Items are gathered by park staff. They were at their peak physically. HistoryNet.com is brought to you by HistoryNet LLC, the worlds largest publisher of history magazines. The Vietnam War is no different. The lists are based on the "home of record - state" data provided by the serviceman or woman upon last entrance into military service. 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. 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. Look at the bottom of each panel on the wall for its number. 54 soldiers on the Wall attended Thomas Edison High School in Philadelphia. It was fitting that Vandegeer finally returned home to American soil, because he spent his last weeks at war evacuating Americans as Saigon fell. 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. 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. Senate. What will be the evolving historical judgment for those names on the Wall? Whether they produced battlefield images of the dead or daguerreotype portraits of common soldiers, []. Kurt became the man of the house, even as a boy. Few areas of the world have been as hotly contested as the India-Pakistan border. The unit diary portion of the muster roll should indicate when members of the Lima Company, 3rd platoon. The names of those who gave their lives and of those who remain missing are inscribed in the order they were taken from us. Photo credit DOD photo by Army Sgt. . 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. Be the first to learn about news, service member stories and fundraising updates from USO. 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 in chronological order, according to the date of casualty. Naval History & Heritage CommandWashington Navy Yard, Bldg 57 (3rd Floor)Washington, DC 20374Telephone: (202) 433-3224, Marine CorpsU.S. 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. Twenty years passed before Vandegeers remains were identified and another five passed before his funeral at Arlington National Cemetery. It should be noted, however, that the draft was specifically designed to trigger volunteer enlistments. The civilian and military men who formed the policy did not see it necessarily as a disadvantage. 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. person reads for 20 minutes, (270 names) this will require 216 volunteer name The Marine Corps lost 14,836, or 5 percent of its own men. Of the 8000 Coast guardsmen who served in Vietnam, 3 officers and 4 enlisted men were killed and 59 were wounded. Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund | 3033 Wilson Blvd, Suite 300 | Arlington VA 22201 | 202.393.0090 On the stencil printouts, each line contained five names per row. In 2004, the total is 58,241 names. In quieter moments, they rode horses along the Coronado Trail, stalked deer in the Apache National Forest. Proving a direct correlation to the injuries is a challenge, Pontes explained. 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. Others think it is just another tourist stop until they feel the haunting power of this unique work of remembrance. U.S. Army Personnel and Dependent Casualties, 1961-1981 85% of the records in this database are related to the Vietnam Conflict. 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 numbers on the wall ascend from the center out toward the left and right extremes. The VC had commandeered Air America Hueys, and they were flying them around, which simply made for a very interesting chess game. See Access to Non-Archival Records for more information. 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. Most of these casualties are documented in the Military Index, a FamilySearch file. For those and a handful of other unique circumstances, Doubek made his own list of men who had died due to the injuries in the combat zonesnames that may have been listed by an individual service branch, but not by DoD. His name does not appear at either far end. Congress and the Johnson administration, therefore, sought to protect our college-bound and educated young men. Locate the corresponding panel at the Memorial. Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund | 3033 Wilson Blvd, Suite 300 | Arlington VA 22201 | 202.393.0090 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. We worked very hard with volunteers from the Gold Star Mothers, recalled Doubek. 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. HistoryNet.com contains daily features, photo galleries and over 25,000 articles originally published in our nine magazines. It is more notable, perhaps, only because his was the first name engraved into The Wall. There are the tourists who make the circuit of all the various monuments and landmarks in our nations capital. 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. But you had stories of guys in the Air Force who would die in their aircraft over Thailand after having been shot over Vietnam. Technically, they were ineligible for inclusion on the Wall. The Vietnam Wall at the Buffalo and Erie County Naval & Military Park features the names of local fallen soldiers. 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. This change prompted the addition of 110 names in 1986. 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. 5,058) had ever known and cheered. Ziomek's name was finally inscribed on the Washington memorial on Sept. 15, 2020; he was one of just three veterans added in 2020. I respect the process, but it can be hard to prove something thats in your heart., Thats what makes it so special when you see the name going up, she added. By his estimate, he helped pull out close to 2,000 people. NAVY AND AIR FORCE OFFICER CASUALTIES BY RANK AND AGE. 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. The Army refused him, for medical reasons, both times. 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. Thus, the wars beginning and end meet. Scholars debate about when the war really began and in many ways it has never ended. A.. B.. C.. D.. E.. F.. G.. H.. In addition, millions of documents had been lent to the Department of Veterans Affairs before the fire occurred. In honor of the men and women of the Armed Forces of the United States who served in the Vietnam War. The Wall is about names. The very young were considered by many to be preferred combat material. Lins vision prevailed. National Mall and Memorial Parks , Vietnam Veterans Memorial, Download the official NPS app before your next visit. There are students on field trips, some solemn and curious, but some just happy to get out of class. 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. 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. Along with its wave of death, it scarred many people, especially those closest to the men that died fighting the . Only 10 percent of enlisted men had even some college to their credit and only 1 percent were college graduates. He admitted no particular feelings about the righteousness of the war, and allowed himself to look ahead into a future free of war and obligation. Many of them, as experienced pilots, were older (two thirds were thirty or older) and many were high ranking. The shining surface is intended to reflect the sun, the ground and those who stand before it. The names are arranged in the order in which they were taken from us by date and within each date the names are alphabetized. 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. Click to learn about the In Memory program . 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. 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. This can be in the form of a book, The Vietnam Veterans Memorial Directory of Names, or one of the various databases. It may come as a surprise to some that 63.3 percent of all Vietnam enlisted casualties were not draftees but volunteers. 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. 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. This page was last edited on 12 December 2022, at 18:28. This was a reflection of the role of warrant officers as helicopter pilots (of the 1,277 warrant officer casualties, 95 percent were Army helicopter pilots), and of the young lieutenants and captains as combat platoon leaders or company commanders. The feeling is that the poor, the undereducated and the minorities made up the vast majority of the combat arms during that war. The trigger came when the recruiters pointed out that the volunteer could enlist as early as 17 (with parental consent); that he was allowed to select his branch of service; that he would receive specialized training if he qualified; that he could request a specific overseas assignment; and that his three year enlistment followed by three years in the inactive reserves satisfied his military obligation immediately. The National Park Service offers these steps for locating a name: National Park Service rangers and volunteers are available to assist in locating names at the Memorial. 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 person they know. Its now one of the most popular memorials in Washington. 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. Richard B. Fitzgibbon III, who was killed on Sept. 7, 1965. 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. 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. The Air Force lost the highest percentage of officers. An aunt came and loaded the three boys into the car. Search the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund’s database of names on the wall. The casual visitor might not immediately recognize that Buis name is the first. 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. 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. 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. As the Vietnam War dragged on, Kurt tried twice to enlist. 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. 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. He did it allsing, dance, create music and crack wise. 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. 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. The article was originally published in the June 1993 issue of Vietnam Magazine and updated in November 2004. Twenty-five years later, in an interview with People magazine, he described playing with his two younger brothers as the news reached their home in Imperial Beach, California. A diamond symbol signifies that the service members death was confirmed. "The Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund's registry enables veterans across the world to be able to locate fellow Vietnam Veterans and of course, connect their stories with those who made the ultimate sacrifice. Congress. The training for American officers is thought by most foreign military authorities to be the best in the world. The Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C. has the names listed in chronological order by date of loss. 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. 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. 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. the "save as" menu command to store each text file on your media. And they often show a heartbreakingly wry sense of humor with the same sensibilities as their college-bound peers. I can envision a small cottage someplace, with a lot of writing paper, and a dog, and a fireplace, and maybe enough money to give myself some Irish coffee now and then and entertain my two friends , I dont think it will be too terribly long until we are together again.. COL LEWIS HERBERT ABRAMS SSG SAMUEL ABRAMS Jr PFC TIMOTHY C ABRAMS Jr WO ANDREW JOHN ABRAMSON CPL MIGUEL A ABREU-BATISTA Jr SP4 ANTHONY JOSEPH ABRUZESE PFC ROBERT ALEXANDER ABRUZESE PFC MICHAEL JOHN ABRUZZESA Jr SGT WILLIAM WALLACE ABSHEAR SGT RICHARD FRANKLIN ABSHIRE PFC JAMES ESTUS ABSTON Jr SSG ROBERT JOSEPH ACALOTTO SP5 PEPITO RIVERA ACERET They also died quickly, many within a few weeks or months of arriving in Vietnam. The panels are numbered beginning from the center out toward the ends of each wall. 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. to open, search, edit, or print the name files. For information regarding official military unit histories, contact: Air ForceU.S. The beginnings and endings are often hazy and the facts of the story lie at the mercy of the teller. The event begins on November 7, 2022 at 3 p.m. EST and ends at midnight on November 10, 2022. For families who have worked to have their loved ones name added, the journey can be long and exhausting. 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. 1,448 soldiers were killed on their last day in Vietnam. Naval Academy, 130; Texas A & M, 112; The Citadel, 66; Virginia Military Institute, 43; Virginia Polytechnic Institute, 26; Norwich University, 19. Almost 50 percent were majors, lieutenant-colonels, colonels and three were generals. And they all went to Vietnam. Look for clues about where he or she lived and served. There was no need to embellish. And they are so respectful when they do the engraving. Little about it is concrete. 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. (Surprisingly, as it turned out, the percentage of Vietnam veterans who applied for the GI Bill was higher than either World War II or Korea. On the last day of his life, in the moments before our nations history changed forever, Dale Buis was sitting around a rec center watching a movie called The Tattered Dress, starring Jeff Chandler. If a service member were to return alive, a circlethe symbol of lifewould be inscribed around the plus sign. 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. Yet, a civilian heroine who served in a different capacity during that difficult time also merits particular acknowledgment. ARMY AND MARINE OFFICER CASUALTIES BY RANK AND AGE. 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. Thus we can see that the channeling philosophy continued within the armed forces. They lived only a few yards apart. Note that the files are large, and are in Rich Text Format (RTF), with two The Wall of Faces allows family and friends to share memories, post pictures and connect with each other. Vietnam War, Awards and Decorations of Honor, 1965-1972. 5th Marines were killed in . In the event a service members remains are returned or accounted for, then a diamond symbol is engraved over the plus sign. The affected record collections are described below. 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. 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. Another browser may inform you that it does not know how to display the file Each name is listed with great honor and respect. In some instances, names needed to be shuffled in order to fit on a line. The draftee, if found physically and mentally fit, would be inducted for a period of two years, to be followed by another two year period in the active reserves and a subsequent two years in the inactive reserves. 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. 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 the 7,262 blacks who died, 6,955, or 96 percent, were Army and Marine enlisted men. the reader loses composure. West Virginia had the highest casualty rate per capita in the nation. W denotes the west wall, and E denotes the east wall. There were 667; How many Andersons?, 178; Garcias?, 102; Murphys?, 82; Jenkins?, 66; One wants to know more about these Americans. 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. Please take a moment to let our troops know how much we appreciate their service and sacrifice. All other individual draftee files from that period were destroyed by the Selective Service System in 1978, in accordance with approved records retention schedules. Another challenge was ensuring the accuracy of the names. 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. 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. As of 2017, there are 58,318 names inscribed on The Wall. Indeed, officer casualties of all branches were overwhelmingly white. If a name was particularly long, it would be swapped with a shorter name. This is the most accurate database online. The most casualty deaths for a single day was on January 31, 1968 245 deaths. 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. Despite their inexperience, they were thought to accept discipline readily. If the veteran is still alive, ask his or her help finding records. But there is a beginning. Less than 1 percent (0.8) were Jewish, Hindu, Thai, Buddhist or Muslim combined, and 5.7 listed no religion. 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. Kurt Buis was 8 years old the day his father died. Beside each name is a symbol that denotes a service members status: either missing or confirmed dead. Database of the 58,195 Names on The Wall in Wash,D.C. . United States. 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. and have two columns per page, rather than only one column. Vandegeers message also depicted a man who believed the worst was behind him. The figures show that on average 65 percent of white enlisted men and 60 percent of black enlisted men were high school graduates. The war is complete, coming full circle, yet broken by the earth that bounds the angles open side and contained within the earth itself. 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). 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. They were struggling through or dropping out of high school, or if a high school graduate, had tested poorly for college entrance. On November 7, 2021 VVMF began a daily virtual Reading of the Names. prepared by Frances A. Hortsch for the Phoenix Genealogical Society. 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. The Vietnam Veterans Memorial was dedicated on November 10, 1982, with 57,939 names. Message & data rates may apply. Since then, 379 names have been added, for a total of 58,318 (as of Memorial Day 2017).

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