Getting to Washington, D.C. The feeling is that the poor, the undereducated and the minorities made up the vast majority of the combat arms during that war. Therefore, a complete listing of the records that were lost is not available. Look at the bottom of each panel on the wall for its number. 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. effort, but is a very effective means to express the enormity of the war and 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. 1970 NAID 570973, State-Level Fatal Casualty Lists sorted Alphabetically by Last Name, List of United States servicemembers and civilians missing in action during the Vietnam War (196165) Wikipedia, U.S., Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency, Unaccounted-for Remains, Group A (Recoverable), 1941-1975, U.S., Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency, Unaccounted-for Remains, Group B (Unrecoverable), 1941-1975, Vietnamw-Era POW/MIA Databases & Documents. The officer corps has always drawn heavily on English/Scottish/Welsh, German, Irish and Scandinavian-American ancestries from middle-class white collar homes, with other large percentages from ambitious working class blue collar and, of course, career military families. These names are followed by the inscription: Our nation honors the courage, sacrifice and devotion to duty and country of its Vietnam veterans. since it was dedicated because additional casualty records were found and The men and women who valiantly fought in the Vietnam War certainly deserve the title of hero. They seem honored to be putting the names on the Wall.. I.. J.. K.. L.. M. N.. O.. P.. Q.. R.. S.. T.. U.. V.. W.. X.. Y.. Z But after World War II a kind of educational apartheid had settled over the United States. 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. Little about it is concrete. An aunt came and loaded the three boys into the car. 244 soldiers were awarded the Medal of Honor during the Vietnam War; 153 of them are on the Wall. Look for clues about where he or she lived and served. The Marine Corps lost 14,836, or 5 percent of its own men. 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. Authority Record - NARA, Records of the U.S. The first Americans to die did not perish in a foxhole or beneath stars obscured by a jungle canopy. readers. The very young were considered by many to be preferred combat material. 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. Our combat arms were thought to be completely classless. Coast Guard casualties are included in the Navy totals. Database of the 58,195 Names on The Wall in Wash,D.C. The DOD database shows that of the 2,100,000 men and women who served in Vietnam, 58,152 were killed. Locate the line on which the name is inscribed. 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. 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. 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. 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 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. The officer corps casualties alone would satisfy that judgment, but that is not the same as being representative. 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. 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. 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. The central idea of the poem is that the Vietnamese War took hundreds of lives away from the United States of America. . Buis died, as did Army Master Sergeant Chester Ovnand, whose name is second on the wall. Learn more about featured topics of the Vietnam War and Vietnam Era. In a massive sampling of the database, it was established that between 5 and 6 percent of Vietnam dead had identifiable Hispanic surnames. Indeed, officer casualties of all branches were overwhelmingly white. 5,058) had ever known and cheered. It would also enable veterans to find groups of friends who died during the same incident. Protestants were 64.4 percent (37,483), Catholics were 28.9 percent (16,806). Though blessed with talent, his life wasnt without struggles. It is hard to believe it is 36 years since the last casualties. that each name was a real person. As many as 3 million people visit each year, according to some estimates, and they come for probably as many reasons. Postscript: Since 1982, there have been 89 names added to The Wall. They enjoyed roaring beer busts. How to Order a Draft Record. These directories help locate names on the wall. This is close to, but not exactly in the same order as the names on the Wall. By providing your mobile phone number, you opt in to receive calls and texts from USO. In order to have your name on the Wall, you had to have died within the war zone, explained Doubek. The young enlisted volunteer or draftee had not had much time to form any complicated theories about our Vietnam commitment. and have two columns per page, rather than only one column. The panel number is a number/letter combination, such as 10W or 35E. No single persons service or sacrifice would be any greater than anyone elses. Search the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund’s database of names on the wall. Their names, however, have been removed from the printed Directory of Names. The job of cross-referencing the information of individual branches with the DoD fell to Doubek. The slabs meet at a vertex of 125 degrees, 10 feet above ground level to form the Wall. | Their sacrifices were honored July 8, 2009, in Washington during a ceremony commemorating the 50th anniversary of their deaths. 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. 39,996 on the Wall were just 22 or younger. 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. Please take a moment to let our troops know how much we appreciate their service and sacrifice. 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. 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. The panel numbers are inscribed at the bottom of each panel. 26 Similar Questions Bennett on March 25, 1968 and Dennis on August 02, 1970 Brothers Gabriel and Paul Trujillo were both killed in Vietnam. This is close to, but not exactly in the same order as the names on the Wall. Of the 7,262 blacks who died, 6,955, or 96 percent, were Army and Marine enlisted men. What will be the evolving historical judgment for those names on the Wall? Congress. VVMF receives numerous requests each year from individuals who wish to have particular names added to the Memorial. peruse. 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. If your browser displays the text file, you can then use Tom was killed while assaulting the enemy on Dec. 7, Pearl HarborDay. The USO is a not-for-profit organization and not part of the Department of Defense (DoD). These young men were trained quickly and shipped to Vietnam quickly. 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. http://www.freetoursbyfoot.com/vietna.. The Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall USA website is dedicated to honoring those who died in the Vietnam War. Today, more than 58,000 names are engraved in the wall, and more were added in May. The civilian and military men who formed the policy did not see it necessarily as a disadvantage. Of the 8000 Coast guardsmen who served in Vietnam, 3 officers and 4 enlisted men were killed and 59 were wounded. Some have tried for years before receiving approval from DoD. 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. Many of the 17- and 18-year olds were simply late in maturing. Locate the corresponding panel at the Memorial. 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. Air Force Historical Research Agency 600 Chenault Circle Maxwell AFB, AL 36112-6424Telephone: (334) 953-2395, ArmyU.S. This index includes those who died or who were declared dead from 1950 to 1957 in Korea and from 1957 to 1975 in Southeast Asia. It is more notable, perhaps, only because his was the first name engraved into The Wall. 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). The Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C. has the names listed in chronological order by date of loss. The shining surface is intended to reflect the sun, the ground and those who stand before it. Count down from the top of the panel. Few areas of the world have been as hotly contested as the India-Pakistan border. The lists are based on the "home of record - state" data provided by the serviceman or woman upon last entrance into military service. Others think it is just another tourist stop until they feel the haunting power of this unique work of remembrance. 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. 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. In quieter moments, they rode horses along the Coronado Trail, stalked deer in the Apache National Forest. We were one giant Hollywood B-17 bomber crew, one perfect socioeconomic platoon storming Omaha Beach or Okinawa. To put a circle around the symbol beside their names would not provide the correct historical context related to their situation. Ninety-one percent of these Army officers were warrant officers, second lieutenants, first lieutenants or captains. 5 soldiers on the Wall were 16 years old. It called for the registration of all 18 to 26-year old males, with induction to take place at 18 1/2 if so ordered by the local draft board. In 2004, the total is 58,241 names. The west wall is on the left when standing facing the vertex, and the east wall is to the right. Only 3 returned home. The casual visitor might not immediately recognize that Buis name is the first. 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. For a photograph of an inscription of a close friend or relative, write: This website requires a paid subscription for full access. Many others joined the reserves or National Guard, which were not mobilized in any appreciable numbers during the war. Patricia Krause. 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. The names of those who gave their lives and of those who remain missing are inscribed in the order they were taken from us. Jimmy died less than 24 hours later on Thanksgiving Day. Subscribe to receive our weekly newsletter with top stories from master historians. They often reveal a typically warm American family atmosphere. 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. 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. As they came through the door, Viet Cong guerrillas opened fire with machine guns. His name does not appear at either far end. The names are arranged in the order in which they were taken from us by date and within each date the names are alphabetized. Message & data rates may apply. In the military it can be somewhat more deadly. It is more notable, perhaps, only because his was the first name engraved into The Wall. 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. Almost 50 percent were majors, lieutenant-colonels, colonels and three were generals. 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. 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. Where previously a high school diploma had been an acceptable goal, now it was college and all the benefits it would bring. Kurt Buis was 8 years old the day his father died. And, as in every American war, it is the very young who are the most willing to volunteer. 5th Marines were killed in . Some common names appear on the Memorial more than once. but will allow you to download it after you specify a file name. In high school, he joined ROTC and kept his fathers medals pinned next to his own awards on a piece of crimson cloth. What the MIT study almost certainly showed was that members of the so-called working class consisting of carpenters, electricians, plumbers, firemen, policemen, technicians, skilled factory operatives, farmers, etc., were living in middle class communities and were, therefore, part of our burgeoning middle class. Brothers Marlin and Norman Eversgerd were both killed in Vietnam. Library of Congress, National Archives Reference Information Page 90 A Finding Aid to Records Relating to American Prisoners of War and Missing in Action from the Vietnam War Era, 1960-1994, Records on Military Personnel Who Died, Were Missing in Action or Prisoners of War as a Result of the Vietnam War, Missing Vietnam Military Resulting from Hostile Forces, Missing Vietnam Military NOT Resulting from Hostile Forces, Vietnam War, Awards and Decorations of Honor, 1965-1972, Medal of Honor Awards Case Files, 1965 - ca. How many women soldiers died in the Vietnam War? The article was originally published in the June 1993 issue of Vietnam Magazine and updated in November 2004. for all 58,228 names to be read aloud. And they often show a heartbreakingly wry sense of humor with the same sensibilities as their college-bound peers. The Air Force lost 2,580 or l percent. Items are gathered by park staff. name within a given date. The Vietnam Wall at the Buffalo and Erie County Naval & Military Park features the names of local fallen soldiers. Army Major Dale Buis' name is etched into the granite half an inch tall, no bigger or smaller than any of the others. ), EDUCATIONAL LEVELS OF ENLISTED CASUALTIES. Marine Corps History Division2044 Broadway StreetQuantico, Virginia 22134Telephone: (703) 432-4877, Coast GuardU.S. The Selective Service registration requirement was later suspended in April 1975. Download our app to find events, locations and programs near you. person reads for 20 minutes, (270 names) this will require 216 volunteer name Individual Award Case Files, 1969 - 1970. National Mall and Memorial Parks , Vietnam Veterans Memorial, Download the official NPS app before your next visit. He was a Navy enlisted man during World War II and has a degree in Political Science from Duke University. 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. 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. 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. Interested in a tour as part of your visit? AGE 17 TO 21 PREFERRED ARMY AND MARINE COMBAT MATERIAL. There is no question that all segments of American society were represented. This change prompted the addition of 110 names in 1986. Lower end category IVs consisting of those who scored below 20 on the AFQT were usually rejected for service. This amounted to 4.1 percent of all enlisted casualties 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. Its still fought in the bodies and minds of the men who waged it all those decades ago. THE NAMES ON THE WALL: AN HISTORICAL JUDGMENT. This page has been viewed 167,336 times (0 via redirect). offer to read the block of names that includes their special names. 3rd Battalion. Charles Holley; chief editor, Robert J. Martin, 4th Infantry Division. 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. Thats a tragic 2,415 more names on the Vietnam Wall in a single month. Be the first to learn about news, service member stories and fundraising updates from USO. 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. Fallen comrades could be together on the Wall, as theyd been in death. By his estimate, he helped pull out close to 2,000 people. 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. 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. Nevertheless, 336,111 men were phased into the service under this plan (mostly the Army) and 2,072 were killed. The draft policy at the time of the Vietnam War was called the Universal Military Training and Service Act. The unit diary portion of the muster roll should indicate when members of the Lima Company, 3rd platoon. However, there have been no such cases. 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. Look for discharge papers, pictures, medals,etc. 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. In honor of the men and women of the Armed Forces of the United States who served in the Vietnam War. Although the names are not listed alphabetically, it is not difficult for visitors to find a name on the Memorial. 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. site, for searching with a word processor. Vietnam War, Awards and Decorations of Honor, 1965-1972. How many Smiths can there possibly be who died in Vietnam? Naval Academy, 130; Texas A & M, 112; The Citadel, 66; Virginia Military Institute, 43; Virginia Polytechnic Institute, 26; Norwich University, 19. As Vietnam War Veterans Day nears March 29, the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Foundation's Wall of Faces is nearly complete but needs help from the public to track down the last few dozen photos. It is hard to believe it has been 36 years since the last casualties. It ripped men from their loved ones, family, friends, and it left a wave of death in its path. 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. . Others, later in the war, were simply ineligible because of high lottery number. Kurt became the man of the house, even as a boy. The Marine Corps losses were skewed even more to the lower ranks, 91 percent were privates or corporals. Making these arrangements and printing the pages takes considerable As a result, the black casualty rate was reduced to 11.5 percent by 1969. 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. Thirty one sets of parents lost two of their sons. 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. 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. As one walks the Wall slowly, examining the ineffably American names, one is struck by the same recurring surnames. The Channeling Memo of July 1965, instructed all local draft boards to give status deferments to college undergraduate and post-graduate students. Proving a direct correlation to the injuries is a challenge, Pontes explained. 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.
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