Robert Carrell Green

Bob Green was the son of Robert and Maxine Green. He began high school in Emmett, ID., but moved to Donnelly after his mother remarried. He graduated from McCall-Donnelly High School in 1962 and headed to Moscow in the fall where he pledged Gamma Iota . He dropped out of college at the end of his first semester and returned to Donnelly, where he married Karen Kleint on February 14, 1963. After the marriage ended, Bob returned to the University and resumed his education, living off-campus. He received a BS in Business in 1968.

Bob entered the Army on May 6, 1969, first going to Fort Dix, NJ. for basic training and then to Fort Benning, GA. for OCS. He was then ordered to the 4-month Primary Rotary Wing School at Fort Wolters, TX. While there he married for a second time, to Carolyn F. McCain. Next was 4 months of advanced training (instrument training, formation flying, night flying and other advanced tactics) at Fort Rucker, AL. and finally Cobra transition school and gunnery practice at Fort Stewart, GA.. Before he deployed to Vietnam he was living in DeRidder, LA.

He started his tour in Viet Nam on August 20, 1970 with the 1st Aviation Brigade, 16th Cavalry, C Troop also known as the Golden Hawks.

Bob was killed in an aircraft accident in Long Vinh Province over Can Tho Airfield on St. Patrick’s Day, 1971. He was piloting a Cobra, checking out an instructional pilot. They had been shooting approaches to the airfield when an Air America plane was cleared to land. The two aircraft could not communicate with one another and had to depend on the controllers, who noticed too late. The helicopter and the airplane collided, killing Bob, the other pilot and the pilot of the Air America plane. Bob was returned to the States and he is buried in the Alpha Cemetery in Valley County.

Bob’s friends both in college and in the Army said he was a wildman and a barrel of fun. His roommate in college, Gary Potter, wrote about the good times they had drinking beer and going to the dump to shoot rats. Gary described him as “one crazy sombitch,” and said that his lifestyle and attitude were exactly what the Army wanted. Ron Gayler, who was with him at boot camp, OCS and at Mineral Wells told the following story, “I remember the first time the drill sergeants let us go on post for a beer. Bob drained his and I still had most of a glass. He dropped his false teeth in my beer and said, ‘You probably don’t want that now,’ and drank my beer. We drank quite a bit of beer over the next year or two and I always had my hand over my glass.” Ron considered Bob to be the best friend he ever had.

Bob Green was initiated posthumously by National in March, 2020, one of three Idaho Delta Sigs who lost their lives in the Vietnam War. They will be remembered on a plaque in the fraternity house.

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