Marie T. Rossi was born on January 3, 1959, in Oradell, New Jersey. She was commissioned a 2d Lt of Air Defense Artillery through the Army ROTC program at Dickinson College in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, on May 18, 1980, and entered active duty on August 27, 1980. Lt Rossi next completed the Air Defense Officer's Basic Course and then the Air Defense Command and Control Course before serving with the 3rd Air Defense Training Battalion at Fort Bliss, Texas, from June 1981 to August 1985. She then entered the Officer Rotary Wing Aviator program at Fort Rucker, Alabama, in April 1985, graduating in January 1986, followed by CH-47 Chinook training and the Aviation Officer Advanced Class. Capt Rossi next served with the 213th Combat Aviation Company in South Korea from April 1986 to December 1987, and then served with the 159th Aviation Battalion at Hunter Army Airfield, Georgia, from December 1987 to April 1989. She then served as commander of 2nd Platoon, Company A, 1/58th Aviation Regiment at Fort Stewart, Georgia, followed by service as commander of Company B of the 159th Aviation Battalion at Hunter Army Airfield and then deployed to Saudi Arabia. During this time she flew numerous missions in support of Operation Desert Shield and Desert Storm from September 1990 until her death in a helicopter crash in Saudi Arabia on March 1, 1991. Maj Marie Rossi-Cayton was buried at Arlington National Cemetery. She married CW3 John A. Cayton, also an Army Aviator, shortly before she deployed to Saudi Arabia in 1990.