CPL John William Rouse, Pittsburgh, PA on www.VirtualWall.org The Virtual Wall® Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall

The son of Martin P. and Edna (Poplawski) Rouse, John enlisted in the US Marine Corps on August 31, 1966 in Pittsburg Pennsylvania. He arrived for duty in Vietnam on November 30, 1967.

Information from Marine Command Chronicles of Company B, 1st Tank Battalion, 1st Marine Division shows that during Operation MAMELUKE THRUST, on 30 May 1968, 1400 hours, 2 tanks were providing escort for a convoy which at grid AT 810545, along Route LTL-4, 9 Kilometers East of Thuong Duc when an NVA force sprung an ambush on the truck convoy transporting 155 mm artillery rounds on Route 4 half way between Hill 37 and their destination on Hill 55.

Vehicles came under heavy small arms and RPG rocket fire. One tank sustained 5 RPG hits, causing moderate damage to the vehicle. One USMC was wounded in action and medevaced from result of gun shot wounds. Both tanks fires in return with unknown results.

However, The security element assigned (Company C, 1st Battalion, 7th Marines and Company C, 5th Special Forces Group) to protect the vehicles with their cargo prevented the convoy from being overrun. Company C fought until a reaction force from Company I 3rd Battalion arrived forcing the enemy to withdraw from their attack.

During the initial stages of the ambush, a counter-attack by SGT Joseph and his Army of Republic of Vietnam (ARVN) security forces, allowed the Marine security forces to establish a perimeter and prevent the NVA from overrunning the convoy. Three Marines died in the action and six were wounded. SGT Joseph was killed during his counter-attack. The four men who were killed were:

He was survived at the time by his parents Edna (Poplawski) Rouse (1910-1984) and his father, Martin P Rouse (1906 - 1983), living on Kingwood Street, Pittsburgh. His mother's obituary from The Pittsburgh Press on Feb 5, 1984 shows that CPL Rouse had a brother Richard and sister Patricia. CPL Rouse is buried in Queen of Heaven Catholic Cemetery, McMurray, Pennsylvania as are his parents. It's unknown where his sister is buried.