Robert Crouter was born August 17, 1946, in Jersey City, NJ, to Benjamin and Renee Crouter. His home of record is Brick, NJ. Robert was a 1965 graduate of Brick Township High School and a member of the school Photography Club for four years. He was an avid photographer and played the guitar with a small group of high school friends, including his older brother, Benjamin and a neighborhood friend, Milt Teeple. Their band was known as the Versatones. He spoke of going to Julliard School of Music.

Crouter enlisted in the US Army and he attainted the rank of Staff Sergeant (SSGT). He took his basic training in Fort Dix and additional training at Fort Gordon, GA, and was stationed in Germany prior to Vietnam.

Crouter was killed in action on May 20, 1968, while stationed at Bung Tau, near Saigon. He was in a motor vehicle accident while serving with the 1st Signal Brigade.

A former neighbor, Teresa Vogel Peacock, remembers Bobby Crouter as a friend of her older brother. She describes him as “a very quiet, unassuming kid.” When he entered the service she wrote to him and believes she received his last letter. Their growing up days, she recalls, were good, happy times. There was a field in the neighborhood where the boys played football as she, the little sister, cheered them on from the sidelines and wasn’t allowed to play.

James Nash, another of the neighborhood boys, was killed in Vietnam two years before his friend Bobby Crouter. Nash was a Marine.

Sources: Anne Cullen (volunteer), Fred Zimmerman (volunteer) and NJVVMF.
12/17/2024