No duplicate copies of the records that were destroyed in the fire were maintained, nor was a microfilm copy ever produced. As one stands before the Wall one feels that no other judgment is acceptable to their living memory. This memorial was built with private contributions from the American people. Those designated by a plus sign were considered to be missing in action when the war ended. that each name was a real person. If the two branches are combined, then 80 percent of the Army and Marine enlisted casualties were privates or corporals, grades E-1 to E-4. Non-perishable items are archived in a storage facility. 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. Order it can be difficult but there are a few ways to find a name at either end of the memorial are stands with books inside these list the names in alphabetical. Some are drawn to the Wall like pilgrims to Mecca. Army and Marine officer casualties were also quite young. 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. 8 Women are on the Wall. 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. . This takes about 72 hours. 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. Others think it is just another tourist stop until they feel the haunting power of this unique work of remembrance. Unfortunately, the Department of Defense and the individual service branches maintained separate casualty lists with slightly differing criteria. The popularity of the GI Bill after Vietnam emphasized this yearning. Patricia Krause. 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. 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. Department of Veterans Affairs BIRLS Death File, 1850-2010: see the "National Cemeteries and Beneficiaries" section below. In quieter moments, they rode horses along the Coronado Trail, stalked deer in the Apache National Forest. As a result, the software improperly truncated or abbreviated names. Look at the bottom of each panel on the wall for its number. 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. But after World War II a kind of educational apartheid had settled over the United States. THE NAMES ON THE WALL: AN HISTORICAL JUDGMENT. 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. . You may print these files and have the pages available for visitors to Items are gathered by park staff. the "save as" menu command to store each text file on your media. If a service member were to return alive, a circlethe symbol of lifewould be inscribed around the plus sign. Click to learn about the In Memory program . Congress. 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 west wall is on the left when standing facing the vertex, and the east wall is to the right. Therefore, a complete listing of the records that were lost is not available. site, for searching with a word processor. 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. They played ball at the adjacent sandlot ball field. It would also enable veterans to find groups of friends who died during the same incident. The casual visitor might not immediately recognize that Buis name is the first. Naval Academy, 130; Texas A & M, 112; The Citadel, 66; Virginia Military Institute, 43; Virginia Polytechnic Institute, 26; Norwich University, 19. As they came through the door, Viet Cong guerrillas opened fire with machine guns. At some The Moving Wall sites, the sponsor makes arrangements The numbers on the wall ascend from the center out toward the left and right extremes. It may come as a surprise to some that 63.3 percent of all Vietnam enlisted casualties were not draftees but volunteers. 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. 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. Little about it is concrete. Only 3 returned home. 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. ".for those who have died." The Air Force lost 2,580 or l percent. Thus, there were 211,455 killed and wounded, or one in every 10 Americans who served in Vietnam. The names are listed in chronological order, according to the date of casualty. For blacks, however, only 7 percent placed in categories I and II and 93 percent placed in categories III and IV. Thirty one sets of parents lost two of their sons. She wanted the names to tell the journey, or the timeline, of the war. 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 black granite walls are engraved with the names of more than 58,000 men and women who laid down their lives or remained missing. With this list in hand, he went to the various locations where individual service records were kept to review files. but will allow you to download it after you specify a file name. person reads for 20 minutes, (270 names) this will require 216 volunteer name Their sacrifices were honored July 8, 2009, in Washington during a ceremony commemorating the 50th anniversary of their deaths. There are students on field trips, some solemn and curious, but some just happy to get out of class. This amounted to 4.1 percent of all enlisted casualties in Vietnam. The DOD database provides no civilian or military educational levels for the Vietnam casualties specifically, but it does give us general levels for all enlisted men across all the services during the Vietnam era. 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. It stands near Panel 1W, which holds the name of the last to die in combat. United States. More than 200 names have been added to the Wall At the time, approximately 1,300 names were designated as servicemen who were either missing or prisoners of war. Army Major Dale Buis name is etched into the granite half an inch tall, no bigger or smaller than any of the others. the person they know. If the demographic is expanded to 17- to 21- years, then we find there were 83 percent of Marine enlisted casualties, and 65 percent of Army enlisted casualties. The DOD database shows that of the 2,100,000 men and women who served in Vietnam, 58,152 were killed. In the military it can be somewhat more deadly. The names are listed chronologically by date of death, the first to last. If a name was particularly long, it would be swapped with a shorter name. . It was fitting that Vandegeer finally returned home to American soil, because he spent his last weeks at war evacuating Americans as Saigon fell. 5 soldiers on the Wall were 16 years old. What happens to items left at the memorial? These names are followed by the inscription: Our nation honors the courage, sacrifice and devotion to duty and country of its Vietnam veterans. 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. The burden of combat fell on the very available non-college-bound young. On the stencil printouts, each line contained five names per row. Marlin on March 19, 1967 and Norman on August 18, 1968 Brothers Bennett and Dennis Herrick were both killed in Vietnam. 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. Many of them, as experienced pilots, were older (two thirds were thirty or older) and many were high ranking. Less than 1 percent (0.8) were Jewish, Hindu, Thai, Buddhist or Muslim combined, and 5.7 listed no religion. Search the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund’s database of names on the wall. The DOD percentages reveal that nearly 75 percent of Army enlisted casualties were privates or corporals. I.. J.. K.. L.. M. N.. O.. P.. Q.. R.. S.. T.. U.. V.. W.. X.. Y.. Z The officer corps has always drawn heavily on English/Scottish/Welsh, German, Irish and Scandinavian-American ancestries from middle-class white collar homes, with other large percentages from ambitious working class blue collar and, of course, career military families. History is a guide to navigation in perilous times. In high school, he joined ROTC and kept his fathers medals pinned next to his own awards on a piece of crimson cloth. Eight women were killed in Vietnam, five Army lieutenants, one Army captain, one Army lieutenant colonel and one Air Force captain. Download our app to find events, locations and programs near you. . AGE 17 TO 21 PREFERRED ARMY AND MARINE COMBAT MATERIAL. 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 shining surface is intended to reflect the sun, the ground and those who stand before it. 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. Others, later in the war, were simply ineligible because of high lottery number. The ship had been taken to the island of Koh Tang. since it was dedicated because additional casualty records were found and They were at their peak physically. 3rd Battalion. Vandegeers message also depicted a man who believed the worst was behind him. 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. This is close to, but not exactly in the same order Your donation to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund will help expand our mission to honor, educate and heal. for all 58,228 names to be read aloud. It is more notable, perhaps, only because his was the first name engraved into The Wall. The panel numbers are inscribed at the bottom of each panel. 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. If officers are added, then almost 70 percent of those who died were volunteers. 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. Since its adoption in 1951, at the time of the Korean War, this policy had been renewed by Congress every four years. 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). 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. Air Force Historical Research Agency 600 Chenault Circle Maxwell AFB, AL 36112-6424Telephone: (334) 953-2395, ArmyU.S. Yet, a civilian heroine who served in a different capacity during that difficult time also merits particular acknowledgment. As a result, it was mainly the families of Navy and Air Force pilots and crewmen who suffered the great agony of the POW (prisoner of war) and MIA (missing in action) experience that came out of the Vietnam War. while they download, thank you. They seem honored to be putting the names on the Wall.. You must refer to a database, which gives the names in alphabetical order and includes the position of each on the Memorial. There is no question that all segments of American society were represented. The draft policy at the time of the Vietnam War was called the Universal Military Training and Service Act. 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. Another challenge was ensuring the accuracy of the names. The most comprehensive and authoritative history site on the Internet. 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. Nor did America recognize, on July 8, 1959the day he was killedthat another long and bloody war lay in wait. At the time, approximately 1,300 names were designated as servicemen who were either missing or prisoners of war. 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. No other moniker for Sammy Davis Jr. was more accurate. 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. Jimmy died less than 24 hours later on Thanksgiving Day. to open, search, edit, or print the name files. On average, 43 percent of white enlisted entrants placed in categories I and II (scoring 65 to 100) and 57 percent in categories III and IV (scoring 10 to 64). In addition, millions of documents had been lent to the Department of Veterans Affairs before the fire occurred. 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 Vietnam Wall at the Buffalo and Erie County Naval & Military Park features the names of local fallen soldiers. (The 58,000 Names) Our fallen Vietnam War heroes are herethe 58,000 heroes who died in Vietnam. Photo credit DOD photo. Please take a moment to let our troops know how much we appreciate their service and sacrifice. The first two names listed on Panel 1, East Wall, at the apex are from July 8, 1959. The feeling is that the poor, the undereducated and the minorities made up the vast majority of the combat arms during that war. 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. The directory can be purchased on the VVMF store. There are the still-grieving family members who come to pay respects as they would at a cemetery, to leave mementos and make chalk renderings of a loved ones name. 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. On the other end of that phone call was an former Air Force officer who had served in Vietnam. Vietnam War, Awards and Decorations of Honor, 1965-1972. The men and women who valiantly fought in the Vietnam War certainly deserve the title of hero. These directories help locate names on the wall. The Navy fatalities were 2,556 or 2 percent. 5th Marines were killed in . 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. . 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. They enjoyed roaring beer busts. Of the 8000 Coast guardsmen who served in Vietnam, 3 officers and 4 enlisted men were killed and 59 were wounded. Why are names added to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall? Beside each name is a symbol that denotes a service members status: either missing or confirmed dead. 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 widely held notion that the poor served and died in Vietnam while the rich stayed home is way off the mark. Although valuable, this study was almost certainly misinterpreted by its authors when they said that their data showed that most privileged and influential segments of American society were not insulated from the perils of Vietnam conflict. 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. This approach would allow veterans, friends and family members to find a loved one by his or her date of casualty. It gives the names in alphabetical order and . Vietnam War: in Country, Notice: Scanning of Vietnam-era Deck Logs, Vietnam War, 1961-1975. There are 711 West Virginians on the Wall. Of course, the Marine, Navy, and Air Force enlisted casualties were all volunteers, but as it turned out, almost 50 percent of Army enlisted casualties were also volunteers. Army Center of Military History103 3rd AvenueFort Lesley J. McNair, DC 20319-5058Telephone: (202) 685-4042, NavyU.S. Lins vision prevailed. Naval History & Heritage CommandWashington Navy Yard, Bldg 57 (3rd Floor)Washington, DC 20374Telephone: (202) 433-3224, Marine CorpsU.S. As Vietnam War Veterans Day nears March 29, the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Foundation's Wall of Faces is nearly complete but needs help from the public to track down the last few dozen photos. The job of cross-referencing the information of individual branches with the DoD fell to Doubek. Database of the 58,195 Names on The Wall in Wash,D.C. The Wall USA is a non-profit endeavor maintained by veterans . Thats a tragic 2,415 more names on the Vietnam Wall in a single month. 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. And mores the pity, because many of them were trying to escape this background and didnt make it. 997 soldiers were killed on their first day in Vietnam. 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. On the west wall, the symbol precedes the name; on the east wall, the symbol follows the name. Coast Guard Historians OfficeCommandant (CG-09224)U.S. Coast Guard Headquarters 2100 Second Street SW Washington, D.C. 20593. Quite a different profile emerges among the Navy and Air force officer corps. Congress and the Johnson administration, therefore, sought to protect our college-bound and educated young men. Written requests should be mailed to: National Personnel Records Center, 9700 Page Ave., St. Louis, MO 63132-5100. 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. Ziomek's name was finally inscribed on the Washington memorial on Sept. 15, 2020; he was one of just three veterans added in 2020. Subscribe to receive our weekly newsletter with top stories from master historians. http://www.freetoursbyfoot.com/vietna.. 1,448 soldiers were killed on their last day in Vietnam. Those who could have qualified for college probably did not have the funds or motivation. The civilian and military men who formed the policy did not see it necessarily as a disadvantage. If your browser displays the text file, you can then use in chronological order of the casualty date and then alphabetical by last Folded American flags were presented to his parents and an Air Force helicopter flew over the ceremony. The lists are based on the "home of record - state" data provided by the serviceman or woman upon last entrance into military service. Their names, however, have been removed from the printed Directory of Names. 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. peruse. Their sons, if not college material, made up a significant part of the volunteers and draftees. 1972 NAID 305367, Silver Star Medal and Legion of Merit Award Case Files, 19711971 NAID 5721359. They were struggling through or dropping out of high school, or if a high school graduate, had tested poorly for college entrance. 1970 - ca. All were nurses, all were single and all but one were in their 20s. EIN: 52-1149668, Copyright 2023 The Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund, Javascript must be enabled for the correct page display. On July 12, 1973, a disastrous fire at the NPRC destroyed approximately 16-18 million Official Military Personnel Files. This is close to, but not exactly in the same order as the names on the Wall. Please be patient 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. Be the first to learn about news, service member stories and fundraising updates from USO. 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 Full casualty records may be retrieved online through the National Archives' Access to Archival Databases resource. Compounding these difficulties was the issue that many casualties, particularly from the Air Force, were not always straightforward in terms of locale. 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. His name is listed on the Wall with that of his son, Marine Corps Lance Cpl. The Selective Service System it said, has the responsibility to deliver manpower to the armed forces in such a manner as to reduce to a minimum any adverse effect upon the national health, safety, interest and progress. Of the 7,262 blacks who died, 6,955, or 96 percent, were Army and Marine enlisted men. The makeup of U.S. combat forces in Vietnam has long been the subject of controversy among social scientists. Count down from the top of the panel. The war is complete, coming full circle, yet broken by the earth that bounds the angles open side and contained within the earth itself. Charles Holley; chief editor, Robert J. Martin, 4th Infantry Division. 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.

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