More detail on this person: David L. Ross, 84,
of Gulf Breeze, Florida left this life Friday
August 12, 2016 in Gulf Breeze.
He was born August 1, 1932 to Harold "Hap" and
Florence Ross in Cabool, MO. He attended Cabool
High School and immediately following graduation
in 1950, true to his love of country and desire to
be a part of the best, enlisted in the U.S. Marine
Corps. Shortly after boot camp graduation, he was
assigned to his permanent unit and deployed to
Korea as a Marine Rifleman. Upon completion of his
combat tour in Korea, he returned to the states,
and was assigned to a military police unit at
Naval Station, Treasure Island, CA.
In 1953, after completion of his enlisted tour,
Sgt. Ross returned home to Missouri and enrolled
in Southern Missouri University, receiving his
bachelor's degree in 1957. Immediately after
graduation, Dave took the next step toward his
goal of becoming an Officer of Marines and was
accepted into the Officer Candidate School, MCB
Quantico, Virginia in September 1957. He
completed OCS in the top 5 percent of his class
and was commissioned a Second Lieutenant in the
U.S. Marine Corps in December 1957. In January
1958 he entered the Naval Aviation Flight Training
program in Pensacola, Florida. Upon successful
completion of both fixed wing and rotary wing
training, he was designated a Naval Aviator and
received his wings in May 1959.
Dave was assigned to fly the UH-34 with Marine
Medium Helicopter Squadron 361 in Santa Ana,
CA. As a member of HMM-163, the first of many
deployments to Viet Nam began. In 1963, Dave was
assigned to the Naval Air Training Command in
Pensacola, FL, as an exceptional instructor who
was named 1964 "Instructor of the Year". In 1966
it was back to Viet Nam where, In 1967, as a
UH-1E pilot with VMO-2, his heroic actions
resulted in the award of the Navy Cross. In 1971
he took command of HMA-369, which was
conducting ship-based operations in North Vietnam.
He retired from active duty in 1976.
From: November 2016 issue of Pop A Smoke
newsletter
This information was last updated 11/30/2016
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Date posted on this site: 03/10/2024
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