Officers of all services, by tradition largely Protestant, remained so during the Vietnam war, sustaining casualties in comparison with Catholics by a 5 to 2 ratio. Vietnam War U.S. Military Fatal Casualty Statistics, Korean War and Vietnam War casualties listed at the National Archives, Hospital Admission Card Files, ca. 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. Dates of enlsitment or selective service registration will be helpful along with the name military units they served with. All heroes are listed alphabetically by their last name. W denotes the west wall, and E denotes the east wall. 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 there is an end. Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund | 3033 Wilson Blvd, Suite 300 | Arlington VA 22201 | 202.393.0090 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. VVMF does not have the authority to overrule those who adjudicate these matters. 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. This was long before the advent of integrated computer databases. They also died quickly, many within a few weeks or months of arriving in Vietnam. 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). 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. Richard B. Fitzgibbon III, who was killed on Sept. 7, 1965. offer to read the block of names that includes their special names. The Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall USA website is dedicated to honoring those who died in the Vietnam War. Army Center of Military History103 3rd AvenueFort Lesley J. McNair, DC 20319-5058Telephone: (202) 685-4042, NavyU.S. Congress and the Johnson administration, therefore, sought to protect our college-bound and educated young men. It is forgotten now, but in the beginning Congress and most of the American people were behind our containment effort in Vietnam. as the names on the Wall. I went through the whole list of names eight times, because I was concerned about the correct formatting, remembered Doubek. 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. All other individual draftee files from that period were destroyed by the Selective Service System in 1978, in accordance with approved records retention schedules. Names can also be located on The Wall of Faces on VVMFs web site, www.vvmf.org/wall-of-faces, Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund | 3033 Wilson Blvd, Suite 300 | Arlington VA 22201 | 202.393.0090 Only 10 percent of enlisted men had even some college to their credit and only 1 percent were college graduates. The names of Army Master Sergeant Chester Ovnand and Major Dale Buis are inscribed on Panel 1E of the Vietnam War Memorial Wall. 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. Digital History 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. Beallsville, Ohio with a population of 475 lost 6 of her sons. How to Order a Draft Record. 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. In honor of the men and women of the Armed Forces of the United States who served in the Vietnam War. He would become instrumental in helping Doubek identify names and check spellings. Text STOP to opt out, HELP for help. This amounted to 4.1 percent of all enlisted casualties in Vietnam. ), EDUCATIONAL LEVELS OF ENLISTED CASUALTIES. Dear Mr. Huddleston, Thank you for posting your request on History Hub! 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. This memorial was built with private contributions from the American people. 12 soldiers on the Wall were 17 years old. 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. Names that become eligible for inclusion are added once each year, in May, a few weeks before Memorial Day. Nor did America recognize, on July 8, 1959the day he was killedthat another long and bloody war lay in wait. 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. 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. A doctor arrived and gave his shaken mother a sedative. 1,448 soldiers were killed on their last day in Vietnam. Thus we can see that the channeling philosophy continued within the armed forces. 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. Thirty one sets of parents lost two of their sons. The Navy fatalities were 2,556 or 2 percent. For information regarding official military unit histories, contact: Air ForceU.S. The Vietnam Veterans Memorial was dedicated on November 10, 1982, with 57,939 names. Black leaders, including Martin Luther King Jr., protested, and President Johnson ordered black participation in combat units cut back. In civilian life, poor aptitude testing can have a tremendous negative impact, whether for college placement or for simple job advancement. As one walks the Wall slowly, examining the ineffably American names, one is struck by the same recurring surnames. 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. 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) All would be represented equally, with generals listed alongside infantrymen. The most comprehensive and authoritative history site on the Internet. 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). 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. On the other end of that phone call was an former Air Force officer who had served in Vietnam. One soldier, PFC Dan Bullock was 15 years old. 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. Indeed, officer casualties of all branches were overwhelmingly white. Scholars debate about when the war really began and in many ways it has never ended. 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. Vietnam Veterans Memorial (U.S. National Park Service) The casual visitor might not immediately recognize that Buis name is the first. Only 5 to 10 percent of enlisted men in the combat units were estimated to have had some college, and less than 1 percent of these enlisted men were college graduates. These young men were trained quickly and shipped to Vietnam quickly. Though 13 were rescued at sea, the rest died, either upon impact or soon after. 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. This page was last edited on 12 December 2022, at 18:28. 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. 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. 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. "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." Committee on Veterans' Affairs, Kansas, Sheridan County, Viet Nam records, 1955-1975, Vermont, National Guard, Vietnam war, 1950-1953, University of Utah - American West Center - Saving the Legacy/ Vietnam Veterans, https://www.familysearch.org/en/wiki/index.php?title=United_States_Vietnam_War_1964_to_1972&oldid=5123794, Personnel discharged November 1, 1912 to January 1, 1960, Personnel discharged, September 25, 1947 to January 1, 1964, The Military Index is available at the FamilySearch Library and at most FamilySearch centers. On July 12, 1973, a disastrous fire at the NPRC destroyed approximately 16-18 million Official Military Personnel Files. Officer casualties in Vietnam, including warrant officers, numbered 7,874, or 13.5 percent of all casualties. Are the names on the Vietnam Memorial in alphabetical order? 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. Learn more about featured topics of the Vietnam War and Vietnam Era. The black granite walls are engraved with the names of more than 58,000 men and women who laid down their lives or remained missing. 5th Marines were killed in . Eight women were killed in Vietnam, five Army lieutenants, one Army captain, one Army lieutenant colonel and one Air Force captain. There were no indexes created prior to the fire. Doubek contacted the National Personnel Records Center, Archives and Records Service, in St. Louis, Mo. Physical examination and test results, medical letters, laboratory work and other medical documentation that may have been included in these files no longer exist. The names are listed in chronological order, according to the date of casualty. The unit diary portion of the muster roll should indicate when members of the Lima Company, 3rd platoon. 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 . Note the panel and line number for the name listed. 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. However, if officer casualties are added to the total, then this overrepresentation is reduced to 12.5 percent of all casualties. But after World War II a kind of educational apartheid had settled over the United States. 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. Army Major Dale Buis' name is etched into the granite half an inch tall, no bigger or smaller than any of the others. As the Vietnam War dragged on, Kurt tried twice to enlist. Adding to the problem was Project 100,000. This approach would allow veterans, friends and family members to find a loved one by his or her date of casualty. The vast majority of Americans who were eligible by age but did not serve in the armed forces were exempted by reason of physical, mental, psychiatric, or moral failure; or they were given status deferments because they were college students, fathers, clergy, teachers, engineers or conscientious objectors. 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. Bennett on March 25, 1968 and Dennis on August 02, 1970 Brothers Gabriel and Paul Trujillo were both killed in Vietnam. The draft continued from 1948, during both peacetime and war, to 1973, when President Richard M. Nixon signed legislation officially ending the draft. Chiseled on the wall are the names of the 58,196 men and women who either died or are still listed as missing in Southeast Asia between 1959 and 1975. . Their sons, if not college material, made up a significant part of the volunteers and draftees. The panels come together to form a point, linking the first and last together in enduring tribute. They lived only a few yards apart. If a name was particularly long, it would be swapped with a shorter name. But given the draft policies, the hard-sell recruitment, the severe escalation from month to month and the refusal by President Lyndon Johnson to call up the older reserves and National Guard, it could not have been otherwise. Joe Moore's VN Memorial Wall Start Page - cantho-rvn.org I mean, it was bad.. Access to Non-Archival Military Service Records is limited. Authority Record - NARA, Records of the U.S. The Marines of Morenciled some of thebest high school football and basketball teams that the little Arizona copper town of Morenci (pop. The Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C. has the names listed in chronological order by date of loss. The appearance of DoD visual information does not imply or constitute DoD endorsement. 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. These directories help locate names on the wall. Thus, there were 211,455 killed and wounded, or one in every 10 Americans who served in Vietnam. See Access to Non-Archival Records for more information. 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. Ninety-one percent of these Army officers were warrant officers, second lieutenants, first lieutenants or captains. Non-Archival records are those of service members who separated from the military less than 62 years ago. And they all went to Vietnam. 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. The panels are numbered beginning from the center out toward the ends of each 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. They played ball at the adjacent sandlot ball field. The Wall is about names. 997 soldiers were killed on their first day in Vietnam. 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. 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. 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. Subscribe to receive our weekly newsletter with top stories from master historians. The ship had been taken to the island of Koh Tang. The names of Army Master Sergeant Chester Ovnand and Major Dale Buis are inscribed on Panel 1E of the Vietnam War Memorial Wall. . and have two columns per page, rather than only one column. The war is complete, coming full circle, yet broken by the earth that bounds the angles open side and contained within the earth itself. Brothers Marlin and Norman Eversgerd were both killed in Vietnam. . And there are the Vietnam veterans, who come to recognize the sacrifice of their fellow warriors, wondering why their own names are not there, too. 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. 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. prepared by Frances A. Hortsch for the Phoenix Genealogical Society. The slabs meet at a vertex of 125 degrees, 10 feet above ground level to form the Wall. EIN: 52-1149668, Copyright 2023 The Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund, Javascript must be enabled for the correct page display, Look up the name in the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. There are officially 58,228 names on the Wall, but the database these files were derived . Frequently Asked Questions - Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund 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. It is hard to believe it is 36 years since the last casualties. 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. Vietnam War, Awards and Decorations of Honor, 1965-1972. Doubek was tasked with identifying all of the names to be included on the Wall. readers. His name is listed on the Wall with that of his son, Marine Corps Lance Cpl. EIN: 52-1149668, Copyright 2023 The Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund, Javascript must be enabled for the correct page display. peruse. Senate. 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. Locate the line on which the name is inscribed. 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. 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. When the Wall was dedicated in 1982, there were 57,939 names inscribed. Lins intention from the beginning was to have the names appear chronologically, beginning and ending at the apex. Once a master list was compiled, the names were checked manually for errors. 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. 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. 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. If the demographic is expanded to 17- to 21- years, then we find there were 83 percent of Marine enlisted casualties, and 65 percent of Army enlisted casualties. Gather facts from sources at home,and talk to relatives. A correspondingly greater tradition of military service in the other regions had its effect on U.S. regional casualties. If a service member were to return alive, a circlethe symbol of lifewould be inscribed around the plus sign. Ziomek's name was finally inscribed on the Washington memorial on Sept. 15, 2020; he was one of just three veterans added in 2020. 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. Since its controversial beginnings, feelings toward the Vietnam Veterans Memorial have changed drastically. Vietnam Memorial.com - Vietnam Memorial List of Heroes - Vietnam 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. Another challenge was ensuring the accuracy of the names. Inscribed dots in the margins of every other panel mark every 10 lines to aid in counting. The Wall USA is a non-profit endeavor maintained by veterans . It ripped men from their loved ones, family, friends, and it left a wave of death in its path. Interesting Veterans Statistics Of The Vietnam Memorial Wall There are 58,267 names now listed on that polished black wall, including those added in 2010. The shining surface is intended to reflect the sun, the ground and those who stand before it. Every day, Americas service members selflessly put their lives on the line to keep us safe and free. 1972 NAID 305367, Silver Star Medal and Legion of Merit Award Case Files, 19711971 NAID 5721359. This can help veterans or relatives find other persons who died with It is hard to believe it has been 36 years since the last casualties. 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. 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. There is no question that all segments of American society were represented. In high school, he joined ROTC and kept his fathers medals pinned next to his own awards on a piece of crimson cloth. 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. They often reveal a typically warm American family atmosphere. 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. 1970 - ca. The names are listed chronologically by date of death, the first to last. The Vietnam Wall at the Buffalo and Erie County Naval & Military Park features the names of local fallen soldiers. Interested in a tour as part of your visit? information is available on this web site: These files are lists of the names on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, listed These were Mexican, Puerto Rican, Cuban and other Latino-Americans with ancestries based in Central and South America. The training for American officers is thought by most foreign military authorities to be the best in the world. The directories are organized alphabetically by last name. 31 sets of brothers are on the Wall. 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. is complete, or you've done a "save as", you can use any word processor The Selective Service registration requirement was later suspended in April 1975. Individual Award Case Files, 1969 - 1970. Proving a direct correlation to the injuries is a challenge, Pontes explained. the requirements were expanded (by. 8 Women are on the Wall. Less than 1 percent (0.8) were Jewish, Hindu, Thai, Buddhist or Muslim combined, and 5.7 listed no religion. The article was originally published in the June 1993 issue of Vietnam Magazine and updated in November 2004. Some recent studies tend to refute what had been the perceived wisdom of social scientists and other commentators that our Vietnam dead came overwhelmingly from the poor communities. This page has been viewed 167,336 times (0 via redirect). The first Americans to die did not perish in a foxhole or beneath stars obscured by a jungle canopy. They enjoyed roaring beer busts. West Virginia had the highest casualty rate per capita in the nation. 3rd Battalion. The USO relies on your support to help service members and their families. They did not, in most cases, carry the burdens of wife or children. The numbers on the wall ascend from the center out toward the left and right extremes. Chronological Lists of Names On The Wall - The Moving Wall Blacks were 85 percent Protestant. The chronological order allows veterans who were in a battle to see their friends forever united on the Wall, he explained. 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. Many others joined the reserves or National Guard, which were not mobilized in any appreciable numbers during the war. Lins vision prevailed. This can be in the form of a book, The Vietnam Veterans Memorial Directory of Names, or one of the various databases. The Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization. And in the patriotic camaraderie typical of Morencis mining families, the nine graduates of Morenci High enlisted as a group in the Marine Corps. Those who could have qualified for college probably did not have the funds or motivation. But there is a beginning. The popularity of the GI Bill after Vietnam emphasized this yearning. Your donation to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund will help expand our mission to honor, educate and heal. The officer corps casualties alone would satisfy that judgment, but that is not the same as being representative. The Vietnam Wall Flashcards | Quizlet It gives the names in alphabetical order and . Almost 50 percent were majors, lieutenant-colonels, colonels and three were generals. Message & data rates may apply. 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. While I was in training, my motivation was to get these wings and I wear them today proudly, the airman recalled in 2015. Names On The Wall: A Closer Look At Those Who Died In Vietnam - HistoryNet
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