The names of the 2,504 Americans missing in action from the Vietnam War are on the Tablets of the Missing at the ABMC Honolulu Memorial. More Info At www.themovingwall.org Visit site 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. 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. 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. An aunt came and loaded the three boys into the car. The Army refused him, for medical reasons, both times. The Vietnam War was no different. See Access to Non-Archival Records for more information. Richard B. Fitzgibbon III, who was killed on Sept. 7, 1965. 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. It is hard to believe it has been 36 years since the last casualties. By providing your mobile phone number, you opt in to receive calls and texts from USO. The Wall USA is a non-profit endeavor maintained by veterans . Database of the 58,195 Names on The Wall in Wash,D.C. For more information on this index on, Records relating to American prisoners of war and missing in action from the Vietnam War, including lists and descriptions of the record groups covering the Vietnam War that are held by the National Archives are also found in the FS Library US/CAN Book. It called for the registration of all 18 to 26-year old males, with induction to take place at 18 1/2 if so ordered by the local draft board. In quieter moments, they rode horses along the Coronado Trail, stalked deer in the Apache National Forest. The slabs meet at a vertex of 125 degrees, 10 feet above ground level to form the Wall. Naval Academy, 130; Texas A & M, 112; The Citadel, 66; Virginia Military Institute, 43; Virginia Polytechnic Institute, 26; Norwich University, 19. Only 10 percent of enlisted men had even some college to their credit and only 1 percent were college graduates. 31 sets of brothers are on the Wall. 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. Congress. 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. 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. 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. They were at their peak physically. Once download It is hard to believe it is 36 years since the last casualties. The same profile holds true for the Marine Corps, where 87 percent of all officer casualties (821 of 938) were warrant officers, lieutenants or captains. A correspondingly greater tradition of military service in the other regions had its effect on U.S. regional casualties. Army Center of Military History103 3rd AvenueFort Lesley J. McNair, DC 20319-5058Telephone: (202) 685-4042, NavyU.S. And they are so respectful when they do the engraving. 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. West Virginia had the highest casualty rate per capita in the nation. 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. This can help veterans or relatives find other persons who died with Vietnam War: in Country, Notice: Scanning of Vietnam-era Deck Logs, Vietnam War, 1961-1975. The USO relies on your support to help service members and their families. 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. How many names are on the wall? He would become instrumental in helping Doubek identify names and check spellings. Some went to Canada or Sweden, but few of those who evaded the draft were actually prosecuted and most were eventually pardoned by President Jimmy Carter in 1977. The shining surface is intended to reflect the sun, the ground and those who stand before it. Their service began on Independence Day, 1966. He accepted the tradition of military service passed on to him by the popular culture and by President John F. Kennedys ringing words, Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe, to assure the survival and success of liberty. 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. Marlin on March 19, 1967 and Norman on August 18, 1968 Brothers Bennett and Dennis Herrick were both killed in Vietnam. . He was a Navy enlisted man during World War II and has a degree in Political Science from Duke University. His name does not appear at either far end. 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. Tom was killed while assaulting the enemy on Dec. 7, Pearl HarborDay. 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. A relatively small number refused to register for the draft at all. The Vietnam Wall. I.. J.. K.. L.. M. N.. O.. P.. Q.. R.. S.. T.. U.. V.. W.. X.. Y.. Z 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. Doubek was tasked with identifying all of the names to be included on the Wall. 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. NAVY AND AIR FORCE OFFICER CASUALTIES BY RANK AND AGE. 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. Thats a tragic 2,415 more names on the Vietnam Wall in a single month. 26 Similar Questions Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund | 3033 Wilson Blvd, Suite 300 | Arlington VA 22201 | 202.393.0090 In order to have your name on the Wall, you had to have died within the war zone, explained Doubek. the person they know. Most of the young American enlisted men who served in Vietnam were not college prospects at the time they entered the service. Lower end category IVs consisting of those who scored below 20 on the AFQT were usually rejected for service. As they came through the door, Viet Cong guerrillas opened fire with machine guns. This is the genius of Mayas design, said Scruggs. As one stands before the Wall one feels that no other judgment is acceptable to their living memory. 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). Proving a direct correlation to the injuries is a challenge, Pontes explained. 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. There are over 58,000 names on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington DC. The slabs meet at a vertex of 125 degrees, 10 feet above ground level to form the Wall. 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. I mean, it was bad.. The panel numbers are inscribed at the bottom of each panel. In honor of the men and women of the Armed Forces of the United States who served in the Vietnam War. The young enlisted volunteer or draftee had not had much time to form any complicated theories about our Vietnam commitment. An Air Force member, with his back to the camera, holds the POW/MIA flag during a full honors funeral for Air Force Second Lieutenant Richard Vandegeer at Arlington National Cemetery on October 27, 2000. 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. It is more notable, perhaps, only because his was the first name engraved into The Wall. 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. for all 58,228 names to be read aloud. compiled by Military Records and Research Library, Department of Military Affairs; edited by Julia D. Rather and Jeffrey Michael Duff, Research Our Records. The Wall is about names. The list of names begins at the vertex of the walls below the date of the first casualty, 1959, and continues to the end of the east wall. Derek Turner is a freelance writer and a former senior editor of On Patrol. The event begins on November 7, 2022 at 3 p.m. EST and ends at midnight on November 10, 2022. History is a guide to navigation in perilous times. The USO is a not-for-profit organization and not part of the Department of Defense (DoD). Their names, however, have been removed from the printed Directory of Names. THE NAMES ON THE WALL: AN HISTORICAL JUDGMENT. Items are gathered by park staff. 39,996 on the Wall were just 22 or younger. 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. This number of deaths per 100,000 compared strikingly with the 23.5 in the Northeast region, 29.9 in the West and 28.4 in the North Central (Midwest) region. 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. While I was in training, my motivation was to get these wings and I wear them today proudly, the airman recalled in 2015. Search the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund’s database of names on the wall. The Army suffered the most total casualties, 38,179 or 2.7 percent of its force. As many as 3 million people visit each year, according to some estimates, and they come for probably as many reasons. While their names are not on The Wall, they are never forgotten. This year, 14 names were etched into the wall. 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 were Mexican, Puerto Rican, Cuban and other Latino-Americans with ancestries based in Central and South America. In some instances, names needed to be shuffled in order to fit on a line. As the Vietnam War dragged on, Kurt tried twice to enlist. The very young were considered by many to be preferred combat material. Lins intention from the beginning was to have the names appear chronologically, beginning and ending at the apex. There are 58,267 names now listed on Vietnam Wall, including those added in 2010. It is hard to believe it has been 36 years since the last casualties. EIN: 52-1149668, Copyright 2023 The Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund, Javascript must be enabled for the correct page display. 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. Thus we can see that the channeling philosophy continued within the armed forces. 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. 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. Though 13 were rescued at sea, the rest died, either upon impact or soon after. As she wisely predicted, this would help bring the veterans back in timeand a cathartic healing would occur for many by facing this loss again.. There are 58,267 names now listed on Vietnam Wall, including those added in 2010. They came largely from California and Texas, with lesser numbers from Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona, Florida, New York and a few from many other states across the country. It would also enable veterans to find groups of friends who died during the same incident. Nevertheless, 336,111 men were phased into the service under this plan (mostly the Army) and 2,072 were killed. prepared by Frances A. Hortsch for the Phoenix Genealogical Society. The lists are based on the "home of record - state" data provided by the serviceman or woman upon last entrance into military service. to open, search, edit, or print the name files. Patricia Krause. The names are listed chronologically by date of death, the first to last.