Written requests should be mailed to: National Personnel Records Center, 9700 Page Ave., St. Louis, MO 63132-5100. The slabs meet at a vertex of 125 degrees, 10 feet above ground level to form the Wall. Written requests should be mailed to: National Personnel Records Center, 9700 Page Ave., St. Louis, MO 63132-5100. If a name was particularly long, it would be swapped with a shorter name. Your donation to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund will help expand our mission to honor, educate and heal. Compounding these difficulties was the issue that many casualties, particularly from the Air Force, were not always straightforward in terms of locale. There are three sets of fathers and sons on the Vietnam Wall. No other American war has presented such a young profile in combat. 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. 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. Since its adoption in 1951, at the time of the Korean War, this policy had been renewed by Congress every four years. Many others joined the reserves or National Guard, which were not mobilized in any appreciable numbers during the war. When the sound of exploding hand grenades rang out in the hall, Buis and others ran toward the sound. Once download Frequently relatives or buddies of casualties The appearance of DoD visual information does not imply or constitute DoD endorsement. All would be represented equally, with generals listed alongside infantrymen. 39,996 on the Wall were just 22 or younger. National Mall and Memorial Parks , Vietnam Veterans Memorial, Download the official NPS app before your next visit. Additionally, many of the names on the wall were other teenagers from the suburban white collar communities with siblings who were in, or would go on to college, but who, as individuals themselves, were slow to mature, struggled through high school and were therefore very available for the Vietnam War. 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. The central idea of the poem is that the Vietnamese War took hundreds of lives away from the United States of America. In a massive sampling of the database, it was established that between 5 and 6 percent of Vietnam dead had identifiable Hispanic surnames. NAVY AND AIR FORCE OFFICER CASUALTIES BY RANK AND AGE. There are students on field trips, some solemn and curious, but some just happy to get out of class. 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 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. . It specified the geographic areas of Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia and surrounding coastal areas as combat zones. Others think it is just another tourist stop until they feel the haunting power of this unique work of remembrance. Air Force Historical Research Agency 600 Chenault Circle Maxwell AFB, AL 36112-6424Telephone: (334) 953-2395, ArmyU.S. And there is an end. Early on President Johnson, his advisers and especially the Congress, realized that if the draft was to be truly equitable and had included combat assignments in Vietnam for the sons of the educationally advantaged and influential Americans from the professional and managerial classes, then the resulting uproar would have shut down the war. 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. This came at a time when blacks made up 11 percent of the male population nationwide. A(1780 names - 239023 bytes) B(5502 names - 737972 bytes) C(4363 names - 586584 bytes) D(2790 names - 374290 bytes) E(1082 names - 144866 bytes) F(1979 names - 265759 bytes) G(3036 names - 407075 bytes) H(4463 names - 598834 bytes) I(218 names - 29278 bytes) J(1845 names - 247563 bytes) K(2039 names - 273818 bytes) L(2594 names - 347007 bytes) Once additions are approved by DoD, VVMF receives the list of approved names, coordinates the inscribing and absorbs the costs. The names are arranged in the order in which they were taken from us by date and within each date the names are alphabetized. 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. 244 soldiers were awarded the Medal of Honor during the Vietnam War; 153 of them are on the Wall. Although the names are not listed alphabetically, it is not difficult for visitors to find a name on the Memorial. Through the AFQT process, the men scoring in the higher categories were more likely to be channeled into further specialized training and eventually assigned to technical and administrative units. | There are over 58,000 names on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington DC. 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. Another challenge was ensuring the accuracy of the names. John Kennedy, discussing military assignments, said that, life is unfair. Those who could have qualified for college probably did not have the funds or motivation. The Vietnam Wall at the Buffalo and Erie County Naval & Military Park features the names of local fallen soldiers. 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. 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. 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. W denotes the west wall, and E denotes the east wall. HistoryNet.com contains daily features, photo galleries and over 25,000 articles originally published in our nine magazines. However, there have been no such cases. 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. Your donation to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund will help expand our mission to honor, educate and heal. This is close to, but not exactly in the same order effort, but is a very effective means to express the enormity of the war and Why are names added to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall? 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. An estimated 11,000 women served in Vietnam. On the west wall, the symbol precedes the name; on the east wall, the symbol follows the name. the person they know. There is no question that all segments of American society were represented. 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. Thats a tragic 2,415 more names on the Vietnam Wall in a single month. 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. 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. Except for the last file, there are approximately 10,000 names per file. Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund | 3033 Wilson Blvd, Suite 300 | Arlington VA 22201 | 202.393.0090 The young enlisted volunteer or draftee had not had much time to form any complicated theories about our Vietnam commitment. For more great articles be sure to subscribe to Vietnam Magazine today! Note that the files are large, and are in Rich Text Format (RTF), with two By providing your mobile phone number, you opt in to receive calls and texts from USO. The wall at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington is 493 feet and 6 inches long, built of thick, polished black Bangalore granite. 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. Authority Record - NARA, Records of the U.S. 1,448 soldiers were killed on their last day in Vietnam. 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. There were no indexes created prior to the fire. Her name? Only 10 percent of enlisted men had even some college to their credit and only 1 percent were college graduates. Eight women were killed in Vietnam, five Army lieutenants, one Army captain, one Army lieutenant colonel and one Air Force captain. Message & data rates may apply. The names of those who gave their lives and of those who remain missing are inscribed in the order they were taken from us. This is the most accurate database online. Others, later in the war, were simply ineligible because of high lottery number. Chronological order by date of casualty allows friends and family members to pick out their loved one from all of the others with the same name. At the time, approximately 1,300 names were designated as servicemen who were either missing or prisoners of war. Though 13 were rescued at sea, the rest died, either upon impact or soon after. Where previously a high school diploma had been an acceptable goal, now it was college and all the benefits it would bring. In the military it can be somewhat more deadly. Yet, a civilian heroine who served in a different capacity during that difficult time also merits particular acknowledgment. As of 2017, there are 58,318 names inscribed on The Wall. All classes were drafted or volunteered and all served and died equally, although it must be noted that most blacks died separately. Its been more than 20 years since Forrest Gump debuted on the silver screen and nearly a generation later, its characters still resonate with todays service members. Concerning, How do I find a name on the Vietnam War Memorial wall? 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. No other moniker for Sammy Davis Jr. was more accurate. Ziomek's name was finally inscribed on the Washington memorial on Sept. 15, 2020; he was one of just three veterans added in 2020. The civilian and military men who formed the policy did not see it necessarily as a disadvantage. 5 soldiers on the Wall were 16 years old. Several hundred such designation changes have been made since the Wall was built in 1982. The Air Force lost 2,580 or l percent. In 2004, the total is 58,241 names. A more precise equation would be that the college bound stayed home while the non-college bound served and died. Each name is listed with great honor and respect. As a result, the software improperly truncated or abbreviated names. 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. The names are listed chronologically by date of death, the first to last. They did not, in most cases, carry the burdens of wife or children. They also died quickly, many within a few weeks or months of arriving in Vietnam. Many of them, as experienced pilots, were older (two thirds were thirty or older) and many were high ranking. Patricia Krause. prepared by Frances A. Hortsch for the Phoenix Genealogical Society. name within a given date. This amounted to 4.1 percent of all enlisted casualties in Vietnam. "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 many as 3 million people visit each year, according to some estimates, and they come for probably as many reasons. 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. This uneven impact was caused by a number of factors: (1) While the South was home to some 53 percent of all blacks in the 1970 census, almost 60 percent of black casualties came from the South; (2) Although we cannot be as precise, we do know that a considerable majority of Hispanic-American casualties came from the West, (California, New Mexico, Arizona, Colorado) and the South (Texas); (3) Better employment opportunities in the Northeast reduced the number of volunteers; (4) Greater college matriculation in the Northeast increased the number of status deferments for the regions 17- to 24- year olds; (5) More anti-war sentiment in the media and on college campuses in the Northeast. in chronological order of the casualty date and then alphabetical by last You may print these files and have the pages available for visitors to Adding to the problem was Project 100,000. 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 group, added in 1983, included 53 Marines who were killed when their R&R (rest and relaxation) flight crashed in Hong Kong. The directories are organized alphabetically by last name. 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. The Reading of the Names is an in-person event where every single name on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial is read in order of which it appears on The Wall. 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. Of the 7,262 blacks who died, 6,955, or 96 percent, were Army and Marine enlisted men. Vietnam Veterans Memorial Learn about the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in this brief introductory video. Only the Navy, with 50 percent of its enlisted casualties over 21, and the Air Force, with 75 percent over 21, showed an older, more experienced age demographic. The beginnings and endings are often hazy and the facts of the story lie at the mercy of the teller. Buis can be found at the top middle of a slab designated Panel 1E. They were at their peak physically. Army Major Dale Buis name is etched into the granite half an inch tall, no bigger or smaller than any of the others. Kurt Buis was 8 years old the day his father died. 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 event begins on November 7, 2022 at 3 p.m. EST and ends at midnight on November 10, 2022. Vietnam War Casualties- Main Alphabetical Index www.VirtualWall.org Find A Name Information Memorial pages honoring Vietnam War casualties, listed by their last names. VVMF does not have the authority to overrule those who adjudicate these matters. The Vietnam Veterans Memorial is open 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, for all who wish to visit. The casual visitor might not immediately recognize that Buis name is the first. About 58 thousand of the 7 million American service men and women who served in Vietnam died. The training for American officers is thought by most foreign military authorities to be the best in the world. ARMY AND MARINE OFFICER CASUALTIES BY RANK AND AGE. Perhaps more important, many of them probably did not yet fully understand their own mortality and were therefore less likely to be hesitant in combat. 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. Beside each name is a symbol that denotes a service members status: either missing or confirmed dead. Lower end category IVs consisting of those who scored below 20 on the AFQT were usually rejected for service. 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. In some instances, names needed to be shuffled in order to fit on a line. While their names are not on The Wall, they are never forgotten. In order to have your name on the Wall, you had to have died within the war zone, explained Doubek. 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. The men and women who valiantly fought in the Vietnam War certainly deserve the title of hero. 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. The Navy fatalities were 2,556 or 2 percent. This page has been viewed 167,336 times (0 via redirect). And mores the pity, because many of them were trying to escape this background and didnt make it. The war is complete, coming full circle, yet broken by the earth that bounds the angles open side and contained within the earth itself. 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 Air Force lost the highest percentage of officers. 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. The idea that American enlisted dead were made up largely of societys poverty stricken misfits is a terrible slander to their memory and to the solid working-class and middle-class families of this country who provided the vast majority of our casualties. 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. It is hard to believe it has been 36 years since the last casualties. In the event a service members remains are returned or accounted for, then a diamond symbol is engraved over the plus sign. 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. Proving a direct correlation to the injuries is a challenge, Pontes explained. The panels are numbered beginning from the center out toward the ends of each wall. Charles Holley; chief editor, Robert J. Martin, 4th Infantry Division. person reads for 20 minutes, (270 names) this will require 216 volunteer name 5,058) had ever known and cheered. The largest age group, 8,283 were just 19 years old. Congress. A doctor arrived and gave his shaken mother a sedative. And in the patriotic camaraderie typical of Morencis mining families, the nine graduates of Morenci High enlisted as a group in the Marine Corps. History is a guide to navigation in perilous times. Non-Archival records are those of service members who separated from the military less than 62 years ago. As they came through the door, Viet Cong guerrillas opened fire with machine guns. Whether they produced battlefield images of the dead or daguerreotype portraits of common soldiers, []. Another browser may inform you that it does not know how to display the file It forces us to the conclusion that many of those names on the wall were kids who just couldnt quite get it together in high school, a little late in maturing intellectually, and didnt have the resources or the guile to get out of the way when the war came. How to Order a Draft Record. From 1964 to 1973, 2,100,000 men and women served in Vietnam, but this was only 8 percent of the 26,000,000 Americans who were eligible for military service.
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