Captain Chris Constantine Vurlumis, U.S. Army. Born October 7, 1938 – Died June 8, 1966 in Kontum Province, South Vietnam of gunshot wounds sustained in battle near Kontum, about 300 miles northwest of Saigon approximately three weeks after leaving the U.S.
Chris Vurlumis graduated from Piedmont High School in 1956. While at PHS he was known for playing the violin and was concertmaster for the Far Western Music Conference, a gathering of high school musicians from across the western states. He graduated from Cal in 1961 with a major in Speech. At Cal, he joined the Reserve Officers Training Corps, and was drum major for both the U.C. and the ROTC bands. He accompanied the U.C. band on tour of the Brussels World’s Fair in 1958. After graduation, Captain Vurlumis entered active Army duty and served a three-year tour of duty in Germany.
Captain Vurlumis had won mention in Army publications as a prime training officer, and Assemblyman Nicholas Petris who knew Capt. Vurlumis from boyhood termed his military career “brilliant.” The normal time for promotion from first lieutenant to captain is five years and Vurlumis made it in 23 months, said Petris. (from the Oakland Tribune).