House approves renaming Rosemount bridge to remember fallen Vietnam pilot

On a Saturday in mid-October 1968, an unarmed helicopter crashed into the Vietnam jungle after dropping off a wounded soldier at a nearby medical facility. The four-member crew was killed. One of the pilots was a Rosemount native. He was 21.

Three years removed from graduating high school in Rosemount, the town where his family owned a farm and attended St. John’s Lutheran Church, Dennis A. Groth became one of nearly 60,000 American casualties in the Vietnam War. He was a dustoff pilot, tasked with saving others’ lives.

Fifty years later, lawmakers are working to remember Groth’s life by renaming a bridge after him.

On Thursday, the House passed a bill 126-0 that would rename the bridge on U.S. Hwy. 52 over 145th Street as Warrant Officer Dennis A. Groth Memorial Bridge. HF2908 would also require the Department of Transportation to “adopt a suitable design to mark the bridge” with signage.

Sponsored by Rep. Anna Wills (R-Rosemount), the bill now heads to the Senate where Sen. Greg Clausen (DFL-Apple Valley) is the sponsor.

“He had a big heart and he died for our country,” Wills said.

Born Jan. 21, 1947, Groth was baptized at St. John’s and graduated from Rosemount High School in 1965. Groth was active in his church’s youth group, active in FFA and played baseball for the Irish. After high school, he attended the University of Minnesota for a year.

“But it wasn’t really for him,” Wills said. “He wanted to farm.”

Groth’s dream of farming was “short lived,” Wills said. He was drafted into the Army in 1967.

Groth’s older brother approached Wills with the idea, she told the House Veterans Affairs Division in February. Oct. 19 is the 50th anniversary of Groth’s death.