If your browser displays the text file, you can then use Others think it is just another tourist stop until they feel the haunting power of this unique work of remembrance. These were Mexican, Puerto Rican, Cuban and other Latino-Americans with ancestries based in Central and South America. The names are listed in chronological order, according to the date of casualty. There are three sets of fathers and sons on the Vietnam Wall. The appearance of DoD visual information does not imply or constitute DoD endorsement. You must refer to a database, which gives the names in alphabetical order and includes the position of each on the Memorial. 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. 39,996 on the Wall were just 22 or younger. Department of Veterans Affairs BIRLS Death File, 1850-2010: see the "National Cemeteries and Beneficiaries" section below. readers. Others, later in the war, were simply ineligible because of high lottery number. AGE 17 TO 21 PREFERRED ARMY AND MARINE COMBAT MATERIAL. Physical examination and test results, medical letters, laboratory work and other medical documentation that may have been included in these files no longer exist. Air Force Historical Research Agency 600 Chenault Circle Maxwell AFB, AL 36112-6424Telephone: (334) 953-2395, ArmyU.S. We worked very hard with volunteers from the Gold Star Mothers, recalled Doubek. These names are followed by the inscription: Our nation honors the courage, sacrifice and devotion to duty and country of its Vietnam veterans. Download our app to find events, locations and programs near you. But there is a beginning. Thus it is safe to say that Hispanic-Americans were over-represented among Vietnam casualties an estimated 5.5 percent of the dead against 4.5 percent of the 1970 population. The most comprehensive and authoritative history site on the Internet. This came at a time when blacks made up 11 percent of the male population nationwide. 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 ship had been taken to the island of Koh Tang. 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. Thats a tragic 2,415 more names on the Vietnam Wall in a single month. 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. Another browser may inform you that it does not know how to display the file Thus, the wars beginning and end meet. Dear Mr. Huddleston, Thank you for posting your request on History Hub! More than 200 names have been added to the Wall Search the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund’s database of names on the wall. And they all went to Vietnam. Database of the 58,195 Names on The Wall in Wash,D.C. Most of these casualties are documented in the Military Index, a FamilySearch file. This video can help you find the name of someone you'd like to honor. As one walks the Wall slowly, examining the ineffably American names, one is struck by the same recurring surnames. The USO is a not-for-profit organization and not part of the Department of Defense (DoD). How many women soldiers died in the Vietnam War? Less than 1 percent (0.8) were Jewish, Hindu, Thai, Buddhist or Muslim combined, and 5.7 listed no religion. 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. Of 2,590 total Air Force casualties, 1,674 or 65 percent were officers. In honor of the men and women of the Armed Forces of the United States who served in the Vietnam War. In many of these families it was considered unpatriotic and indeed reprehensible to avoid active duty by requesting a status deferment or seeking out a draft counselor for advice on how to avoid the draft. ), EDUCATIONAL LEVELS OF ENLISTED CASUALTIES. the person they know. Several hundred such designation changes have been made since the Wall was built in 1982. The DOD database shows that of the 2,100,000 men and women who served in Vietnam, 58,152 were killed. 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. 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. More names are added to the wall every year. to open, search, edit, or print the name files. Family members are invited to witness the inscription and also to attend the annual Memorial Day ceremony when the new names are read at the Wall. You could also keep these files on a computer at your The panels are numbered beginning from the center out toward the ends of each wall. http://www.freetoursbyfoot.com/vietna.. 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. Every one of the names on the Wall has a story worth telling, as do all who served in our nation's Armed Forces during that time. However, there have been no such cases. 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. The Selective Service System remains in place today. Each name is listed with great honor and respect. Your donation to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund will help expand our mission to honor, educate and heal. VVMF does not have the authority to overrule those who adjudicate these matters. 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 VC had commandeered Air America Hueys, and they were flying them around, which simply made for a very interesting chess game. 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. LeRoy was killed on Wednesday, Nov. 22, the fourth anniversary of President John F. Kennedys assassination. Marlin on March 19, 1967 and Norman on August 18, 1968 Brothers Bennett and Dennis Herrick were both killed in Vietnam. Except for the last file, there are approximately 10,000 names per file. The Wall USA is a non-profit endeavor maintained by veterans . West Virginia had the highest casualty rate per capita in the nation. 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. Lins vision prevailed. They played ball at the adjacent sandlot ball field. And they often show a heartbreakingly wry sense of humor with the same sensibilities as their college-bound peers. 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. peruse. To put a circle around the symbol beside their names would not provide the correct historical context related to their situation. A diamond symbol signifies that the service members death was confirmed. The draft continued from 1948, during both peacetime and war, to 1973, when President Richard M. Nixon signed legislation officially ending the draft. In 2004, the total is 58,241 names. 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. information is available on this web site: These files are lists of the names on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, listed Unfortunately, the Department of Defense and the individual service branches maintained separate casualty lists with slightly differing criteria. This is close to, but not exactly in the same order Many of them, as experienced pilots, were older (two thirds were thirty or older) and many were high ranking. They seem honored to be putting the names on the Wall.. The lists are based on the "home of record - state" data provided by the serviceman or woman upon last entrance into military service. When the sound of exploding hand grenades rang out in the hall, Buis and others ran toward the sound. In 1940, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the Selective Training and Service Act, creating the countrys first peacetime draft and officially establishing the Selective Service System. VVMF receives numerous requests each year from individuals who wish to have particular names added to the Memorial. Once download Getting to Washington, D.C. Richard Sandza received the message on the morning of May 15, 1975, the day his friend became the last American to die in combat during the Vietnam War. and have two columns per page, rather than only one column. 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. The Army as a branch had 134,982 killed or wounded (9.5 percent), but the Marines suffered 66,227 killed or wounded (22.5 percent) or almost one of every four Marines who served. There are the tourists who make the circuit of all the various monuments and landmarks in our nations capital. Count down from the top of the panel. On July 12, 1973, a disastrous fire at the NPRC destroyed approximately 16-18 million Official Military Personnel Files. Learn more about featured topics of the Vietnam War and Vietnam Era. It gives the names in alphabetical order and . Concerning, How do I find a name on the Vietnam War Memorial wall? 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. "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. Scholars debate about when the war really began and in many ways it has never ended. The names would become the memorial. The DOD database listed precise religious preferences for the 58,152 Vietnam casualties. 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. Quite a different profile emerges among the Navy and Air force officer corps. Much more detailed 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 Army lost the greatest number of officers 4,635 or 59 percent of all officer casualties. 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. As many as 3 million people visit each year, according to some estimates, and they come for probably as many reasons. Another challenge was ensuring the accuracy of the names. "Home of record" does not necessarily refer to the place of birth, residence of next of kin, place of longest residence, nor other common uses of the term "hometown." Little about it is concrete. 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 slabs meet at a vertex of 125 degrees, 10 feet above ground level to form the Wall. 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. History is a guide to navigation in perilous times. Indeed, officer casualties of all branches were overwhelmingly white. site, for searching with a word processor. Inscription at the beginning of The Wall. All heroes are listed alphabetically by their last name. The article was originally published in the June 1993 issue of Vietnam Magazine and updated in November 2004. Look for clues about where he or she lived and served. 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. Records of U.S. Military Casualties, Missing in Action, and Prisoners of War from the Era of the Vietnam War are available through the National Archives. Individual Award Case Files, 1969 - 1970. 12 soldiers on the Wall were 17 years old. Bennett on March 25, 1968 and Dennis on August 02, 1970 Brothers Gabriel and Paul Trujillo were both killed in Vietnam. The panel numbers are inscribed at the bottom of each panel. The names are listed chronologically by date of death, the first to last. I.. J.. K.. L.. M. N.. O.. P.. Q.. R.. S.. T.. U.. V.. W.. X.. Y.. Z 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. 1972, United States, National Archives, Military Records, 1885-2004, United States, National Archives, Korean War and Vietnam War Records, Start your Military Service Record Request, National Archives at St. Louis, Selective Service Records. By his estimate, he helped pull out close to 2,000 people. The burden of combat fell on the very available non-college-bound young. We searched the National Archives Catalog and located a series titled Muster Rolls and Personnel Diaries, 1941-1980 in the Records of the U.S. Marine Corps (Record Group 127). They enjoyed roaring beer busts. Beside each name is a symbol that denotes a service members status: either missing or confirmed dead. In this study we will refer to casualties as the 58,152 who died in Vietnam, but it should be emphasized that there were 153,303 who were wounded seriously enough to be hospitalized. Some have tried for years before receiving approval from DoD. In civilian life, poor aptitude testing can have a tremendous negative impact, whether for college placement or for simple job advancement. How to Order a Draft Record. And mores the pity, because many of them were trying to escape this background and didnt make it. The Army refused him, for medical reasons, both times. For families who have worked to have their loved ones name added, the journey can be long and exhausting. They drew on every segment of American society. 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. By and large, with the exception of the officer corps, most of the college bound and educated skipped the Vietnam War at the urging of, and with the approval of, their own government. Their sons, if not college material, made up a significant part of the volunteers and draftees. The makeup of U.S. combat forces in Vietnam has long been the subject of controversy among social scientists. There were 667; How many Andersons?, 178; Garcias?, 102; Murphys?, 82; Jenkins?, 66; One wants to know more about these Americans. No other American war has presented such a young profile in combat. 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. Library of Congress, National Archives Reference Information Page 90 A Finding Aid to Records Relating to American Prisoners of War and Missing in Action from the Vietnam War Era, 1960-1994, Records on Military Personnel Who Died, Were Missing in Action or Prisoners of War as a Result of the Vietnam War, Missing Vietnam Military Resulting from Hostile Forces, Missing Vietnam Military NOT Resulting from Hostile Forces, Vietnam War, Awards and Decorations of Honor, 1965-1972, Medal of Honor Awards Case Files, 1965 - ca. 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. Nevertheless, 336,111 men were phased into the service under this plan (mostly the Army) and 2,072 were killed. 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. In addition to WWII Draft Records, the National Personnel Records Center (NPRC) in St. Louis, MO maintains Post-WWII through Vietnam Era Selective Service Records, for all men born before 1960. As they came through the door, Viet Cong guerrillas opened fire with machine guns. do this, be sure to have an alternate reader assigned to take over in case Proving a direct correlation to the injuries is a challenge, Pontes explained. 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. 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. They refer to older or younger siblings who are either in or on their way to college. 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. Dates of enlsitment or selective service registration will be helpful along with the name military units they served with. Patricia Krause. The Air Force lost 2,580 or l percent. 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. that each name was a real person. the requirements were expanded (by. The panels come together to form a point, linking the first and last together in enduring tribute. 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. 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. With the glitch discovered, Doubek and his team located and hand-corrected each error. The officer corps casualties alone would satisfy that judgment, but that is not the same as being representative. And they are so respectful when they do the engraving. We were one giant Hollywood B-17 bomber crew, one perfect socioeconomic platoon storming Omaha Beach or Okinawa. Their names, however, have been removed from the printed Directory of Names. 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. They did not, in most cases, carry the burdens of wife or children. Most of the young American enlisted men who served in Vietnam were not college prospects at the time they entered the service. Why are names added to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall? It specified the geographic areas of Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia and surrounding coastal areas as combat zones. (The 58,000 Names) Our fallen Vietnam War heroes are herethe 58,000 heroes who died in Vietnam. A correspondingly greater tradition of military service in the other regions had its effect on U.S. regional casualties. They were struggling through or dropping out of high school, or if a high school graduate, had tested poorly for college entrance. His name does not appear at either far end. Vietnam Veterans Memorial Learn about the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in this brief introductory video. 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 Army suffered the most total casualties, 38,179 or 2.7 percent of its force. November 11, 1982. A more precise equation would be that the college bound stayed home while the non-college bound served and died. Some common names appear on the Memorial more than once. In order to have your name on the Wall, you had to have died within the war zone, explained Doubek. Tom was killed while assaulting the enemy on Dec. 7, Pearl HarborDay. Beginning Research in United States Military Records, National Vietnam War Veterans Day - Wikepedia, National Park Service Vietnam Veterans Memorial. The numbers on the wall ascend from the center out toward the left and right extremes.
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