alphabetical list of names on the vietnam wall

These young men were trained quickly and shipped to Vietnam quickly. By and large, with the exception of the officer corps, most of the college bound and educated skipped the Vietnam War at the urging of, and with the approval of, their own government. This was long before the advent of integrated computer databases. In many of these families it was considered unpatriotic and indeed reprehensible to avoid active duty by requesting a status deferment or seeking out a draft counselor for advice on how to avoid the draft. However, there have been no such cases. 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. The Vietnam Wall at the Buffalo and Erie County Naval & Military Park features the names of local fallen soldiers. The directories are organized alphabetically by last name. Your donation to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund will help expand our mission to honor, educate and heal. Photo credit DOD photo. 5 soldiers on the Wall were 16 years old. Compounding these difficulties was the issue that many casualties, particularly from the Air Force, were not always straightforward in terms of locale. 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. The affected record collections are described below. 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. 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. One soldier, PFC Dan Bullock was 15 years old. 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 . There are three sets of fathers and sons on the Vietnam Wall. As one walks the Wall slowly, examining the ineffably American names, one is struck by the same recurring surnames. Some common names appear on the Memorial more than once. It may come as a surprise to some that 63.3 percent of all Vietnam enlisted casualties were not draftees but volunteers. Though blessed with talent, his life wasnt without struggles. 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. 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. The men and women who valiantly fought in the Vietnam War certainly deserve the title of hero. Only the Navy, with 50 percent of its enlisted casualties over 21, and the Air Force, with 75 percent over 21, showed an older, more experienced age demographic. The names would become the memorial. . Black leaders, including Martin Luther King Jr., protested, and President Johnson ordered black participation in combat units cut back. Items are gathered by park staff. Vietnam War: in Country, Notice: Scanning of Vietnam-era Deck Logs, Vietnam War, 1961-1975. In an effort to further preserve the legacy of those who sacrificed all in Vietnam, VVMF is committed to finding a photo to go with each of the more than 58,000 names on The Wall. The shining surface is intended to reflect the sun, the ground and those who stand before it. The VC had commandeered Air America Hueys, and they were flying them around, which simply made for a very interesting chess game. Many of them, as experienced pilots, were older (two thirds were thirty or older) and many were high ranking. Individual Award Case Files, 1969 - 1970. Every day at 3:00 p.m. EST, VVMF will play a daily reading of all the individuals who died upon that day in alphabetical order. The names are listed in chronological order, according to the date of casualty. 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. The essence of the Wall is the names and the reaction of the visitor to seeing his or her reflection in this sea of remembrance. the "save as" menu command to store each text file on your media. This page has been viewed 167,336 times (0 via redirect). The Names - Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund The Names When the Wall was dedicated in 1982, there were 57,939 names inscribed. The panels come together to form a point, linking the first and last together in enduring tribute. Why are names added to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall? Coast Guard Historians OfficeCommandant (CG-09224)U.S. Coast Guard Headquarters 2100 Second Street SW Washington, D.C. 20593. Thus, there were 211,455 killed and wounded, or one in every 10 Americans who served in Vietnam. 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. She wanted the names to tell the journey, or the timeline, of the war. This came at a time when blacks made up 11 percent of the male population nationwide. In quieter moments, they rode horses along the Coronado Trail, stalked deer in the Apache National Forest. Of the 8000 Coast guardsmen who served in Vietnam, 3 officers and 4 enlisted men were killed and 59 were wounded. Nursing the wounded. 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. The wall at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington is 493 feet and 6 inches long, built of thick, polished black Bangalore granite. The appearance of DoD visual information does not imply or constitute DoD endorsement. This is close to, but not exactly in the same order The most casualty deaths for a single month was May 1968 2,415 casualties were incurred. 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. 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. There are students on field trips, some solemn and curious, but some just happy to get out of class. The draft continued from 1948, during both peacetime and war, to 1973, when President Richard M. Nixon signed legislation officially ending the draft. And, as in every American war, it is the very young who are the most willing to volunteer. And they are so respectful when they do the engraving. . 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. History is a guide to navigation in perilous times. The Vietnam War is no different. Vietnam War Casualties, MIA and POWs. Though 13 were rescued at sea, the rest died, either upon impact or soon after. The National Personnel Records Center (NPRC) in St. Louis maintains Vietnam War Official Military Personnel Files (OMPF). | 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. While their names are not on The Wall, they are never forgotten. 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. The Wall is about names. . Others think it is just another tourist stop until they feel the haunting power of this unique work of remembrance. The USO relies on your support to help service members and their families. It is hard to believe it is 36 years since the last casualties. 54 soldiers on the Wall attended Thomas Edison High School in Philadelphia. 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. If each Look for discharge papers, pictures, medals,etc. The Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C. has the names listed in chronological order by date of loss. 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). 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. Since its controversial beginnings, feelings toward the Vietnam Veterans Memorial have changed drastically. 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. Gather facts from sources at home,and talk to relatives. 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. 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. The very young were considered by many to be preferred combat material. 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. His name does not appear at either far end. By his estimate, he helped pull out close to 2,000 people. 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. Chronological order by date of casualty allows friends and family members to pick out their loved one from all of the others with the same 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. Nor did America recognize, on July 8, 1959the day he was killedthat another long and bloody war lay in wait. Folded American flags were presented to his parents and an Air Force helicopter flew over the ceremony. 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 Army refused him, for medical reasons, both times. They also died quickly, many within a few weeks or months of arriving in Vietnam. It is instructive to read the literature of the war, the letters written home from those who died, the novels and narrative accounts of those who served in combat and then returned. EIN: 52-1149668, Copyright 2023 The Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund, Javascript must be enabled for the correct page display. Non-perishable items are archived in a storage facility. Congress and the Johnson administration, therefore, sought to protect our college-bound and educated young men. since it was dedicated because additional casualty records were found and Ninety-one percent of these Army officers were warrant officers, second lieutenants, first lieutenants or captains. 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. I looked at the record to determine whether mortal wounds were sustained, Doubek said of the men whose names were listed by the Army, but not by DoD. The names are arranged in the order in which they were taken from us by date and within each date the names are alphabetized. The most comprehensive and authoritative history site on the Internet. Physical examination and test results, medical letters, laboratory work and other medical documentation that may have been included in these files no longer exist. Whether they produced battlefield images of the dead or daguerreotype portraits of common soldiers, []. 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. This page was last edited on 12 December 2022, at 18:28. Look at the bottom of each panel on the wall for its number. Thats a tragic 2,415 more names on the Vietnam Wall in a single month. "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." At some The Moving Wall sites, the sponsor makes arrangements 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. As a result, the software improperly truncated or abbreviated names. It is more notable, perhaps, only because his was the first name engraved into The Wall. and have two columns per page, rather than only one column. site, for searching with a word processor. 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. Charles Holley; chief editor, Robert J. Martin, 4th Infantry Division. 12 soldiers on the Wall were 17 years old. How many Smiths can there possibly be who died in Vietnam? 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 They enjoyed roaring beer busts. Fallen comrades could be together on the Wall, as theyd been in death. Others, later in the war, were simply ineligible because of high lottery number. Beginning at the apex on panel 1E and going out to the end of the East wall, appearing to recede into the earth (numbered 70E May 25, 1968), then resuming at the end of the West wall, as the wall emerges from the earth (numbered 70W continuing May 25, 1968) and ending with a date in 1975. the person they know. It stands near Panel 1W, which holds the name of the last to die in combat. 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. 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. Scholars debate about when the war really began and in many ways it has never ended. In order to have your name on the Wall, you had to have died within the war zone, explained Doubek. Authority Record - NARA, Records of the U.S. 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 Vietnam Veterans Memorial is open 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, for all who wish to visit. Family members are invited to witness the inscription and also to attend the annual Memorial Day ceremony when the new names are read at the Wall. No duplicate copies of the records that were destroyed in the fire were maintained, nor was a microfilm copy ever produced. Vietnam War Casualties- Main Alphabetical Index www.VirtualWall.org Find A Name Information Memorial pages honoring Vietnam War casualties, listed by their last names. Beallsville, Ohio with a population of 475 lost 6 of her sons. They often reveal a typically warm American family atmosphere. The files are quite large in order that we could save in Rich Text Format The war is complete, coming full circle, yet broken by the earth that bounds the angles open side and contained within the earth itself. 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. Through the AFQT process, the men scoring in the higher categories were more likely to be channeled into further specialized training and eventually assigned to technical and administrative units. Their sons, if not college material, made up a significant part of the volunteers and draftees. These casualties came largely from the Northeast and North Central regions of the United States, many from the traditionally patriotic, Catholic working class neighborhoods. History is who we are and why we are the way we are.. This change prompted the addition of 110 names in 1986. We honor and remember their sacrifice.". The Vietnam Veterans Memorial was dedicated on November 10, 1982, with 57,939 names. Learn more about featured topics of the Vietnam War and Vietnam Era. 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 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. Since its adoption in 1951, at the time of the Korean War, this policy had been renewed by Congress every four years. For men who registered for the draft prior to 1976, the only Selective Service System information available is that of the individual Draft Registration Card (SSS Form 1) and Classification History (SSS Form 102) records. The 1970 census which is being used as our Vietnam era population base did not list an Hispanic count but gave an estimate of 4.5 percent of the American population. Getting to Washington, D.C. . What will be the evolving historical judgment for those names on the Wall? 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 most casualty deaths for a single day was on January 31, 1968 245 deaths. This amounted to 4.1 percent of all enlisted casualties in Vietnam. Database of the 58,195 Names on The Wall in Wash,D.C. 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) Thus, the wars beginning and end meet. 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. 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 is no question that all segments of American society were represented. In honor of the men and women of the Armed Forces of the United States who served in the Vietnam War. Non-Archival records are those of service members who separated from the military less than 62 years ago. Concerning, How do I find a name on the Vietnam War Memorial wall? 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. Blacks were 85 percent Protestant. 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. What happens to items left at the memorial? Your donation to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund will help expand our mission to honor, educate and heal. 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. 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. 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. Of the 7,262 blacks who died, 6,955, or 96 percent, were Army and Marine enlisted men. 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. Their names, however, have been removed from the printed Directory of Names. 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. 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. I.. J.. K.. L.. M. N.. O.. P.. Q.. R.. S.. T.. U.. V.. W.. X.. Y.. Z It is hard to believe it has been 36 years since the last casualties. 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. As the Vietnam War dragged on, Kurt tried twice to enlist. Those who could have qualified for college probably did not have the funds or motivation. As they came through the door, Viet Cong guerrillas opened fire with machine guns. If the two branches are combined, then 80 percent of the Army and Marine enlisted casualties were privates or corporals, grades E-1 to E-4. The DOD database shows that of the 2,100,000 men and women who served in Vietnam, 58,152 were killed.

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