Sergeant Groom was a member of Company C, 185th Engineer Combat Battalion, U.S. Army. On 20 January 1952, he was a member of a construction crew and stepped on a mine in an unmarked minefield near Songjong-Dong, North Korea.

Groom was awarded the Korean Service Medal, the United Nations Service Medal, the National Defense Service Medal, the Korean Presidential Unit Citation and the Republic of Korea War Service Medal.