Born on April 1, 1951, in Washington, D. C., Robert was the son of Marc A. Gosselin and Rose M. Gosselin of Lac Archambault, St-Donat-de-Montcalm, Quebec, Canada. He enlisted in the US Marine Corps on June 26, 1969, in Baltimore, MD, and arrived in Vietnam on December 19, where he was assigned for duty with CAP 2-4-1, CACO 2-4,2d CAG, III MAF.
CAPs (Combined Action Platoon) were units where Marines would live, train, and patrol with local Vietnamese PFs (Popular Forces) in their villages and who were little more than armed civilians. A squad of Marines would be assigned to villages that had a high enemy presence, to instill the fighting spirit in the local PFs so they can protect their families and fellow citizens against their enemy the Viet Cong and NVA.
On May 26, three Marines from CAP 2-4-1 returning to their base from a resupply mission at CACO 2-4 Headquarters in Hieu Nhon District in Quang Nam Province when they saw three VCs in a tree line in the vicinity of the Thanh Taxy village complex. The Marines opened fire at VC just as a commanded detonated an 81mm mortar round exploded that had been rigged as a mine, enemy grenades followed, and automatic weapons were fired from a concealed position ten meters from the men. Before a reaction patrol could arrive, the three Marines had been killed. LCpl Gosselin was one of the casualties; he was killed in action as a result of multi-fragmentation wounds from a hostile explosive device. The other men include James Lloyd Giegel and Robert Eugene Scott.
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