As the Vietnam War dragged on, Kurt tried twice to enlist. 5th Marines were killed in . Its unlikely that anyone who visits the memorial on a given day would have the time, the heart or the stomach to read and consider each one. They often reveal a typically warm American family atmosphere. Their service began on Independence Day, 1966. An estimated 11,000 women served in Vietnam. To put a circle around the symbol beside their names would not provide the correct historical context related to their situation. Officer casualties in Vietnam, including warrant officers, numbered 7,874, or 13.5 percent of all casualties. . History is a guide to navigation in perilous times. . They lived only a few yards apart. The USO is a not-for-profit organization and not part of the Department of Defense (DoD). On the other end of that phone call was an former Air Force officer who had served in Vietnam. 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. Her name? (The 58,000 Names) Our fallen Vietnam War heroes are herethe 58,000 heroes who died in Vietnam. Indeed, officer casualties of all branches were overwhelmingly white. The affected record collections are described below. Most of the young American enlisted men who served in Vietnam were not college prospects at the time they entered the service. The Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C. has the names listed in chronological order by date of loss. and have two columns per page, rather than only one column. http://www.freetoursbyfoot.com/vietna.. An aunt came and loaded the three boys into the car. 8 Women are on the Wall. The Armed Forces Qualification Test (AFQT) was given to all entering enlisted men. They enjoyed roaring beer busts. I respect the process, but it can be hard to prove something thats in your heart., Thats what makes it so special when you see the name going up, she added. "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. do this, be sure to have an alternate reader assigned to take over in case United States. 39,996 on the Wall were just 22 or younger. Congress. On the stencil printouts, each line contained five names per row. In terms of national origin/ancestries, an extensive sampling of the data-base reveals that Americans of French Canadian, Polish, Italian and other Southern and Eastern European surnames made up about 10 percent of the Vietnam casualties. The Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization. At the time, approximately 1,300 names were designated as servicemen who were either missing or prisoners of war. 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. If a person died or went missing in those areas, DoD considered that individual to be a combat zone casualty and eligible for inclusion on the Wall. Some have tried for years before receiving approval from DoD. ARMY AND MARINE OFFICER CASUALTIES BY RANK AND AGE. The panels are numbered beginning from the center out toward the ends of each wall. Instead its nearly in the center. 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. In civilian life, poor aptitude testing can have a tremendous negative impact, whether for college placement or for simple job advancement. While their names are not on The Wall, they are never forgotten. Be the first to learn about news, service member stories and fundraising updates from USO. Vietnam War Casualties- Main Alphabetical Index www.VirtualWall.org Find A Name Information Memorial pages honoring Vietnam War casualties, listed by their last names. 5 soldiers on the Wall were 16 years old. 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. 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 I mean, it was bad.. 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. It is hard to believe it has been 36 years since the last casualties. I went through the whole list of names eight times, because I was concerned about the correct formatting, remembered Doubek. A doctor arrived and gave his shaken mother a sedative. Vandegeers message also depicted a man who believed the worst was behind him. The Wall is about names. 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. The Buddies of Midvale LeRoy Tafoya, Jimmy Martinez, Tom Gonzales were all boyhood friends and lived on three consecutive streets in Midvale, Utah on Fifth, Sixth and Seventh avenues. Most of these casualties are documented in the Military Index, a FamilySearch file. 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. Postscript: Since 1982, there have been 89 names added to The Wall. EIN: 52-1149668, Copyright 2023 The Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund, Javascript must be enabled for the correct page display. The popularity of the GI Bill after Vietnam emphasized this yearning. It gives the names in alphabetical order and . Our combat arms were thought to be completely classless. Who were they? Locate the line on which the name is inscribed. His name is listed on the Wall with that of his son, Marine Corps Lance Cpl. 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. Therefore, a complete listing of the records that were lost is not available. In 2004, the total is 58,241 names. 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. . The figures show that on average 65 percent of white enlisted men and 60 percent of black enlisted men were high school graduates. 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. Vietnam Veterans Memorial Learn about the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in this brief introductory video. LeRoy was killed on Wednesday, Nov. 22, the fourth anniversary of President John F. Kennedys assassination. The directories are organized alphabetically by last name. Where previously a high school diploma had been an acceptable goal, now it was college and all the benefits it would bring. Subscribe to receive our weekly newsletter with top stories from master historians. Some common names appear on the Memorial more than once. 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. Bennett on March 25, 1968 and Dennis on August 02, 1970 Brothers Gabriel and Paul Trujillo were both killed in Vietnam. Some recent studies tend to refute what had been the perceived wisdom of social scientists and other commentators that our Vietnam dead came overwhelmingly from the poor communities. Its now one of the most popular memorials in Washington. Their sacrifices were honored July 8, 2009, in Washington during a ceremony commemorating the 50th anniversary of their deaths. The Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization. This change prompted the addition of 110 names in 1986. 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 remaining 70 percent of our Vietnam enlisted casualties were of English/Scottish/Welsh, German, Irish and Scandinavian-American ancestries, more from the South and Midwest than the other regions, many from small towns with a family military tradition. 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. Once a master list was compiled, the names were checked manually for errors. 5,058) had ever known and cheered. 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. In an effort to further preserve the legacy of those who sacrificed all in Vietnam, VVMF is committed to finding a photo to go with each of the more than 58,000 names on The Wall. The slabs meet at a vertex of 125 degrees, 10 feet above ground level to form the Wall. Every day, Americas service members selflessly put their lives on the line to keep us safe and free. West Virginia had the highest casualty rate per capita in the nation. 997 soldiers were killed on their first day in Vietnam. It would also enable veterans to find groups of friends who died during the same incident. Those designated by a plus sign were considered to be missing in action when the war ended. Locate the corresponding panel at the Memorial. Look for clues about where he or she lived and served. Since its controversial beginnings, feelings toward the Vietnam Veterans Memorial have changed drastically. Your donation to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund will help expand our mission to honor, educate and heal. Their sons, if not college material, made up a significant part of the volunteers and draftees. The appearance of DoD visual information does not imply or constitute DoD endorsement. Non-Archival records are those of service members who separated from the military less than 62 years ago. Why are names added to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall? He was a Navy enlisted man during World War II and has a degree in Political Science from Duke University. 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. 12 soldiers on the Wall were 17 years old. For blacks, however, only 7 percent placed in categories I and II and 93 percent placed in categories III and IV. Names that become eligible for inclusion are added once each year, in May, a few weeks before Memorial Day. is complete, or you've done a "save as", you can use any word processor to open, search, edit, or print the name files. Only 10 percent of enlisted men had even some college to their credit and only 1 percent were college graduates. The names would become the memorial. Except for the last file, there are approximately 10,000 names per file. This is the most accurate database online. As Maya Ling Lin, the architect of the Wall, has said: It was as if the black-brown earth were polished and made into an interface between the sunny world and the quiet dark world beyond that we cannot enter. They refer to older or younger siblings who are either in or on their way to college. The names are arranged in the order in which they were taken from us by date and within each date the names are alphabetized. The result: no comprehensive master list of Vietnam War casualties existed. 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. 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. A Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) study released in 1992, found that our Vietnam casualties were only marginally greater from the economically lowest 50 percent of our communities (31 deaths per 100,000 of population), when compared with the economically highest 50 percent (26 deaths per 100,000 population). person reads for 20 minutes, (270 names) this will require 216 volunteer name 1st Class Michael J. Carden, "'The Vietnam War' Sponsor Bank of America Teams With The Lumineers to Support the USO ", Programs for Service Members and Their Families. In the event a service members remains are returned or accounted for, then a diamond symbol is engraved over the plus sign. Thats a tragic 2,415 more names on the Vietnam Wall in a single month. Patricia Krause. Order records from the National Personnel Records Center, in St. Louis at the Start your Military Service Record Request page at the National Archives website. The first known casualty was Richard B. Fitzgibbon, of North Weymouth, MA; he was listed by theDepartment of Defense as having been killed on June 8, 1956. Concerning, How do I find a name on the Vietnam War Memorial wall? 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 names of the 2,504 Americans missing in action from the Vietnam War are on the Tablets of the Missing at the ABMC Honolulu Memorial. This was a reflection of the role of warrant officers as helicopter pilots (of the 1,277 warrant officer casualties, 95 percent were Army helicopter pilots), and of the young lieutenants and captains as combat platoon leaders or company commanders. More than 200 names have been added to the Wall There are 58,267 names now listed on Vietnam Wall, including those added in 2010. As she wisely predicted, this would help bring the veterans back in timeand a cathartic healing would occur for many by facing this loss again.. There are 711 West Virginians on the Wall. 1972 NAID 305367, Silver Star Medal and Legion of Merit Award Case Files, 19711971 NAID 5721359. History is who we are and why we are the way we are.. Ziomek's name was finally inscribed on the Washington memorial on Sept. 15, 2020; he was one of just three veterans added in 2020. See Access to Non-Archival Records for more information. This page was last edited on 12 December 2022, at 18:28. Black leaders, including Martin Luther King Jr., protested, and President Johnson ordered black participation in combat units cut back. Download our app to find events, locations and programs near you. Interested in a tour as part of your visit? The Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization. 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. The names of those who gave their lives and of those who remain missing are inscribed in the order they were taken from us. As one stands before the Wall one feels that no other judgment is acceptable to their living memory. For families who have worked to have their loved ones name added, the journey can be long and exhausting. The DOD database shows that of the 2,100,000 men and women who served in Vietnam, 58,152 were killed. Air Force Historical Research Agency 600 Chenault Circle Maxwell AFB, AL 36112-6424Telephone: (334) 953-2395, ArmyU.S. Along with its wave of death, it scarred many people, especially those closest to the men that died fighting the . The DOD database listed precise religious preferences for the 58,152 Vietnam casualties. Others think it is just another tourist stop until they feel the haunting power of this unique work of remembrance. He did it allsing, dance, create music and crack wise. They came largely from California and Texas, with lesser numbers from Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona, Florida, New York and a few from many other states across the country. 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. You could also keep these files on a computer at your The Selective Service System remains in place today. And there would be nothing to denote service or rank. 3rd Battalion. It should be noted, however, that the draft was specifically designed to trigger volunteer enlistments. Learn more about featured topics of the Vietnam War and Vietnam Era. Note that the files are large, and are in Rich Text Format (RTF), with two They played ball at the adjacent sandlot ball field. They drew on every segment of American society. 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. 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. 244 soldiers were awarded the Medal of Honor during the Vietnam War; 153 of them are on the Wall. The article was written by Bill Abbott, an independent researcher and writer. Note the panel and line number for the name listed. A few years after the dedication, the issue of geographic criteria was expanded by DoD to include people who had been killed outside of the war zone while on or in support of direct combat missions. 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. If a service member were to return alive, a circlethe symbol of lifewould be inscribed around the plus sign.