The Dogwood Vietnam Memorial Foundation
The Memorial was dedicated on April 20, 1966, to the Charlottesville Dogwood Vietnam Memorial ("the Memorial"). It is the first public/civic Memorial in the United States of America to honor all members of the United States Military who served and those who gave their lives in the war in Vietnam and Southeast Asia, especially to the lasting memory of the United States Military services from the greater Charlottesville, Virginia area. Each April since, there has been an annual rededication of the Memorial, except for the 2020 postponement, due to the COVID -19 pandemic problems.
Lance Corporal Walter Ross Jr.
Walter Graduated from Fluvanna County High School in 1968. He was drafted by the Charlottesville/Albemarle draft board into the USMC that same year. with only 9 days left in Vietnam, Walter sent his mother a letter in which he said he had befriended two young Vietnamese orphans that he wanted to bring home. Walter was KIA from a small arms fire during a battle in Quang name Province. LCpl Walter Ross Jr. was awarded the bronze star medal with a "V" device for combat Valor. The purple Heart Medal, the National Defence service medal, The Vietnam service medal, and the Vietnam campaign medal. Walter is buried in the Cloverdale baptist church cemetery in bremo bluff
