The combination of the selective service policies with the skills and aptitude testing of both volunteers and draftees (in which blacks scored noticeably lower) conspired to assign blacks in greater numbers to the combat units of the Army and Marine Corps. Tom was killed while assaulting the enemy on Dec. 7, Pearl HarborDay. 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. 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. The Army lost the greatest number of officers 4,635 or 59 percent of all officer casualties. Others, later in the war, were simply ineligible because of high lottery number. And they are so respectful when they do the engraving. 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. 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. 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. By his estimate, he helped pull out close to 2,000 people. The National Personnel Records Center (NPRC) in St. Louis maintains Vietnam War Official Military Personnel Files (OMPF). One soldier, PFC Dan Bullock was 15 years old. 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. How many names are on the wall? effort, but is a very effective means to express the enormity of the war and 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. Her name? We honor and remember their sacrifice.". Why are names added to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall? for all 58,228 names to be read aloud. 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. The DOD database shows that of the 2,100,000 men and women who served in Vietnam, 58,152 were killed. Dates of enlsitment or selective service registration will be helpful along with the name military units they served with. The USO is a not-for-profit organization and not part of the Department of Defense (DoD). Buis can be found at the top middle of a slab designated Panel 1E. The DOD percentages reveal that nearly 75 percent of Army enlisted casualties were privates or corporals. There was no need to embellish. Coast Guard casualties are included in the Navy totals. It is not surprising, for instance, that West Virginia, Montana, and Oklahoma had a casualty rate almost twice that of New York, New Jersey and Connecticut. This is the most accurate database online. For information regarding official military unit histories, contact: Air ForceU.S. In order to have your name on the Wall, you had to have died within the war zone, explained Doubek. 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). Therefore, a complete listing of the records that were lost is not available. Protestants were 64.4 percent (37,483), Catholics were 28.9 percent (16,806). It stands near Panel 1W, which holds the name of the last to die in combat. (The 58,000 Names) Our fallen Vietnam War heroes are herethe 58,000 heroes who died in Vietnam. A doctor arrived and gave his shaken mother a sedative. As they came through the door, Viet Cong guerrillas opened fire with machine guns. while they download, thank you. Of the 8000 Coast guardsmen who served in Vietnam, 3 officers and 4 enlisted men were killed and 59 were wounded. 1970 - ca. Only 10 percent of enlisted men had even some college to their credit and only 1 percent were college graduates. 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. NAVY AND AIR FORCE OFFICER CASUALTIES BY RANK AND AGE. 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 . As a region, the South experienced the greatest numbers of dead, nearly 34 percent of the total, or 31.0 deaths per 100,000 of population. The Marines of Morenciled some of thebest high school football and basketball teams that the little Arizona copper town of Morenci (pop. It is hard to believe it has been 36 years since the last casualties. The Classification History (SSS Form 102) may contain: name; date of birth; classification and date of mailing notice; date of appeal to the board; date and results of armed forces physical examination; entry into active duty or civilian work in lieu of induction (may include date, branch of service entered and mode of entry, such as enlisted or ordered); date of separation from active duty or civilian work; and general remarks. 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. He did it allsing, dance, create music and crack wise. The last 18 names listed on the bottom of Panel 1, West, also at the apex, are from May 15, 1975. The names are listed chronologically by date of death, the first to last. If the veteran is still alive, ask his or her help finding records. as the names on the Wall. This is close to, but not exactly in the same order as the names on the Wall. 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. 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. 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. The DOD database listed precise religious preferences for the 58,152 Vietnam casualties. 12 soldiers on the Wall were 17 years old. The feeling is that the poor, the undereducated and the minorities made up the vast majority of the combat arms during that war. 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. Those who could have qualified for college probably did not have the funds or motivation. Army Major Dale Buis' name is etched into the granite half an inch tall, no bigger or smaller than any of the others. 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. Since then, 379 names have been added, for a total of 58,318 (as of Memorial Day 2017). This video can help you find the name of someone you'd like to honor. 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. Military Reunions, Screensavers, Rubbings, Personal Guestbook for all Names. At some The Moving Wall sites, the sponsor makes arrangements The Vietnam Veterans Memorial is open 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, for all who wish to visit. However, there have been no such cases. The west wall is on the left when standing facing the vertex, and the east wall is to the right. Where previously a high school diploma had been an acceptable goal, now it was college and all the benefits it would bring. 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. 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) Buis was in Vietnam by his own volition. This was long before the advent of integrated computer databases. It was fitting that Vandegeer finally returned home to American soil, because he spent his last weeks at war evacuating Americans as Saigon fell. 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. Except for the last file, there are approximately 10,000 names per file. Their names, however, have been removed from the printed Directory of Names. This is the genius of Mayas design, said Scruggs. More Info At www.themovingwall.org Visit site . It should be noted, however, that the draft was specifically designed to trigger volunteer enlistments. The Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization. The chronological order allows veterans who were in a battle to see their friends forever united on the Wall, he explained. Buis died, as did Army Master Sergeant Chester Ovnand, whose name is second on the wall. Millions more come to experience this Memorial each year. No single persons service or sacrifice would be any greater than anyone elses. HistoryNet.com contains daily features, photo galleries and over 25,000 articles originally published in our nine magazines. With the glitch discovered, Doubek and his team located and hand-corrected each error. 1972 NAID 305367, Silver Star Medal and Legion of Merit Award Case Files, 19711971 NAID 5721359. 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. 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. 1,448 soldiers were killed on their last day in Vietnam. 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. In 2004, the total is 58,241 names. The Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization. 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). 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 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. And in the patriotic camaraderie typical of Morencis mining families, the nine graduates of Morenci High enlisted as a group in the Marine Corps. Full casualty records may be retrieved online through the National Archives' Access to Archival Databases resource. The central idea of the poem is that the Vietnamese War took hundreds of lives away from the United States of America. Indeed, officer casualties of all branches were overwhelmingly white. 5 soldiers on the Wall were 16 years old. 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. Gather facts from sources at home,and talk to relatives. The very young were considered by many to be preferred combat material. 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. 3rd Battalion. U.S. Army Personnel and Dependent Casualties, 1961-1981 85% of the records in this database are related to the Vietnam Conflict. The appearance of DoD visual information does not imply or constitute DoD endorsement. These names are followed by the inscription: Our nation honors the courage, sacrifice and devotion to duty and country of its Vietnam veterans. The Vietnam Veterans Memorial is a symbol of American honor and appreciation for the men and women who served and sacrificed their lives during the Vietnam War. For more great articles be sure to subscribe to Vietnam Magazine today! He was a Navy enlisted man during World War II and has a degree in Political Science from Duke University. prepared by Frances A. Hortsch for the Phoenix Genealogical Society. 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. 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. 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 affected record collections are described below. 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. Congress and the Johnson administration, therefore, sought to protect our college-bound and educated young men. 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 page was last edited on 12 December 2022, at 18:28. 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. 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. And mores the pity, because many of them were trying to escape this background and didnt make it. It gives the names in alphabetical order and . The names are arranged in the order in which they were taken from us by date and within each date the names are alphabetized. Lins intention from the beginning was to have the names appear chronologically, beginning and ending at the apex. Kurt became the man of the house, even as a boy. Its still fought in the bodies and minds of the men who waged it all those decades ago. Making these arrangements and printing the pages takes considerable Once additions are approved by DoD, VVMF receives the list of approved names, coordinates the inscribing and absorbs the costs. 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. Look for discharge papers, pictures, medals,etc. 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. Nevertheless, 336,111 men were phased into the service under this plan (mostly the Army) and 2,072 were killed. This year, 14 names were etched into the wall. It is hard to believe it is 36 years since the last casualties. This approach would allow veterans, friends and family members to find a loved one by his or her date of casualty. 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. 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. Subscribe to receive our weekly newsletter with top stories from master historians. Another browser may inform you that it does not know how to display the file Almost 50 percent were majors, lieutenant-colonels, colonels and three were generals. The Vietnam Wall at the Buffalo and Erie County Naval & Military Park features the names of local fallen soldiers. By providing your mobile phone number, you opt in to receive calls and texts from USO. Though blessed with talent, his life wasnt without struggles. Alphabetical listing of the names on the Vietnam Memorial Wall . Download our app to find events, locations and programs near you. Search the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund’s database of names on the wall. 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. Brothers Marlin and Norman Eversgerd were both killed in Vietnam. 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. Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund | 3033 Wilson Blvd, Suite 300 | Arlington VA 22201 | 202.393.0090 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. the requirements were expanded (by. 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. Look at the bottom of each panel on the wall for its number. The Vietnam Veterans Memorial was dedicated on November 10, 1982, with 57,939 names. In quieter moments, they rode horses along the Coronado Trail, stalked deer in the Apache National Forest. Few areas of the world have been as hotly contested as the India-Pakistan border. Photo credit DOD photo. 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. They drew on every segment of American society. VVMF does not have the authority to overrule those who adjudicate these matters. Inscribed dots in the margins of every other panel mark every 10 lines to aid in counting. All other individual draftee files from that period were destroyed by the Selective Service System in 1978, in accordance with approved records retention schedules. Nor did America recognize, on July 8, 1959the day he was killedthat another long and bloody war lay in wait. Army Center of Military History103 3rd AvenueFort Lesley J. McNair, DC 20319-5058Telephone: (202) 685-4042, NavyU.S. On November 7, 2021 VVMF began a daily virtual Reading of the Names. When the Wall was dedicated in 1982, there were 57,939 names inscribed. Access to Non-Archival Military Service Records is limited. 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 popularity of the GI Bill after Vietnam emphasized this yearning. Some have tried for years before receiving approval from DoD. in chronological order of the casualty date and then alphabetical by last It would also enable veterans to find groups of friends who died during the same incident. The Wall of Faces allows family and friends to share memories, post pictures and connect with each other. There are 58,267 names now listed on Vietnam Wall, including those added in 2010. the reader loses composure. The Wall USA is a non-profit endeavor maintained by veterans . Adding to the problem was Project 100,000. Some common names appear on the Memorial more than once. They lived only a few yards apart. ), EDUCATIONAL LEVELS OF ENLISTED CASUALTIES. the "save as" menu command to store each text file on your media. 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. Written requests should be mailed to: National Personnel Records Center, 9700 Page Ave., St. Louis, MO 63132-5100. A more precise equation would be that the college bound stayed home while the non-college bound served and died. If officers are added, then almost 70 percent of those who died were volunteers. 54 soldiers on the Wall attended Thomas Edison High School in Philadelphia. that each name was a real person. National Mall and Memorial Parks , Vietnam Veterans Memorial, Download the official NPS app before your next visit. Dear Mr. Huddleston, Thank you for posting your request on History Hub! 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. 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. 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. In honor of the men and women of the Armed Forces of the United States who served in the Vietnam War. 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 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. Despite their inexperience, they were thought to accept discipline readily. Bennett on March 25, 1968 and Dennis on August 02, 1970 Brothers Gabriel and Paul Trujillo were both killed in Vietnam. This change prompted the addition of 110 names in 1986. (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. 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. 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 most comprehensive and authoritative history site on the Internet. They refer to older or younger siblings who are either in or on their way to college. You could also keep these files on a computer at your The VC had commandeered Air America Hueys, and they were flying them around, which simply made for a very interesting chess game. Marine Corps History Division2044 Broadway StreetQuantico, Virginia 22134Telephone: (703) 432-4877, Coast GuardU.S. There is no question that all segments of American society were represented. At the time, approximately 1,300 names were designated as servicemen who were either missing or prisoners of war. The Vietnam Wall. 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. EIN: 52-1149668, Copyright 2023 The Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund, Javascript must be enabled for the correct page display. Charles Holley; chief editor, Robert J. Martin, 4th Infantry Division. There were 667; How many Andersons?, 178; Garcias?, 102; Murphys?, 82; Jenkins?, 66; One wants to know more about these Americans. Once download peruse. This can be in the form of a book, The Vietnam Veterans Memorial Directory of Names, or one of the various databases. do this, be sure to have an alternate reader assigned to take over in case Written requests should be mailed to: National Personnel Records Center, 9700 Page Ave., St. Louis, MO 63132-5100. The casual visitor might not immediately recognize that Buis name is the first. And they often show a heartbreakingly wry sense of humor with the same sensibilities as their college-bound peers. World War II had been, for the most part, a perfect war, clear of purpose, the forces of democracy and freedom lined up against the forces of fascism and tyranny. 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. They played ball at the adjacent sandlot ball field. Little about it is concrete. Thus, there were 211,455 killed and wounded, or one in every 10 Americans who served in Vietnam. The names of Army Master Sergeant Chester Ovnand and Major Dale Buis are inscribed on Panel 1E of the Vietnam War Memorial Wall. W denotes the west wall, and E denotes the east wall. The names are arranged in the order in which they were taken from us by date and within each date the names are alphabetized. They went for a ride and she gently told them that their father would not be coming home. 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. They were at their peak physically. Non-Archival records are those of service members who separated from the military less than 62 years ago. An estimated 11,000 women served in Vietnam. 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 officer corps casualties alone would satisfy that judgment, but that is not the same as being representative. More names are added to the wall every year. Learn more about featured topics of the Vietnam War and Vietnam Era. The memorial consists of three separate parts: The Three Soldiers statue, the Vietnam Women's Memorial and the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall, also known as The Wall That Heals, which is the most popular feature. And there is an end. The panel numbers are inscribed at the bottom of each panel. Only 3 returned home. Ziomek's name was finally inscribed on the Washington memorial on Sept. 15, 2020; he was one of just three veterans added in 2020. These young men were trained quickly and shipped to Vietnam quickly. A diamond symbol signifies that the service members death was confirmed. 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. Inscription at the beginning of The Wall.
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