And there is an end. 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. This memorial was built with private contributions from the American people. Richard B. Fitzgibbon III, who was killed on Sept. 7, 1965. If a name was particularly long, it would be swapped with a shorter name. It is hard to believe it has been 36 years since the last casualties. In the event a service members remains are returned or accounted for, then a diamond symbol is engraved over the plus sign. 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. There were no indexes created prior to the fire. 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. Postscript: Since 1982, there have been 89 names added to The Wall. Once download 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. The names are listed chronologically by date of death, the first to last. Marine Corps History Division2044 Broadway StreetQuantico, Virginia 22134Telephone: (703) 432-4877, Coast GuardU.S. 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 . Download our app to find events, locations and programs near you. At some The Moving Wall sites, the sponsor makes arrangements For blacks, however, only 7 percent placed in categories I and II and 93 percent placed in categories III and IV. These names are followed by the inscription: Our nation honors the courage, sacrifice and devotion to duty and country of its Vietnam veterans. Army Center of Military History103 3rd AvenueFort Lesley J. McNair, DC 20319-5058Telephone: (202) 685-4042, NavyU.S. How many women soldiers died in the Vietnam War? 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. In quieter moments, they rode horses along the Coronado Trail, stalked deer in the Apache National Forest. At the time, approximately 1,300 names were designated as servicemen who were either missing or prisoners of war. 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). All of this was one of the great and abiding agonies of the Vietnam War, causing repercussions within families and on the national political scene to this day. The 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. Several hundred such designation changes have been made since the Wall was built in 1982. Individual Award Case Files, 1969 - 1970. The Air Force lost 2,580 or l percent. All heroes are listed alphabetically by their last name. 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. 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. The Armed Forces Qualification Test (AFQT) was given to all entering enlisted men. 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. There are officially 58,228 names on the Wall, but the database these files were derived . 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. The Navy fatalities were 2,556 or 2 percent. But there is a beginning. Our combat arms were thought to be completely classless. 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. As they came through the door, Viet Cong guerrillas opened fire with machine guns. Locate the line on which the name is inscribed. The names of those who gave their lives and of those who remain missing are inscribed in the order they were taken from us. Your donation to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund will help expand our mission to honor, educate and heal. 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. Their sons, if not college material, made up a significant part of the volunteers and draftees. while they download, thank you. The names of Army Master Sergeant Chester Ovnand and Major Dale Buis are inscribed on Panel 1E of the Vietnam War Memorial Wall. Please say a prayer for our fallen heroes, their family members, and our hero Vietnam War Veterans during your visit. There was no need to embellish. He tried to make the best call he could when adding names to the list. as the names on the Wall. (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 Selective Service registration requirement was later suspended in April 1975. Some have tried for years before receiving approval from DoD. 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. name within a given date. Of 2,590 total Air Force casualties, 1,674 or 65 percent were officers. Of the 7,262 blacks who died, 6,955, or 96 percent, were Army and Marine enlisted men. The wall at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington is 493 feet and 6 inches long, built of thick, polished black Bangalore granite. Text STOP to opt out, HELP for help. 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. While their names are not on The Wall, they are never forgotten. These were Mexican, Puerto Rican, Cuban and other Latino-Americans with ancestries based in Central and South America. More names are added to the wall every year. You may print these files and have the pages available for visitors to The training for American officers is thought by most foreign military authorities to be the best in the world. EIN: 52-1149668, Copyright 2023 The Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund, Javascript must be enabled for the correct page display. 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. Nor did America recognize, on July 8, 1959the day he was killedthat another long and bloody war lay in wait. The Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization. As the Vietnam War dragged on, Kurt tried twice to enlist. It is forgotten now, but in the beginning Congress and most of the American people were behind our containment effort in Vietnam. Look for clues about where he or she lived and served. This is the most accurate database online. 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. 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. The Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization. 39,996 on the Wall were just 22 or younger. The result: no comprehensive master list of Vietnam War casualties existed. 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. 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 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 Maya Ling Lin, the architect of the Wall, has said: It was as if the black-brown earth were polished and made into an interface between the sunny world and the quiet dark world beyond that we cannot enter. readers. Unfortunately, the Department of Defense and the individual service branches maintained separate casualty lists with slightly differing criteria. 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. The directory can be purchased on the VVMF store. The Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization. By his estimate, he helped pull out close to 2,000 people. 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. Search the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund’s database of names on the wall. Vietnam Veterans Memorial Learn about the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in this brief introductory video. The popularity of the GI Bill after Vietnam emphasized this yearning. We were being fired upon by anti-aircraft guns. NAID 5709942, U.S. Air Force Historical Research Agency, National Archives Command Chronologies:Vietnam War, National Archives Command Chronologies: Vietnam War: Index to Reports, National Archves. The memorial is free and open to the public 24 hours a day, with rangers on duty to answer questions from 9:30 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily. The officer corps casualties alone would satisfy that judgment, but that is not the same as being representative. Getting to Washington, D.C. Learn more about featured topics of the Vietnam War and Vietnam Era. They went for a ride and she gently told them that their father would not be coming home. 1,448 soldiers were killed on their last day in Vietnam. Nursing the wounded. Message & data rates may apply. Along with its wave of death, it scarred many people, especially those closest to the men that died fighting the . The Army as a branch had 134,982 killed or wounded (9.5 percent), but the Marines suffered 66,227 killed or wounded (22.5 percent) or almost one of every four Marines who served. 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. A correspondingly greater tradition of military service in the other regions had its effect on U.S. regional casualties. I.. J.. K.. L.. M. N.. O.. P.. Q.. R.. S.. T.. U.. V.. W.. X.. Y.. Z Some are drawn to the Wall like pilgrims to Mecca. The draft continued from 1948, during both peacetime and war, to 1973, when President Richard M. Nixon signed legislation officially ending the draft. Look at the bottom of each panel on the wall for its number. This can be in the form of a book, The Vietnam Veterans Memorial Directory of Names, or one of the various databases. Almost 50 percent were majors, lieutenant-colonels, colonels and three were generals. Military Reunions, Screensavers, Rubbings, Personal Guestbook for all Names. It ripped men from their loved ones, family, friends, and it left a wave of death in its path. Fallen comrades could be together on the Wall, as theyd been in death. Those designated by a plus sign were considered to be missing in action when the war ended. They seem honored to be putting the names on the Wall.. 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. 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. Hed volunteered to join a small U.S. military advisory team attached to the South Vietnamese army, and hed been in the village of Bien Hoa for only two days. Millions more come to experience this Memorial each year. 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. The Vietnam Wall at the Buffalo and Erie County Naval & Military Park features the names of local fallen soldiers. compiled by Military Records and Research Library, Department of Military Affairs; edited by Julia D. Rather and Jeffrey Michael Duff, Research Our Records. 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. Buis died, as did Army Master Sergeant Chester Ovnand, whose name is second on the wall. In order to have your name on the Wall, you had to have died within the war zone, explained Doubek. 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. 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 panel numbers are inscribed at the bottom of each panel. Authority Record - NARA, Records of the U.S. The shining surface is intended to reflect the sun, the ground and those who stand before it. Only 10 percent of enlisted men had even some college to their credit and only 1 percent were college graduates. Photo credit DOD photo. 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. HistoryNet.com is brought to you by HistoryNet LLC, the worlds largest publisher of history magazines. Note the panel and line number for the name listed. The numbers on the wall ascend from the center out toward the left and right extremes. Patricia Krause. Many of them, as experienced pilots, were older (two thirds were thirty or older) and many were high ranking. 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. There are students on field trips, some solemn and curious, but some just happy to get out of class. 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. Making these arrangements and printing the pages takes considerable 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. See Access to Non-Archival Records for more information. An estimated 11,000 women served in Vietnam. Coast Guard Historians OfficeCommandant (CG-09224)U.S. Coast Guard Headquarters 2100 Second Street SW Washington, D.C. 20593. Beside each name is a symbol that denotes a service members status: either missing or confirmed dead. How many names are on the wall? In civilian life, poor aptitude testing can have a tremendous negative impact, whether for college placement or for simple job advancement. 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. I went through the whole list of names eight times, because I was concerned about the correct formatting, remembered Doubek. He admitted no particular feelings about the righteousness of the war, and allowed himself to look ahead into a future free of war and obligation. Only 3 returned home. Many others joined the reserves or National Guard, which were not mobilized in any appreciable numbers during the war. person reads for 20 minutes, (270 names) this will require 216 volunteer name . We worked very hard with volunteers from the Gold Star Mothers, recalled Doubek. No single persons service or sacrifice would be any greater than anyone elses. Few areas of the world have been as hotly contested as the India-Pakistan border. For a photograph of an inscription of a close friend or relative, write: This website requires a paid subscription for full access. All classes were drafted or volunteered and all served and died equally, although it must be noted that most blacks died separately. This year, 14 names were etched into the 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. More than 200 names have been added to the Wall How many Smiths can there possibly be who died in Vietnam? Be the first to learn about news, service member stories and fundraising updates from USO. The Names - Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund The Names When the Wall was dedicated in 1982, there were 57,939 names inscribed. 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. Kurt Buis was 8 years old the day his father died. 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.. Learn more about featured topics of the Vietnam War and Vietnam Era. The directories are organized alphabetically by last name. During the Vietnam War, the Navy and Air Force became substantially white enclaves enlisted and officer casualties were 96 percent white. How to Order a Draft Record. This change prompted the addition of 110 names in 1986. Twenty years passed before Vandegeers remains were identified and another five passed before his funeral at Arlington National Cemetery. One additional factor, often overlooked, that influenced volunteer enlistment was military tradition the influence of fathers, grandfathers, brothers, uncles and others who had served in previous 20th century wars. 31 sets of brothers are on the Wall. The very young were considered by many to be preferred combat material. About 58 thousand of the 7 million American service men and women who served in Vietnam died. The war is complete, coming full circle, yet broken by the earth that bounds the angles open side and contained within the earth itself. 1972 NAID 305367, Silver Star Medal and Legion of Merit Award Case Files, 19711971 NAID 5721359. Derek Turner is a freelance writer and a former senior editor of On Patrol. There are three sets of fathers and sons on the Vietnam Wall. The Vietnam War is no different. They enjoyed roaring beer busts. There are the still-grieving family members who come to pay respects as they would at a cemetery, to leave mementos and make chalk renderings of a loved ones name. 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. And they all went to Vietnam. 244 soldiers were awarded the Medal of Honor during the Vietnam War; 153 of them are on the Wall. 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. His name does not appear at either far end. 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). 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 requirements were expanded (by. Black leaders, including Martin Luther King Jr., protested, and President Johnson ordered black participation in combat units cut back. 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. The Selective Service System remains in place today. And they are so respectful when they do the engraving. 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. 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. Unfortunately, he mistakenly added a small number of names of men who were still alive. If your browser displays the text file, you can then use The job of cross-referencing the information of individual branches with the DoD fell to Doubek. 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. Though 13 were rescued at sea, the rest died, either upon impact or soon after. It specified the geographic areas of Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia and surrounding coastal areas as combat zones. No other American war has presented such a young profile in combat. 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. 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. Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund | 3033 Wilson Blvd, Suite 300 | Arlington VA 22201 | 202.393.0090 Ninety-one percent of these Army officers were warrant officers, second lieutenants, first lieutenants or captains. To put a circle around the symbol beside their names would not provide the correct historical context related to their situation. Non-Archival records are those of service members who separated from the military less than 62 years ago. 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 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. Another challenge was ensuring the accuracy of the names. They lived only a few yards apart. There are 58,267 names now listed on Vietnam Wall, including those added in 2010. In a massive sampling of the database, it was established that between 5 and 6 percent of Vietnam dead had identifiable Hispanic surnames. Fill out the tour request form. 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 first group, added in 1983, included 53 Marines who were killed when their R&R (rest and relaxation) flight crashed in Hong Kong. The directories are organized alphabetically by last name. Naval Academy, 130; Texas A & M, 112; The Citadel, 66; Virginia Military Institute, 43; Virginia Polytechnic Institute, 26; Norwich University, 19. This came at a time when blacks made up 11 percent of the male population nationwide. The widely held notion that the poor served and died in Vietnam while the rich stayed home is way off the mark. 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. 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. Army and Marine officer casualties were also quite young. 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. since it was dedicated because additional casualty records were found 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. This approach would allow veterans, friends and family members to find a loved one by his or her date of casualty. The numbers on the wall ascend from the center out toward the left and right extremes. 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. Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund | 3033 Wilson Blvd, Suite 300 | Arlington VA 22201 | 202.393.0090 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. Today, more than 58,000 names are engraved in the wall, and more were added in May. The Marine Corps lost 14,836, or 5 percent of its own men. The west wall is on the left when standing facing the vertex, and the east wall is to the right. 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. In some instances, names needed to be shuffled in order to fit on a line. Since its controversial beginnings, feelings toward the Vietnam Veterans Memorial have changed drastically. Why are names added to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall? It would also enable veterans to find groups of friends who died during the same incident. 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. The beginnings and endings are often hazy and the facts of the story lie at the mercy of the teller. EIN: 52-1149668, Copyright 2023 The Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund, Javascript must be enabled for the correct page display. 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). This uneven impact was caused by a number of factors: (1) While the South was home to some 53 percent of all blacks in the 1970 census, almost 60 percent of black casualties came from the South; (2) Although we cannot be as precise, we do know that a considerable majority of Hispanic-American casualties came from the West, (California, New Mexico, Arizona, Colorado) and the South (Texas); (3) Better employment opportunities in the Northeast reduced the number of volunteers; (4) Greater college matriculation in the Northeast increased the number of status deferments for the regions 17- to 24- year olds; (5) More anti-war sentiment in the media and on college campuses in the Northeast. Non-perishable items are archived in a storage facility. And mores the pity, because many of them were trying to escape this background and didnt make it. Your donation to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund will help expand our mission to honor, educate and heal. The unit diary portion of the muster roll should indicate when members of the Lima Company, 3rd platoon. In addition, millions of documents had been lent to the Department of Veterans Affairs before the fire occurred. 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. Photo credit DOD photo by Army Sgt. . 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. In high school, he joined ROTC and kept his fathers medals pinned next to his own awards on a piece of crimson cloth. And there would be nothing to denote service or rank. Often that advice, especially for professional athletes, rock stars, sons of politicians and other celebrities, was to join the never-to-be-called-up reserves or National Guard.

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