Although the names are not listed alphabetically, it is not difficult for visitors to find a name on the Memorial. Concerning, How do I find a name on the Vietnam War Memorial wall? Despite their inexperience, they were thought to accept discipline readily. The memorial is free and open to the public 24 hours a day, with rangers on duty to answer questions from 9:30 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily. 1972 NAID 305367, Silver Star Medal and Legion of Merit Award Case Files, 19711971 NAID 5721359. Locate the line on which the name is inscribed. And in the patriotic camaraderie typical of Morencis mining families, the nine graduates of Morenci High enlisted as a group in the Marine Corps. They also died quickly, many within a few weeks or months of arriving in Vietnam. It is forgotten now, but in the beginning Congress and most of the American people were behind our containment effort in Vietnam. The lists are based on the "home of record - state" data provided by the serviceman or woman upon last entrance into military service. For those and a handful of other unique circumstances, Doubek made his own list of men who had died due to the injuries in the combat zonesnames that may have been listed by an individual service branch, but not by DoD. The Marine Corps losses were skewed even more to the lower ranks, 91 percent were privates or corporals. In many of these families it was considered unpatriotic and indeed reprehensible to avoid active duty by requesting a status deferment or seeking out a draft counselor for advice on how to avoid the draft. 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. Proving a direct correlation to the injuries is a challenge, Pontes explained. I mean, it was bad.. It ripped men from their loved ones, family, friends, and it left a wave of death in its path. If each 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 1970 census which is being used as our Vietnam era population base did not list an Hispanic count but gave an estimate of 4.5 percent of the American population. 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. How many names are on the wall? His name is listed on the Wall with that of his son, Marine Corps Lance Cpl. The names are arranged in the order in which they were taken from us by date and within each date the names are alphabetized. Their sacrifices were honored July 8, 2009, in Washington during a ceremony commemorating the 50th anniversary of their deaths. 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. Where previously a high school diploma had been an acceptable goal, now it was college and all the benefits it would bring. COL LEWIS HERBERT ABRAMS SSG SAMUEL ABRAMS Jr PFC TIMOTHY C ABRAMS Jr WO ANDREW JOHN ABRAMSON CPL MIGUEL A ABREU-BATISTA Jr SP4 ANTHONY JOSEPH ABRUZESE PFC ROBERT ALEXANDER ABRUZESE PFC MICHAEL JOHN ABRUZZESA Jr SGT WILLIAM WALLACE ABSHEAR SGT RICHARD FRANKLIN ABSHIRE PFC JAMES ESTUS ABSTON Jr SSG ROBERT JOSEPH ACALOTTO SP5 PEPITO RIVERA ACERET The numbers on the wall ascend from the center out toward the left and right extremes. A relatively small number refused to register for the draft at all. LeRoy was killed on Wednesday, Nov. 22, the fourth anniversary of President John F. Kennedys assassination. 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. The names of those who gave their lives and of those who remain missing are inscribed in the order they were taken from us. For families who have worked to have their loved ones name added, the journey can be long and exhausting. Officers of all services, by tradition largely Protestant, remained so during the Vietnam war, sustaining casualties in comparison with Catholics by a 5 to 2 ratio. Certainly, some who died did come from poor and broken homes in the urban ghettos and barrios, or were from dirt-poor farm homes in the South and Midwest. They went for a ride and she gently told them that their father would not be coming home. In the event a service members remains are returned or accounted for, then a diamond symbol is engraved over the plus sign. Coast Guard casualties are included in the Navy totals. The central idea of the poem is that the Vietnamese War took hundreds of lives away from the United States of America. Protestants were 64.4 percent (37,483), Catholics were 28.9 percent (16,806). NAID 5709942, U.S. Air Force Historical Research Agency, National Archives Command Chronologies:Vietnam War, National Archives Command Chronologies: Vietnam War: Index to Reports, National Archves. The slabs meet at a vertex of 125 degrees, 10 feet above ground level to form the Wall. Kurt became the man of the house, even as a boy. Records of individuals who left service more than 62 years ago are considered Archival Records and become records of the National Archives open to the general public. site, for searching with a word processor. Note that the files are large, and are in Rich Text Format (RTF), with two AGE 17 TO 21 PREFERRED ARMY AND MARINE COMBAT MATERIAL. The casual visitor might not immediately recognize that Buis name is the first. All heroes are listed alphabetically by their last name. It should be emphasized that 55 percent of all Navy and Air Force officer casualties came as a result of reconnaissance and bombing sorties into North Vietnam, Laos, Thailand and Cambodia. With this list in hand, he went to the various locations where individual service records were kept to review files. More than 200 names have been added to the Wall 1,448 soldiers were killed on their last day in Vietnam. During the Vietnam War, the Navy and Air Force became substantially white enclaves enlisted and officer casualties were 96 percent white. Doubek was tasked with identifying all of the names to be included on the Wall. 244 soldiers were awarded the Medal of Honor during the Vietnam War; 153 of them are on the Wall. 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 list of names begins at the vertex of the walls below the date of the first casualty, 1959, and continues to the end of the east wall. The Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization. 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. Unfortunately, he mistakenly added a small number of names of men who were still alive. Thus it is safe to say that Hispanic-Americans were over-represented among Vietnam casualties an estimated 5.5 percent of the dead against 4.5 percent of the 1970 population. Folded American flags were presented to his parents and an Air Force helicopter flew over the ceremony. (Surprisingly, as it turned out, the percentage of Vietnam veterans who applied for the GI Bill was higher than either World War II or Korea. The same profile holds true for the Marine Corps, where 87 percent of all officer casualties (821 of 938) were warrant officers, lieutenants or captains. On the other end of that phone call was an former Air Force officer who had served in Vietnam. http://www.freetoursbyfoot.com/vietna.. Most of these casualties are documented in the Military Index, a FamilySearch file. Vietnam Veterans Memorial Learn about the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in this brief introductory video. The article was written by Bill Abbott, an independent researcher and writer. The Navy fatalities were 2,556 or 2 percent. The black granite walls are engraved with the names of more than 58,000 men and women who laid down their lives or remained missing. An estimated 11,000 women served in Vietnam. Records of U.S. Military Casualties, Missing in Action, and Prisoners of War from the Era of the Vietnam War are available through the National Archives. Some have tried for years before receiving approval from DoD. There are over 58,000 names on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington DC. National Mall and Memorial Parks , Vietnam Veterans Memorial, Download the official NPS app before your next visit. 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. Therefore, a complete listing of the records that were lost is not available. In quieter moments, they rode horses along the Coronado Trail, stalked deer in the Apache National Forest. All would be represented equally, with generals listed alongside infantrymen. The largest age group, 8,283 were just 19 years old. Ziomek's name was finally inscribed on the Washington memorial on Sept. 15, 2020; he was one of just three veterans added in 2020. In addition to WWII Draft Records, the National Personnel Records Center (NPRC) in St. Louis, MO maintains Post-WWII through Vietnam Era Selective Service Records, for all men born before 1960. Its still fought in the bodies and minds of the men who waged it all those decades ago. The article was originally published in the June 1993 issue of Vietnam Magazine and updated in November 2004. Since then, 379 names have been added, for a total of 58,318 (as of Memorial Day 2017). The names of those who gave their lives and of those who remain missing are inscribed in the order they were taken from us. Those who could have qualified for college probably did not have the funds or motivation. 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. HistoryNet.com contains daily features, photo galleries and over 25,000 articles originally published in our nine magazines. Marine Corps History Division2044 Broadway StreetQuantico, Virginia 22134Telephone: (703) 432-4877, Coast GuardU.S. to open, search, edit, or print the name files. If your browser displays the text file, you can then use There are 58,267 names now listed on Vietnam Wall, including those added in 2010. Look for clues about where he or she lived and served. Once a master list was compiled, the names were checked manually for errors. Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund | 3033 Wilson Blvd, Suite 300 | Arlington VA 22201 | 202.393.0090 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 Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization. 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. The popularity of the GI Bill after Vietnam emphasized this yearning. Your donation to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund will help expand our mission to honor, educate and heal. There are three sets of fathers and sons on the Vietnam Wall. There is some truth to this, but it is instructive to look at what the DOD database reveals in terms of race, ethnicity, national origin, religious preference and casualties by U.S. geographic areas. The memorial consists of three separate parts: The Three Soldiers statue, the Vietnam Women's Memorial and the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall, also known as The Wall That Heals, which is the most popular feature. While their names are not on The Wall, they are never forgotten. There are 58,267 names now listed on Vietnam Wall, including those added in 2010. The men and women who valiantly fought in the Vietnam War certainly deserve the title of hero. but will allow you to download it after you specify a file name. If officers are added, then almost 70 percent of those who died were volunteers. Almost 50 percent were majors, lieutenant-colonels, colonels and three were generals. information is available on this web site: These files are lists of the names on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, listed Department of Veterans Affairs BIRLS Death File, 1850-2010: see the "National Cemeteries and Beneficiaries" section below. Getting to Washington, D.C. History is a guide to navigation in perilous times. You may print these files and have the pages available for visitors to He tried to make the best call he could when adding names to the list. See Access to Non-Archival Records for more information. Photo credit DOD photo. 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 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. compiled by Military Records and Research Library, Department of Military Affairs; edited by Julia D. Rather and Jeffrey Michael Duff, Research Our Records. These casualties came largely from the Northeast and North Central regions of the United States, many from the traditionally patriotic, Catholic working class neighborhoods. In 2004, the total is 58,241 names. One soldier, PFC Dan Bullock was 15 years old. Lins intention from the beginning was to have the names appear chronologically, beginning and ending at the apex. They did not, in most cases, carry the burdens of wife or children. There are 711 West Virginians on the Wall. While VVMF finances the name additions to the Wall, it is the Department of Defense that makes these difficult and often technical decisions. Honor Vietnam Veterans you know with a gift from our VVA store, or a custom military embroidered shirt, jacket, or polo so they can proudly demonstrate their service to their grateful nation. Black leaders, including Martin Luther King Jr., protested, and President Johnson ordered black participation in combat units cut back. However, in 1980, President James E. Carter resumed Selective Service registration in response to the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. Buis can be found at the top middle of a slab designated Panel 1E. Fully 50 percent were in the 17- to 24-year age group, and astonishingly, there were 764 Army officer casualties who were 21 or younger. The shining surface is intended to reflect the sun, the ground and those who stand before it. Many others joined the reserves or National Guard, which were not mobilized in any appreciable numbers during the war. 5 soldiers on the Wall were 16 years old. Count down from the top of the panel. Thus, there were 211,455 killed and wounded, or one in every 10 Americans who served in Vietnam. 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. The major service academies and other military colleges provided close to 900 of the Vietnam officer casualties: the U.S. Military Academy, 278; the U.S. Air Force Academy, 205; the U.S. This can be in the form of a book, The Vietnam Veterans Memorial Directory of Names, or one of the various databases. The casualty date is the date the person was killed or wounded in combat or injured during an accident; for the missing, the date is when the person was reported missing. Nursing the wounded. The burden of combat fell on the very available non-college-bound young. The trigger came when the recruiters pointed out that the volunteer could enlist as early as 17 (with parental consent); that he was allowed to select his branch of service; that he would receive specialized training if he qualified; that he could request a specific overseas assignment; and that his three year enlistment followed by three years in the inactive reserves satisfied his military obligation immediately. 997 soldiers were killed on their first day in Vietnam. As the Vietnam War dragged on, Kurt tried twice to enlist. It would also enable veterans to find groups of friends who died during the same incident. Although it is a truism that the young die in war, one is still unprepared for the fact that 40 percent of Marine enlisted casualties in Vietnam were teenagers; that more than 16 percent of Army enlisted casualties were also teenagers; and that nearly a quarter of all enlisted casualties in Vietnam were between the ages of 17- and 19-years old. This number of deaths per 100,000 compared strikingly with the 23.5 in the Northeast region, 29.9 in the West and 28.4 in the North Central (Midwest) region. If a name was particularly long, it would be swapped with a shorter name. The event begins on November 7, 2022 at 3 p.m. EST and ends at midnight on November 10, 2022. West Virginia had the highest casualty rate per capita in the nation. This came at a time when blacks made up 11 percent of the male population nationwide. When the sound of exploding hand grenades rang out in the hall, Buis and others ran toward the sound. Another browser may inform you that it does not know how to display the file The Vietnam Veterans Memorial is open 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, for all who wish to visit. If the veteran is still alive, ask his or her help finding records. Message & data rates may apply. for all 58,228 names to be read aloud. Many of the 17- and 18-year olds were simply late in maturing. while they download, thank you. The Names - Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund The Names When the Wall was dedicated in 1982, there were 57,939 names inscribed. 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. The most casualty deaths for a single day was on January 31, 1968 245 deaths. Vietnam War, Awards and Decorations of Honor, 1965-1972. Jimmy died less than 24 hours later on Thanksgiving Day. 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. The DOD percentages reveal that nearly 75 percent of Army enlisted casualties were privates or corporals. Since its adoption in 1951, at the time of the Korean War, this policy had been renewed by Congress every four years. The first Americans to die did not perish in a foxhole or beneath stars obscured by a jungle canopy. On the Vietnam Veterans Memorial site in Washington, D.C., a special plaque reads: "In Memory of the men and women who served in the Vietnam War and later died as a result of their service. VVMF receives numerous requests each year from individuals who wish to have particular names added to the Memorial. 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. With the end of the Cold War, many now believe that at its outset the Vietnam War was a quite honorable extension of our ultimately successful policy of Communist containment; that our effort in Vietnam became flawed because of political and strategic failures having nothing to do with those who died there; and that these young Americans were asked by three presidents and six Congresses to give up their lives so that freedom would have a better chance in the world. A correspondingly greater tradition of military service in the other regions had its effect on U.S. regional casualties. Others, later in the war, were simply ineligible because of high lottery number. They enjoyed roaring beer busts. Forces in Southeast Asia, 1950 - 1976 NAID 745, RG, 472, Meritorious Unit Commendations, 1967 - 1971 NAID 4726287, Medal of Honor Awards Case Files, 1965 - ca. More names are added to the wall every year. Inscription at the beginning of The Wall. Unfortunately, the Department of Defense and the individual service branches maintained separate casualty lists with slightly differing criteria. 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 most casualty deaths for a single month was May 1968 2,415 casualties were incurred. Little about it is concrete. Only 3 returned home. It is instructive to read the literature of the war, the letters written home from those who died, the novels and narrative accounts of those who served in combat and then returned. No other American war has presented such a young profile in combat. Access to Non-Archival Military Service Records is limited. For more information on this index on, Records relating to American prisoners of war and missing in action from the Vietnam War, including lists and descriptions of the record groups covering the Vietnam War that are held by the National Archives are also found in the FS Library US/CAN Book. For a photograph of an inscription of a close friend or relative, write: This website requires a paid subscription for full access. A more precise equation would be that the college bound stayed home while the non-college bound served and died. Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund | 3033 Wilson Blvd, Suite 300 | Arlington VA 22201 | 202.393.0090 The USO is a not-for-profit organization and not part of the Department of Defense (DoD). Every day at 3:00 p.m. EST, VVMF will play a daily reading of all the individuals who died upon that day in alphabetical order. 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. Vandegeer was on a mission to rescue the crew of the SS Mayaguez, a merchant ship captured three days earlier off the coast of Cambodia by the Khmer Rouge. Though 13 were rescued at sea, the rest died, either upon impact or soon after. Millions more come to experience this Memorial each year. 1970 - ca. On November 7, 2021 VVMF began a daily virtual Reading of the Names. Committee on Veterans' Affairs, Kansas, Sheridan County, Viet Nam records, 1955-1975, Vermont, National Guard, Vietnam war, 1950-1953, University of Utah - American West Center - Saving the Legacy/ Vietnam Veterans, https://www.familysearch.org/en/wiki/index.php?title=United_States_Vietnam_War_1964_to_1972&oldid=5123794, Personnel discharged November 1, 1912 to January 1, 1960, Personnel discharged, September 25, 1947 to January 1, 1964, The Military Index is available at the FamilySearch Library and at most FamilySearch centers. Once download He admitted no particular feelings about the righteousness of the war, and allowed himself to look ahead into a future free of war and obligation. Buis died, as did Army Master Sergeant Chester Ovnand, whose name is second on the wall. Sad to say, many of these recruitment promises were fudged in one way or another, and many of these young men found themselves shipped directly to Vietnam after basic training. On the last day of his life, in the moments before our nations history changed forever, Dale Buis was sitting around a rec center watching a movie called The Tattered Dress, starring Jeff Chandler. 12 soldiers on the Wall were 17 years old. It is not surprising, for instance, that West Virginia, Montana, and Oklahoma had a casualty rate almost twice that of New York, New Jersey and Connecticut. The essence of the Wall is the names and the reaction of the visitor to seeing his or her reflection in this sea of remembrance. . Adding to the problem was Project 100,000. the "save as" menu command to store each text file on your media. On July 12, 1973, a disastrous fire at the NPRC destroyed approximately 16-18 million Official Military Personnel Files. 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. The Navy had a similar profile: 55 percent of its 622 officer casualties were 30 years of age or older, and 45 percent were ranked at lieutenant commander or above when they died. This change prompted the addition of 110 names in 1986. Hed volunteered to join a small U.S. military advisory team attached to the South Vietnamese army, and hed been in the village of Bien Hoa for only two days. Twenty years passed before Vandegeers remains were identified and another five passed before his funeral at Arlington National Cemetery. The feeling is that the poor, the undereducated and the minorities made up the vast majority of the combat arms during that war. Making these arrangements and printing the pages takes considerable There were 667; How many Andersons?, 178; Garcias?, 102; Murphys?, 82; Jenkins?, 66; One wants to know more about these Americans. is complete, or you've done a "save as", you can use any word processor Dates of enlsitment or selective service registration will be helpful along with the name military units they served with. 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. In an audiotape recorded for a close friend shortly before Vandegeers death, and transcribed in Bernard Edelmans book Dear America: Letters Home From Vietnam, he described the perilous mission in Saigon.

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