alphabetical list of names on the vietnam wall

November 11, 1982. The Selective Service registration requirement was later suspended in April 1975. 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 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. An estimated 11,000 women served in Vietnam. VVMF does not have the authority to overrule those who adjudicate these matters. And there is an end. 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. 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. Kurt Buis was 8 years old the day his father died. Army Major Dale Buis name is etched into the granite half an inch tall, no bigger or smaller than any of the others. Fill out the tour request form. 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 civilian and military men who formed the policy did not see it necessarily as a disadvantage. Vietnam War Casualties- Main Alphabetical Index www.VirtualWall.org Find A Name Information Memorial pages honoring Vietnam War casualties, listed by their last names. And there are the Vietnam veterans, who come to recognize the sacrifice of their fellow warriors, wondering why their own names are not there, too. This came at a time when blacks made up 11 percent of the male population nationwide. 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. . For weeks and weeks, a team worked through the list, verifying spellings and ensuring that the computer printout that was to be used for the stenciling was correct. The most comprehensive and authoritative history site on the Internet. HistoryNet.com contains daily features, photo galleries and over 25,000 articles originally published in our nine magazines. Vietnam War U.S. Military Fatal Casualty Statistics, Korean War and Vietnam War casualties listed at the National Archives, Hospital Admission Card Files, ca. 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. Naval Academy, 130; Texas A & M, 112; The Citadel, 66; Virginia Military Institute, 43; Virginia Polytechnic Institute, 26; Norwich University, 19. 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. The largest age group, 8,283 were just 19 years old. Tom was killed while assaulting the enemy on Dec. 7, Pearl HarborDay. Why are names added to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall? Vietnam War Casualties, MIA and POWs. About 58 thousand of the 7 million American service men and women who served in Vietnam died. The most casualty deaths for a single day was on January 31, 1968 245 deaths. Derek Turner is a freelance writer and a former senior editor of On Patrol. Count down from the top of the panel. Inscription at the beginning of The Wall. for all 58,228 names to be read aloud. "Walking through this park-like area, the memorial appears as a rift in the earth, a long, polished, black stone wall, emerging from and receding into the earth. 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. 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. Early in the war (1965 and 1966) when blacks made up about 11 percent of our Vietnam force, black casualties soared to more than 20 percent of the total. Alphabetical listing of the names on the Vietnam Memorial Wall . It is more notable, perhaps, only because his was the first name engraved into The Wall. There are officially 58,228 names on the Wall, but the database these files were derived . All of this was one of the great and abiding agonies of the Vietnam War, causing repercussions within families and on the national political scene to this day. This memorial was built with private contributions from the American people. 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 widely held notion that the poor served and died in Vietnam while the rich stayed home is way off the mark. 39,996 on the Wall were just 22 or younger. We honor and remember their sacrifice.". 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 slabs meet at a vertex of 125 degrees, 10 feet above ground level to form the Wall. Look for clues about where he or she lived and served. 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. Vietnam Veterans Memorial Learn about the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in this brief introductory video. 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. 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. There are students on field trips, some solemn and curious, but some just happy to get out of class. Others think it is just another tourist stop until they feel the haunting power of this unique work of remembrance. There are the tourists who make the circuit of all the various monuments and landmarks in our nations capital. They were at their peak physically. These were Mexican, Puerto Rican, Cuban and other Latino-Americans with ancestries based in Central and South America. The event begins on November 7, 2022 at 3 p.m. EST and ends at midnight on November 10, 2022. EIN: 52-1149668, Copyright 2023 The Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund, Javascript must be enabled for the correct page display. Less than 1 percent (0.8) were Jewish, Hindu, Thai, Buddhist or Muslim combined, and 5.7 listed no religion. ARMY AND MARINE OFFICER CASUALTIES BY RANK AND AGE. There was no need to embellish. It is located north of the Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. along Constitution Avenue NW between 21st and 23rd streets. The Wall is about names. Your donation to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund will help expand our mission to honor, educate and heal. Postscript: Since 1982, there have been 89 names added to The Wall. He tried to make the best call he could when adding names to the list. Indeed, officer casualties of all branches were overwhelmingly white. And in the patriotic camaraderie typical of Morencis mining families, the nine graduates of Morenci High enlisted as a group in the Marine Corps. At the time, approximately 1,300 names were designated as servicemen who were either missing or prisoners of war. The individual Draft Registration Card (SSS Form 1) may contain information such as: name, Selective Service registration number, age, date and place of birth, ethnicity, place of residence at time of registration and basic physical description. The Vietnam War was no different. Their sons, if not college material, made up a significant part of the volunteers and draftees. Marlin on March 19, 1967 and Norman on August 18, 1968 Brothers Bennett and Dennis Herrick were both killed in Vietnam. This is close to, but not exactly in the same order as the names on the Wall. 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. Beginning Research in United States Military Records, National Vietnam War Veterans Day - Wikepedia, National Park Service Vietnam Veterans Memorial. In quieter moments, they rode horses along the Coronado Trail, stalked deer in the Apache National Forest. You must refer to a database, which gives the names in alphabetical order and includes the position of each on the Memorial. In order to have your name on the Wall, you had to have died within the war zone, explained Doubek. 31 sets of brothers are on the Wall. information is available on this web site: These files are lists of the names on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, listed The index gives birth and death dates, country of death, cause of death (air, ground, or sea), town and state of residence at time of enlistment, race, religious affiliation, marital status, service number, rank, and branch of service. More names are added to the wall every year. Once download 997 soldiers were killed on their first day in Vietnam. During the Vietnam War, the Navy and Air Force became substantially white enclaves enlisted and officer casualties were 96 percent white. In the military it can be somewhat more deadly. Air Force Historical Research Agency 600 Chenault Circle Maxwell AFB, AL 36112-6424Telephone: (334) 953-2395, ArmyU.S. The virtual Wall of Faces features a page dedicated to honoring and remembering every person whose name is inscribed on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C. Some are drawn to the Wall like pilgrims to Mecca. 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 . The west wall is on the left when standing facing the vertex, and the east wall is to the right. The Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall USA website is dedicated to honoring those who died in the Vietnam War. Whether they produced battlefield images of the dead or daguerreotype portraits of common soldiers, []. Most of the young American enlisted men who served in Vietnam were not college prospects at the time they entered the service. 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. Scholars debate about when the war really began and in many ways it has never ended. 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. And they all went to Vietnam. A diamond symbol signifies that the service members death was confirmed. A more precise equation would be that the college bound stayed home while the non-college bound served and died. While I was in training, my motivation was to get these wings and I wear them today proudly, the airman recalled in 2015. Its still fought in the bodies and minds of the men who waged it all those decades ago. The men and women who valiantly fought in the Vietnam War certainly deserve the title of hero. On November 7, 2021 VVMF began a daily virtual Reading of the Names. The figures show that on average 65 percent of white enlisted men and 60 percent of black enlisted men were high school graduates. A correspondingly greater tradition of military service in the other regions had its effect on U.S. regional casualties. Doubek was tasked with identifying all of the names to be included on the Wall. If a name was particularly long, it would be swapped with a shorter name. The shining surface is intended to reflect the sun, the ground and those who stand before it. The DOD database listed precise religious preferences for the 58,152 Vietnam casualties. As one walks the Wall slowly, examining the ineffably American names, one is struck by the same recurring surnames. ), EDUCATIONAL LEVELS OF ENLISTED CASUALTIES. Instead its nearly in the center. Many others joined the reserves or National Guard, which were not mobilized in any appreciable numbers during the war. If officers are added, then almost 70 percent of those who died were volunteers. The names are listed chronologically by date of death, the first to last. This, they felt, would offer these men the opportunity to get remedial training in the service and then be able to compete successfully when they returned to civilian life. When the sound of exploding hand grenades rang out in the hall, Buis and others ran toward the sound. Your donation to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund will help expand our mission to honor, educate and heal. Copies of WWII though Vietnam era (men born April 28, 1877 to March 28, 1957) Selective Service Records may be obtained from the National Personnel Records Center, in St. Louis, for a fee. 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. 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. The article was written by Bill Abbott, an independent researcher and writer. Kurt became the man of the house, even as a boy. as the names on the Wall. Gather facts from sources at home,and talk to relatives. In honor of the men and women of the Armed Forces of the United States who served in the Vietnam War. 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. This makeup, they say, was the very antithesis of what we stand for as a democracy a shameful corruption of our values and our historical sense of fairness and social justice. The VC had commandeered Air America Hueys, and they were flying them around, which simply made for a very interesting chess game. Individual Award Case Files, 1969 - 1970. As the Vietnam War dragged on, Kurt tried twice to enlist. 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. By his estimate, he helped pull out close to 2,000 people. Army Major Dale Buis' name is etched into the granite half an inch tall, no bigger or smaller than any of the others. 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. The officer corps casualties alone would satisfy that judgment, but that is not the same as being representative. But in 1966, President Johnson and Secretary of Defense McNamara decided to institute Project 100,000 that would allow category IV men to enter the military. This takes about 72 hours. 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 appearance of DoD visual information does not imply or constitute DoD endorsement. The USO is a not-for-profit organization and not part of the Department of Defense (DoD). History is a guide to navigation in perilous times. 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. Names that become eligible for inclusion are added once each year, in May, a few weeks before Memorial Day. It gives the names in alphabetical order and . 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. They lived only a few yards apart. The first two names listed on Panel 1, East Wall, at the apex are from July 8, 1959. 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. While VVMF finances the name additions to the Wall, it is the Department of Defense that makes these difficult and often technical decisions. But after World War II a kind of educational apartheid had settled over the United States. 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. The very young were considered by many to be preferred combat material. The Vietnam War is no different. The Order of Precedence For Military Ribbon Wear, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pubH-5CulqI, Military Funeral Guide for Families & Funeral Homes, The Ultimate Military Gift Guide for Unique Military Gifts, Black Military History and Black Medal of Honor Recipients. 3rd Battalion. The Armed Forces Qualification Test (AFQT) was given to all entering enlisted men. In addition, millions of documents had been lent to the Department of Veterans Affairs before the fire occurred. All other individual draftee files from that period were destroyed by the Selective Service System in 1978, in accordance with approved records retention schedules. Richard B. Fitzgibbon III, who was killed on Sept. 7, 1965. Photo credit DOD photo by Army Sgt. 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. prepared by Frances A. Hortsch for the Phoenix Genealogical Society. There were no indexes created prior to the fire. Their names, however, have been removed from the printed Directory of Names. 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 information regarding official military unit histories, contact: Air ForceU.S. 8 Women are on the Wall. 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. LeRoy was killed on Wednesday, Nov. 22, the fourth anniversary of President John F. Kennedys assassination. Twenty years passed before Vandegeers remains were identified and another five passed before his funeral at Arlington National Cemetery. United States. The affected record collections are described below. One soldier, PFC Dan Bullock was 15 years old. 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. On the stencil printouts, each line contained five names per row. The Wall of Faces allows family and friends to share memories, post pictures and connect with each other. The young enlisted volunteer or draftee had not had much time to form any complicated theories about our Vietnam commitment. Please say a prayer for our fallen heroes, their family members, and our hero Vietnam War Veterans during your visit. They refer to older or younger siblings who are either in or on their way to college. The most casualty deaths for a single month was May 1968 2,415 casualties were incurred. There is no question that all segments of American society were represented. The Navy fatalities were 2,556 or 2 percent. Unfortunately, the Department of Defense and the individual service branches maintained separate casualty lists with slightly differing criteria. He would become instrumental in helping Doubek identify names and check spellings. Army and Marine officer casualties were also quite young. 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. Except for the last file, there are approximately 10,000 names per file. NAVY AND AIR FORCE OFFICER CASUALTIES BY RANK AND AGE. Only 3 returned home. The article was originally published in the June 1993 issue of Vietnam Magazine and updated in November 2004. Our combat arms were thought to be completely classless. 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. 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 heroes are listed alphabetically by their last name. In a massive sampling of the database, it was established that between 5 and 6 percent of Vietnam dead had identifiable Hispanic surnames. The names are arranged in the order in which they were taken from us by date and within each date the names are alphabetized. Thus we can see that the channeling philosophy continued within the armed forces. Written requests should be mailed to: National Personnel Records Center, 9700 Page Ave., St. Louis, MO 63132-5100. 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. The first group, added in 1983, included 53 Marines who were killed when their R&R (rest and relaxation) flight crashed in Hong Kong. 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. I.. J.. K.. L.. M. N.. O.. P.. Q.. R.. S.. T.. U.. V.. W.. X.. Y.. Z It ripped men from their loved ones, family, friends, and it left a wave of death in its path. compiled by Military Records and Research Library, Department of Military Affairs; edited by Julia D. Rather and Jeffrey Michael Duff, Research Our Records. The resulting aptitude scores were used to classify entrants into four categories and this would, for the most part, determine their subsequent assignments. The Vietnam Veterans Memorial was dedicated on November 10, 1982, with 57,939 names. Some have tried for years before receiving approval from DoD. They were struggling through or dropping out of high school, or if a high school graduate, had tested poorly for college entrance. Once additions are approved by DoD, VVMF receives the list of approved names, coordinates the inscribing and absorbs the costs. If you AGE 17 TO 21 PREFERRED ARMY AND MARINE COMBAT MATERIAL. 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 "save as" menu command to store each text file on your media. 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. 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. Coast Guard Historians OfficeCommandant (CG-09224)U.S. Coast Guard Headquarters 2100 Second Street SW Washington, D.C. 20593. 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. Of the 8000 Coast guardsmen who served in Vietnam, 3 officers and 4 enlisted men were killed and 59 were wounded. 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. 54 soldiers on the Wall attended Thomas Edison High School in Philadelphia. 5 soldiers on the Wall were 16 years old. His name is listed on the Wall with that of his son, Marine Corps Lance Cpl. It would also enable veterans to find groups of friends who died during the same incident. Frequently relatives or buddies of casualties Thus, the wars beginning and end meet. Many of the 17- and 18-year olds were simply late in maturing. 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. Dates of enlsitment or selective service registration will be helpful along with the name military units they served with. Almost 50 percent were majors, lieutenant-colonels, colonels and three were generals. The names are arranged in the order in which they were taken from us by date and within each date the names are alphabetized. They drew on every segment of American society. 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. Compounding these difficulties was the issue that many casualties, particularly from the Air Force, were not always straightforward in terms of locale. These casualties came largely from the Northeast and North Central regions of the United States, many from the traditionally patriotic, Catholic working class neighborhoods. Since its controversial beginnings, feelings toward the Vietnam Veterans Memorial have changed drastically. And mores the pity, because many of them were trying to escape this background and didnt make it. But given the draft policies, the hard-sell recruitment, the severe escalation from month to month and the refusal by President Lyndon Johnson to call up the older reserves and National Guard, it could not have been otherwise. I went through the whole list of names eight times, because I was concerned about the correct formatting, remembered Doubek. She wanted the names to tell the journey, or the timeline, of the war. Interested in a tour as part of your visit? With few exceptions, almost all of the 6,600 commissioned officers who died in Vietnam were graduates of the service academies, college Reserve Officers Training Corps (ROTC), or the Officer Candidate School (OCS) programs. Several hundred such designation changes have been made since the Wall was built in 1982. 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. The Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization. The Army refused him, for medical reasons, both times. The casual visitor might not immediately recognize that Buis name is the first. Your donation to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund will help expand our mission to honor, educate and heal. No duplicate copies of the records that were destroyed in the fire were maintained, nor was a microfilm copy ever produced. 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. 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. Nor did America recognize, on July 8, 1959the day he was killedthat another long and bloody war lay in wait. 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. 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.

Julie King Benefits Britain, Walgreens Employees At Home Login, 10 Facts About Danny Elfman, Soulcker Mp3 Player How To Add Music, St Thomas Midtown Postpartum Rooms, Articles A