Age 22. Of Blairstown, IA (lodging at 1737 Cambridge St., Cambridge, MA). Born (as Eugene Leonard Richard Goss) on 11/12/1920, in Blairstown, IA. Died of burns (death certificate). Second Lieutenant, U.S. Army, Signal Corps. Was attending Army Radar School at Harvard University (under the Defense and War Training program of the U.S. Office of Education). "Goss...apparently was on weekend furlough while in Boston" (Mason City Globe-Gazette, Mason City, IA, 11/30/1942). Was present with Harvard military roommates Lieut. John Hey, age 25, dead, and Lieut. John King, age 33, injured, both U.S. Army, both attending radar school. His remains were identified Sunday morning at Massachusetts General Hospital. "Iowa City [IA] police were notified to inform the young officer's parents that his body has been recovered" (The Des Moines Register, Des Moines, IA, 11/30/1942). Was one of the first two victims of 15 connected with Harvard confirmed by the college as dead (also Arthur Silberberg, age 18), including nine other military trainees and five civilian undergrads. His body was brought to Iowa under guard of a fourth radar school roommate, Lieut. Kenneth L. "Klip" Klippel, age 22, of Iowa Falls, IA, who did not attend. Was employed in the electrical engineering department of Iowa Public Service Co. in Waterloo, IA, summer of 1941. Graduated from the engineering college at the University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA, the previous June. Non-existent address shown on the official November 1943 Boston Committee on Public Safety list of casualties ("229B Quadrangle, Harvard University") was actually his former building residence at the University of Iowa. Was single. One of 18 active Army personnel killed (out of a total of 58 U.S. military personnel lost from all branches). Was the lone Grove fire victim from Iowa. Not to be confused with near-namesake Eugene J. Gross, age 41, of Brookline, MA, a victim in actor Charles "Buck" Jones' main dining room rear terrace party. Parents Mr. and Mrs. Ray E. and Marie T. (Kimm) Goss, same residence. His parents were awarded $500 federal military compensation in June 1949 for the death of their son while in active service. Burial at Pleasant Hill Cemetery, Blairstown, IA. Middle name Leonard.

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