The DOD database shows that of the 2,100,000 men and women who served in Vietnam, 58,152 were killed. Why are names added to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall? The job of cross-referencing the information of individual branches with the DoD fell to Doubek. Since the days of Alexander the Great and the Roman Legions, it has always been the young, inexperienced, low-ranking enlisted man who has taken the brunt of combat casualties. peruse. EIN: 52-1149668, Copyright 2023 The Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund, Javascript must be enabled for the correct page display. Each entry includes a panel number and letter; "W" is for "west" or the left half of the memorial, "E" is for east, or the right half of the memorial. The Selective Service registration requirement was later suspended in April 1975. THE NAMES ON THE WALL: AN HISTORICAL JUDGMENT. He was a Navy enlisted man during World War II and has a degree in Political Science from Duke University. Therefore, a complete listing of the records that were lost is not available. 997 soldiers were killed on their first day in Vietnam. 3rd Battalion. History is a guide to navigation in perilous times. Is there a list of names on the vietnam wall? - vietnam - 2023 The result: no comprehensive master list of Vietnam War casualties existed. The slabs meet at a vertex of 125 degrees, 10 feet above ground level to form the Wall. History is who we are and why we are the way we are.. Look for discharge papers, pictures, medals,etc. The officer corps casualties alone would satisfy that judgment, but that is not the same as being representative. Each entry includes a panel number and letter; "W" is for "west" or the left half of the memorial, "E" is for east, or the right half of the memorial. compiled by Military Records and Research Library, Department of Military Affairs; edited by Julia D. Rather and Jeffrey Michael Duff, Research Our Records. Digital History The panels are numbered beginning from the center out toward the ends of each wall. On July 12, 1973, a disastrous fire at the NPRC destroyed approximately 16-18 million Official Military Personnel Files. to open, search, edit, or print the name files. Nor did America recognize, on July 8, 1959the day he was killedthat another long and bloody war lay in wait. . A new Department of Defense (DOD) database computer tape released through the National Archives allows researchers to take a much closer look at our 58,152 Vietnam casualties. But you had stories of guys in the Air Force who would die in their aircraft over Thailand after having been shot over Vietnam. Technically, they were ineligible for inclusion on the Wall. The mission of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund (VVMF) is to honor and preserve the legacy of service and educate all generations about the impact of the Vietnam War. offer to read the block of names that includes their special names. The Vietnam Veterans Memorial is a symbol of American honor and appreciation for the men and women who served and sacrificed their lives during the Vietnam War. I went through the whole list of names eight times, because I was concerned about the correct formatting, remembered Doubek. The Classification History (SSS Form 102) may contain: name; date of birth; classification and date of mailing notice; date of appeal to the board; date and results of armed forces physical examination; entry into active duty or civilian work in lieu of induction (may include date, branch of service entered and mode of entry, such as enlisted or ordered); date of separation from active duty or civilian work; and general remarks. Only 5 to 10 percent of enlisted men in the combat units were estimated to have had some college, and less than 1 percent of these enlisted men were college graduates. Few areas of the world have been as hotly contested as the India-Pakistan border. | Interesting Veterans Statistics Of The Vietnam Memorial Wall There are 58,267 names now listed on that polished black wall, including those added in 2010. The Vietnam War was no different. Note the panel and line number for the name listed. One soldier, PFC Dan Bullock was 15 years old. The Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization. He tried to make the best call he could when adding names to the list. And they are so respectful when they do the engraving. 12 soldiers on the Wall were 17 years old. HistoryNet.com is brought to you by HistoryNet LLC, the worlds largest publisher of history magazines. All were nurses, all were single and all but one were in their 20s. It gives the names in alphabetical order and . Vietnam War Casualties- Main Alphabetical Index - Virtual Wall These casualties came largely from the Northeast and North Central regions of the United States, many from the traditionally patriotic, Catholic working class neighborhoods. Despite their inexperience, they were thought to accept discipline readily. The event begins on November 7, 2022 at 3 p.m. EST and ends at midnight on November 10, 2022. Ziomek's name was finally inscribed on the Washington memorial on Sept. 15, 2020; he was one of just three veterans added in 2020. The directories are organized alphabetically by last name. One additional factor, often overlooked, that influenced volunteer enlistment was military tradition the influence of fathers, grandfathers, brothers, uncles and others who had served in previous 20th century wars. The Marine Corps lost 14,836, or 5 percent of its own men. ".for those who have died." Interested in a tour as part of your visit? They refer to older or younger siblings who are either in or on their way to college. As a region, the South experienced the greatest numbers of dead, nearly 34 percent of the total, or 31.0 deaths per 100,000 of population. Protestants were 64.4 percent (37,483), Catholics were 28.9 percent (16,806). Frequently Asked Questions - Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund 1970 NAID 570973, State-Level Fatal Casualty Lists sorted Alphabetically by Last Name, List of United States servicemembers and civilians missing in action during the Vietnam War (196165) Wikipedia, U.S., Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency, Unaccounted-for Remains, Group A (Recoverable), 1941-1975, U.S., Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency, Unaccounted-for Remains, Group B (Unrecoverable), 1941-1975, Vietnamw-Era POW/MIA Databases & Documents. Whether they produced battlefield images of the dead or daguerreotype portraits of common soldiers, []. This video can help you find the name of someone you'd like to honor. Lins vision prevailed. A more precise equation would be that the college bound stayed home while the non-college bound served and died. and have two columns per page, rather than only one column. The National Archives has an online searchable database, entitled "Records on Military Personnel Who Died, Were Missing in Action or Prisoners of War as a Result of the Vietnam War," documenting the period 6/8/1956 - 1/21/1998. Several hundred such designation changes have been made since the Wall was built in 1982. An Air Force member, with his back to the camera, holds the POW/MIA flag during a full honors funeral for Air Force Second Lieutenant Richard Vandegeer at Arlington National Cemetery on October 27, 2000. In some instances, names needed to be shuffled in order to fit on a line. Of the 7,262 blacks who died, 6,955, or 96 percent, were Army and Marine enlisted men. On Patrol caught up with Pete Peterson to find out how the U.S.-Vietnam relationship has progressed since the normalization of ties in 1995. The vast majority of Americans who were eligible by age but did not serve in the armed forces were exempted by reason of physical, mental, psychiatric, or moral failure; or they were given status deferments because they were college students, fathers, clergy, teachers, engineers or conscientious objectors. A relatively small number refused to register for the draft at all. The names of Army Master Sergeant Chester Ovnand and Major Dale Buis are inscribed on Panel 1E of the Vietnam War Memorial Wall. As they came through the door, Viet Cong guerrillas opened fire with machine guns. Alphabetical List Of Vietnam Veterans : Top Picked from our Experts Scholars debate about when the war really began and in many ways it has never ended. The First and the Last Names on The Wall - United Service Organizations The feeling is that the poor, the undereducated and the minorities made up the vast majority of the combat arms during that war. During the Vietnam War, the Navy and Air Force became substantially white enclaves enlisted and officer casualties were 96 percent white. The young enlisted volunteer or draftee had not had much time to form any complicated theories about our Vietnam commitment. This index includes those who died or who were declared dead from 1950 to 1957 in Korea and from 1957 to 1975 in Southeast Asia. The article was originally published in the June 1993 issue of Vietnam Magazine and updated in November 2004. as the names on the Wall. Learn more about featured topics of the Vietnam War and Vietnam Era. Full casualty records may be retrieved online through the National Archives' Access to Archival Databases resource. ARMY AND MARINE OFFICER CASUALTIES BY RANK AND AGE. There are officially 58,228 names on the Wall, but the database these files were derived . He accepted the tradition of military service passed on to him by the popular culture and by President John F. Kennedys ringing words, Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe, to assure the survival and success of liberty. Though 13 were rescued at sea, the rest died, either upon impact or soon after. NAVY AND AIR FORCE OFFICER CASUALTIES BY RANK AND AGE. The widely held notion that the poor served and died in Vietnam while the rich stayed home is way off the mark. Names can also be located on The Wall of Faces on VVMFs web site, www.vvmf.org/wall-of-faces, Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund | 3033 Wilson Blvd, Suite 300 | Arlington VA 22201 | 202.393.0090 Her name? Little about it is concrete. Some have tried for years before receiving approval from DoD. This uneven impact was caused by a number of factors: (1) While the South was home to some 53 percent of all blacks in the 1970 census, almost 60 percent of black casualties came from the South; (2) Although we cannot be as precise, we do know that a considerable majority of Hispanic-American casualties came from the West, (California, New Mexico, Arizona, Colorado) and the South (Texas); (3) Better employment opportunities in the Northeast reduced the number of volunteers; (4) Greater college matriculation in the Northeast increased the number of status deferments for the regions 17- to 24- year olds; (5) More anti-war sentiment in the media and on college campuses in the Northeast. During one review, Doubek found a glitch with the computer software: it did not recognize the spaces that appeared within a last name, such as van der Meide. Nor could it properly discern a compounded first name, such as Billy Bob, versus a traditional first and middle name. November 11, 1982. An estimated 11,000 women served in Vietnam. Your donation to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund will help expand our mission to honor, educate and heal. Of the 7,877 officer casualties, 7,595, or 96.4 percent, were white; 147, or 1.8 percent, were black; 24, or 0.3 percent, were Asian; 7, or .08 percent, were Native American; 104, or 1.3 percent, were unidentified by race. And they often show a heartbreakingly wry sense of humor with the same sensibilities as their college-bound peers. As we have pointed out earlier, more than 80 percent of our casualties were Army and Marine enlisted men with an average age of 19- to 20-years. They went for a ride and she gently told them that their father would not be coming home. Naval Academy, 130; Texas A & M, 112; The Citadel, 66; Virginia Military Institute, 43; Virginia Polytechnic Institute, 26; Norwich University, 19. During and after the Vietnam War, the Department of Defense (DoD) compiled a list of combat zone casualties according to criteria in a 1965 Presidential Executive Order. All other individual draftee files from that period were destroyed by the Selective Service System in 1978, in accordance with approved records retention schedules. information is available on this web site: These files are lists of the names on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, listed They seem honored to be putting the names on the Wall.. The training for American officers is thought by most foreign military authorities to be the best in the world. On that panel, above the names is this inscription: In honor of the men and women of the armed forces of the United States who served in the Vietnam War. No other moniker for Sammy Davis Jr. was more accurate. They enjoyed roaring beer busts. The 58,152 names of those who died in Vietnam are etched onto the two rising black marble slabs of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C. However, if officer casualties are added to the total, then this overrepresentation is reduced to 12.5 percent of all casualties. These young men were trained quickly and shipped to Vietnam quickly. The ceremony is held on Mothers Day and the additions might be as simple as rectifying a clerical error or as heartbreaking as a veteran dying, all these years later, from a wound suffered during the war. Others, later in the war, were simply ineligible because of high lottery number. National Mall and Memorial Parks , Vietnam Veterans Memorial, Download the official NPS app before your next visit. The DOD database listed precise religious preferences for the 58,152 Vietnam casualties. Buis was in Vietnam by his own volition. United States. Another challenge was ensuring the accuracy of the names. Only 10 percent of enlisted men had even some college to their credit and only 1 percent were college graduates. You could also keep these files on a computer at your And, as in every American war, it is the very young who are the most willing to volunteer. The Wall of Faces allows family and friends to share memories, post pictures and connect with each other. Vietnam War Casualties- Main Alphabetical Index www.VirtualWall.org Find A Name Information Memorial pages honoring Vietnam War casualties, listed by their last names. Count down from the top of the panel. The National Archives prepared these state level casualty lists by creating extracts from the Korean War Extract Data File and the Vietnam Conflict Extract Data File, both as of April 29, 2008, of the Defense Casualty Analysis System (DCAS) Files, part of Record Group 330: Records of the Office of the Secretary of Defense. Gather facts from sources at home,and talk to relatives. Beginning at the apex on panel 1E and going out to the end of the East wall, appearing to recede into the earth (numbered 70E May 25, 1968), then resuming at the end of the West wall, as the wall emerges from the earth (numbered 70W continuing May 25, 1968) and ending with a date in 1975. It specified the geographic areas of Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia and surrounding coastal areas as combat zones. This is close to, but not exactly in the same order Family members are invited to witness the inscription and also to attend the annual Memorial Day ceremony when the new names are read at the Wall. There are 58,267 names now listed on Vietnam Wall, including those added in 2010. Chiseled on the wall are the names of the 58,196 men and women who either died or are still listed as missing in Southeast Asia between 1959 and 1975. . The Vietnam Veterans Memorial stands as a symbol of America's honor and recognition of the men and women who served and sacrificed their lives in the Vietnam War. Only the Navy, with 50 percent of its enlisted casualties over 21, and the Air Force, with 75 percent over 21, showed an older, more experienced age demographic. The Vietnam Veterans Memorial was dedicated on November 10, 1982, with 57,939 names. Together, we can make sure our heroes will get the reverence they deserve and the stories and sacrifices of our heroes will never be forgotten. This can help veterans or relatives find other persons who died with The beginnings and endings are often hazy and the facts of the story lie at the mercy of the teller. These files are lists of the names on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, listed in chronological order of the casualty date and then alphabetical by last name within a given date. The combination of the selective service policies with the skills and aptitude testing of both volunteers and draftees (in which blacks scored noticeably lower) conspired to assign blacks in greater numbers to the combat units of the Army and Marine Corps. Congress. Dear Mr. Huddleston, Thank you for posting your request on History Hub! As we search for proper bookends to encapsulate the story of a generation at war, perhaps the best we can do is look at what is written in stone. The names are listed chronologically by date of death, the first to last. Colleen Pontes, whose father Kevin Joyce was added in 2003, remembered the rush of emotions she felt as she and her brother watched their dads name being inscribed in the granite. THE WALL OF FACES - Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund Millions more come to experience this Memorial each year. The names of those who gave their lives and of those who remain missing are inscribed in the order they were taken from us. . The numbers on the wall ascend from the center out toward the left and right extremes. The west wall is on the left when standing facing the vertex, and the east wall is to the right. Locate the corresponding panel at the Memorial. True enough, but many of the surviving Vietnam casualty families would reply that the ultimate unfairness is death at an early age, in a land far from home, for reasons not clearly defined. For men who registered for the draft prior to 1976, the only Selective Service System information available is that of the individual Draft Registration Card (SSS Form 1) and Classification History (SSS Form 102) records. It called for the registration of all 18 to 26-year old males, with induction to take place at 18 1/2 if so ordered by the local draft board. What the MIT study almost certainly showed was that members of the so-called working class consisting of carpenters, electricians, plumbers, firemen, policemen, technicians, skilled factory operatives, farmers, etc., were living in middle class communities and were, therefore, part of our burgeoning middle class. We were being fired upon by anti-aircraft guns. Message & data rates may apply. The names are inscribed in the chronological order of their dates of casualty, showing the war as a series of individual human sacrifices and giving each name a special place in history. The Reading of the Names - Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund https://www.historynet.com/names-on-the-wall-a-closer-look-at-those-who-died-in-vietnam/, Jerrie Mock: Record-Breaking American Female Pilot, When 21 Sikh Soldiers Fought the Odds Against 10,000 Pashtun Warriors, Few Red Tails Remain: Tuskegee Airman Dies at 96. Officer casualties in Vietnam, including warrant officers, numbered 7,874, or 13.5 percent of all casualties. A(1780 names - 239023 bytes) B(5502 names - 737972 bytes) C(4363 names - 586584 bytes) D(2790 names - 374290 bytes) E(1082 names - 144866 bytes) F(1979 names - 265759 bytes) G(3036 names - 407075 bytes) H(4463 names - 598834 bytes) I(218 names - 29278 bytes) J(1845 names - 247563 bytes) K(2039 names - 273818 bytes) L(2594 names - 347007 bytes) Database of the 58,195 Names on The Wall in Wash,D.C. Wall Information - The Wall USA Each name is listed with great honor and respect. Individual Award Case Files, 1969 - 1970. Thus, the wars beginning and end meet. It forces us to the conclusion that many of those names on the wall were kids who just couldnt quite get it together in high school, a little late in maturing intellectually, and didnt have the resources or the guile to get out of the way when the war came. Doubek was tasked with identifying all of the names to be included on the Wall. Please be patient In the military it can be somewhat more deadly. It is hard to believe it has been 36 years since the last casualties. Many high-ranking military men (including General William C. Westmoreland, the U.S. commander in Vietnam) opposed the program, feeling that the effectiveness of some units would be reduced and that fellow soldiers would sometimes be put in greater jeopardy by these less mentally capable personnel. Often that advice, especially for professional athletes, rock stars, sons of politicians and other celebrities, was to join the never-to-be-called-up reserves or National Guard. The Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall USA website is dedicated to honoring those who died in the Vietnam War. As Vandegeer piloted his CH-53 helicopter toward the island, a wall of anti-aircraft fire knocked it from the sky, and it crashed toward the water with 26 men aboard. How many Smiths can there possibly be who died in Vietnam? Though the memorial continues to grow and evolve, the last name on the wall still belongs to Air Force Second Lieutenant Richard Vandegeer, a pilot who died after his helicopter crashed on May 15, 1975, during the wars final combat action. Vietnam War Casualties, MIA and POWs. Look at the bottom of each panel on the wall for its number. The casual visitor might not immediately recognize that Buis name is the first. Since then, 379 names have been added, for a total of 58,318 (as of Memorial Day 2017). But after World War II a kind of educational apartheid had settled over the United States. It ripped men from their loved ones, family, friends, and it left a wave of death in its path. The appearance of DoD visual information does not imply or constitute DoD endorsement. site, for searching with a word processor. Richard B. Fitzgibbon III, who was killed on Sept. 7, 1965. Honoring the men and women who served in the controversial Vietnam War, the Vietnam Veterans Memorial chronologically lists the names of 58,318 Americans who gave their lives in service to their country. An aunt came and loaded the three boys into the car. Unfortunately, the Department of Defense and the individual service branches maintained separate casualty lists with slightly differing criteria. The 58,152 names of those who died in Vietnam are etched onto the two rising black marble slabs of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C. They were struggling through or dropping out of high school, or if a high school graduate, had tested poorly for college entrance. I could tell you about how real the fear was that I felt, since from the time we crossed the Delta and made the run into Saigon, we were over enemy territory. The slabs meet at a vertex of 125 degrees, 10 feet above ground level to form the Wall. The article was written by Bill Abbott, an independent researcher and writer. Where previously a high school diploma had been an acceptable goal, now it was college and all the benefits it would bring. It should be noted, however, that the draft was specifically designed to trigger volunteer enlistments. I looked at the record to determine whether mortal wounds were sustained, Doubek said of the men whose names were listed by the Army, but not by DoD. The vision of VVMF is to ensure a society in which all who have served and sacrificed in our nation's Armed Forces are properly honored and receive the recognition they justly deserve. U.S. Army Personnel and Dependent Casualties, 1961-1981 85% of the records in this database are related to the Vietnam Conflict. Beside each name is a symbol that denotes a service members status: either missing or confirmed dead. "The Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund's registry enables veterans across the world to be able to locate fellow Vietnam Veterans and of course, connect their stories with those who made the ultimate sacrifice. Those designated by a plus sign were considered to be missing in action when the war ended. As of 2017, there are 58,318 names inscribed on The Wall. In 1964 an Ohio woman took up the challenge that had led to Amelia Earharts disappearance. Frequently Asked Questions - Vietnam Veterans Memorial (U.S. National but will allow you to download it after you specify a file name. It is more notable, perhaps, only because his was the first name engraved into The Wall. Although the names are not listed alphabetically, it is not difficult for visitors to find a name on the Memorial. Note that the files are large, and are in Rich Text Format (RTF), with two The most casualty deaths for a single day was on January 31, 1968 245 deaths. Patricia Krause. Bennett on March 25, 1968 and Dennis on August 02, 1970 Brothers Gabriel and Paul Trujillo were both killed in Vietnam. Though blessed with talent, his life wasnt without struggles. The panel numbers are inscribed at the bottom of each panel. Additionally, many of the names on the wall were other teenagers from the suburban white collar communities with siblings who were in, or would go on to college, but who, as individuals themselves, were slow to mature, struggled through high school and were therefore very available for the Vietnam War. This takes about 72 hours. However, there have been no such cases.

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