, who all live in Baton Rouge, LA.
Burial information: Arlington National Cemetery
This information was last updated 05/24/2018
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Date posted on this site: 03/10/2024
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