Most of these casualties are documented in the Military Index, a FamilySearch file. VVMF does not have the authority to overrule those who adjudicate these matters. Richard B. Fitzgibbon III, who was killed on Sept. 7, 1965. 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. Look for clues about where he or she lived and served. In a span of 16 dark days in late 1967, all three would be killed. Once download prepared by Frances A. Hortsch for the Phoenix Genealogical Society. 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. An aunt came and loaded the three boys into the car. This page was last edited on 12 December 2022, at 18:28. Vietnam War Casualties, MIA and POWs. NAVY AND AIR FORCE OFFICER CASUALTIES BY RANK AND AGE. If each Locate the line on which the name is inscribed. In order to have your name on the Wall, you had to have died within the war zone, explained Doubek. The Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization. He did it allsing, dance, create music and crack wise. Though blessed with talent, his life wasnt without struggles. | No duplicate copies of the records that were destroyed in the fire were maintained, nor was a microfilm copy ever produced. 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. The Wall USA is a non-profit endeavor maintained by veterans . This can help veterans or relatives find other persons who died with For more great articles be sure to subscribe to Vietnam Magazine today! By his estimate, he helped pull out close to 2,000 people. The Order of Precedence For Military Ribbon Wear, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pubH-5CulqI, Military Funeral Guide for Families & Funeral Homes, The Ultimate Military Gift Guide for Unique Military Gifts, Black Military History and Black Medal of Honor Recipients. With this list in hand, he went to the various locations where individual service records were kept to review files. The wall at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington is 493 feet and 6 inches long, built of thick, polished black Bangalore granite. I.. J.. K.. L.. M. N.. O.. P.. Q.. R.. S.. T.. U.. V.. W.. X.. Y.. Z "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." The Army lost the greatest number of officers 4,635 or 59 percent of all officer casualties. Unfortunately, he mistakenly added a small number of names of men who were still alive. The most casualty deaths for a single month was May 1968 2,415 casualties were incurred. The Classification History (SSS Form 102) may contain: name; date of birth; classification and date of mailing notice; date of appeal to the board; date and results of armed forces physical examination; entry into active duty or civilian work in lieu of induction (may include date, branch of service entered and mode of entry, such as enlisted or ordered); date of separation from active duty or civilian work; and general remarks. Non-perishable items are archived in a storage facility. The largest age group, 8,283 were just 19 years old. He would become instrumental in helping Doubek identify names and check spellings. 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. COL LEWIS HERBERT ABRAMS SSG SAMUEL ABRAMS Jr PFC TIMOTHY C ABRAMS Jr WO ANDREW JOHN ABRAMSON CPL MIGUEL A ABREU-BATISTA Jr SP4 ANTHONY JOSEPH ABRUZESE PFC ROBERT ALEXANDER ABRUZESE PFC MICHAEL JOHN ABRUZZESA Jr SGT WILLIAM WALLACE ABSHEAR SGT RICHARD FRANKLIN ABSHIRE PFC JAMES ESTUS ABSTON Jr SSG ROBERT JOSEPH ACALOTTO SP5 PEPITO RIVERA ACERET Note that the files are large, and are in Rich Text Format (RTF), with two The names are arranged in the order in which they were taken from us by date and within each date the names are alphabetized. readers. Look for discharge papers, pictures, medals,etc. The affected record collections are described below. The job of cross-referencing the information of individual branches with the DoD fell to Doubek. About 58 thousand of the 7 million American service men and women who served in Vietnam died. ), EDUCATIONAL LEVELS OF ENLISTED CASUALTIES. 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. 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. Every day, Americas service members selflessly put their lives on the line to keep us safe and free. Charles Holley; chief editor, Robert J. Martin, 4th Infantry Division. Why are names added to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall? As one stands before the Wall one feels that no other judgment is acceptable to their living memory. 54 soldiers on the Wall attended Thomas Edison High School in Philadelphia. Coast Guard casualties are included in the Navy totals. Others think it is just another tourist stop until they feel the haunting power of this unique work of remembrance. This change prompted the addition of 110 names in 1986. In the military it can be somewhat more deadly. The Navy had a similar profile: 55 percent of its 622 officer casualties were 30 years of age or older, and 45 percent were ranked at lieutenant commander or above when they died. And they are so respectful when they do the engraving. Search the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund’s database of names on the wall. But you had stories of guys in the Air Force who would die in their aircraft over Thailand after having been shot over Vietnam. Technically, they were ineligible for inclusion on the Wall. This video can help you find the name of someone you'd like to honor. Except for the last file, there are approximately 10,000 names per file. Vietnam War: in Country, Notice: Scanning of Vietnam-era Deck Logs, Vietnam War, 1961-1975. A new Department of Defense (DOD) database computer tape released through the National Archives allows researchers to take a much closer look at our 58,152 Vietnam casualties. The 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. 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. Honoring the men and women who served in the controversial Vietnam War, the Vietnam Veterans Memorial chronologically lists the names of 58,318 Americans who gave their lives in service to their country. However, there have been no such cases. Learn more about featured topics of the Vietnam War and Vietnam Era. Many of the 17- and 18-year olds were simply late in maturing. 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. the person they know. 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 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. 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. There are the tourists who make the circuit of all the various monuments and landmarks in our nations capital. 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. He was a Navy enlisted man during World War II and has a degree in Political Science from Duke University. They did not, in most cases, carry the burdens of wife or children. There are officially 58,228 names on the Wall, but the database these files were derived . Since its controversial beginnings, feelings toward the Vietnam Veterans Memorial have changed drastically. The names are arranged in the order in which they were taken from us by date and within each date the names are alphabetized. 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. And they often show a heartbreakingly wry sense of humor with the same sensibilities as their college-bound peers. 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. It should be noted, however, that the draft was specifically designed to trigger volunteer enlistments. 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. By providing your mobile phone number, you opt in to receive calls and texts from USO. Whether they produced battlefield images of the dead or daguerreotype portraits of common soldiers, []. The burden of combat fell on the very available non-college-bound young. Vietnam Veterans Memorial Learn about the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in this brief introductory video. Physical examination and test results, medical letters, laboratory work and other medical documentation that may have been included in these files no longer exist. And, as in every American war, it is the very young who are the most willing to volunteer. 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. I went through the whole list of names eight times, because I was concerned about the correct formatting, remembered Doubek. United States. Text STOP to opt out, HELP for help. Of the 8000 Coast guardsmen who served in Vietnam, 3 officers and 4 enlisted men were killed and 59 were wounded. At the time, approximately 1,300 names were designated as servicemen who were either missing or prisoners of war. EIN: 52-1149668, Copyright 2023 The Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund, Javascript must be enabled for the correct page display. Learn more about featured topics of the Vietnam War and Vietnam Era. 8 Women are on the Wall. 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. 997 soldiers were killed on their first day in Vietnam. Non-Archival records are those of service members who separated from the military less than 62 years ago. The National Personnel Records Center (NPRC) in St. Louis maintains Vietnam War Official Military Personnel Files (OMPF). Please say a prayer for our fallen heroes, their family members, and our hero Vietnam War Veterans during your visit. Authority Record - NARA, Records of the U.S. The Vietnam Wall at the Buffalo and Erie County Naval & Military Park features the names of local fallen soldiers. 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. During the Vietnam War, the Navy and Air Force became substantially white enclaves enlisted and officer casualties were 96 percent white. is complete, or you've done a "save as", you can use any word processor As many as 3 million people visit each year, according to some estimates, and they come for probably as many reasons. 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). 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. 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. Another browser may inform you that it does not know how to display the file History is a guide to navigation in perilous times. It specified the geographic areas of Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia and surrounding coastal areas as combat zones. The DOD percentages reveal that nearly 75 percent of Army enlisted casualties were privates or corporals. In quieter moments, they rode horses along the Coronado Trail, stalked deer in the Apache National Forest. With the end of the Cold War, many now believe that at its outset the Vietnam War was a quite honorable extension of our ultimately successful policy of Communist containment; that our effort in Vietnam became flawed because of political and strategic failures having nothing to do with those who died there; and that these young Americans were asked by three presidents and six Congresses to give up their lives so that freedom would have a better chance in the world. Less than 1 percent (0.8) were Jewish, Hindu, Thai, Buddhist or Muslim combined, and 5.7 listed no religion. It is hard to believe it has been 36 years since the last casualties. 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. Although the names are not listed alphabetically, it is not difficult for visitors to find a name on the Memorial. The young enlisted volunteer or draftee had not had much time to form any complicated theories about our Vietnam commitment. Once additions are approved by DoD, VVMF receives the list of approved names, coordinates the inscribing and absorbs the costs. Doubek was tasked with identifying all of the names to be included on the Wall. The most casualty deaths for a single day was on January 31, 1968 245 deaths. 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. Vietnam War Casualties- Main Alphabetical Index www.VirtualWall.org Find A Name Information Memorial pages honoring Vietnam War casualties, listed by their last names. Her name? 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. Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund | 3033 Wilson Blvd, Suite 300 | Arlington VA 22201 | 202.393.0090 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. 1970 - ca. Only 10 percent of enlisted men had even some college to their credit and only 1 percent were college graduates. Note the panel and line number for the name listed. A more precise equation would be that the college bound stayed home while the non-college bound served and died. If a person died or went missing in those areas, DoD considered that individual to be a combat zone casualty and eligible for inclusion on the Wall. 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. . With few exceptions, almost all of the 6,600 commissioned officers who died in Vietnam were graduates of the service academies, college Reserve Officers Training Corps (ROTC), or the Officer Candidate School (OCS) programs. 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. She wanted the names to tell the journey, or the timeline, of the war. 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. 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. . Naval History & Heritage CommandWashington Navy Yard, Bldg 57 (3rd Floor)Washington, DC 20374Telephone: (202) 433-3224, Marine CorpsU.S. The DOD database shows that of the 2,100,000 men and women who served in Vietnam, 58,152 were killed. And there would be nothing to denote service or rank. that each name was a real person. Buis died, as did Army Master Sergeant Chester Ovnand, whose name is second on the wall. 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. For blacks, however, only 7 percent placed in categories I and II and 93 percent placed in categories III and IV. Thus we can see that the channeling philosophy continued within the armed forces. Be the first to learn about news, service member stories and fundraising updates from USO. He tried to make the best call he could when adding names to the list. peruse. 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. It is forgotten now, but in the beginning Congress and most of the American people were behind our containment effort in Vietnam. The Army refused him, for medical reasons, both times. Therefore, a complete listing of the records that were lost is not available. person reads for 20 minutes, (270 names) this will require 216 volunteer name 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. Of the 7,262 blacks who died, 6,955, or 96 percent, were Army and Marine enlisted men. You must refer to a database, which gives the names in alphabetical order and includes the position of each on the Memorial. A diamond symbol signifies that the service members death was confirmed. 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. Beside each name is a symbol that denotes a service members status: either missing or confirmed dead. Ziomek's name was finally inscribed on the Washington memorial on Sept. 15, 2020; he was one of just three veterans added in 2020. 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. Vietnam War U.S. Military Fatal Casualty Statistics, Korean War and Vietnam War casualties listed at the National Archives, Hospital Admission Card Files, ca. http://www.freetoursbyfoot.com/vietna.. When the Wall was dedicated in 1982, there were 57,939 names inscribed. No other American war has presented such a young profile in combat. If your browser displays the text file, you can then use Download our app to find events, locations and programs near you. This page has been viewed 167,336 times (0 via redirect). The index gives birth and death dates, country of death, cause of death (air, ground, or sea), town and state of residence at time of enlistment, race, religious affiliation, marital status, service number, rank, and branch of service. Your donation to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund will help expand our mission to honor, educate and heal. Your donation to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund will help expand our mission to honor, educate and heal. 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. These names are followed by the inscription: Our nation honors the courage, sacrifice and devotion to duty and country of its Vietnam veterans. How many Smiths can there possibly be who died in Vietnam? 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. The Marine Corps losses were skewed even more to the lower ranks, 91 percent were privates or corporals. https://www.historynet.com/names-on-the-wall-a-closer-look-at-those-who-died-in-vietnam/, Jerrie Mock: Record-Breaking American Female Pilot, When 21 Sikh Soldiers Fought the Odds Against 10,000 Pashtun Warriors, Few Red Tails Remain: Tuskegee Airman Dies at 96. The result: no comprehensive master list of Vietnam War casualties existed. All other individual draftee files from that period were destroyed by the Selective Service System in 1978, in accordance with approved records retention schedules. I can envision a small cottage someplace, with a lot of writing paper, and a dog, and a fireplace, and maybe enough money to give myself some Irish coffee now and then and entertain my two friends , I dont think it will be too terribly long until we are together again.. 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. On the stencil printouts, each line contained five names per row. If you 26 Similar Questions It was fitting that Vandegeer finally returned home to American soil, because he spent his last weeks at war evacuating Americans as Saigon fell. Gather facts from sources at home,and talk to relatives. 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. And in the patriotic camaraderie typical of Morencis mining families, the nine graduates of Morenci High enlisted as a group in the Marine Corps. The draft continued from 1948, during both peacetime and war, to 1973, when President Richard M. Nixon signed legislation officially ending the draft. 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. 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. do this, be sure to have an alternate reader assigned to take over in case 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. . 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. Patricia Krause. We honor and remember their sacrifice.". At some The Moving Wall sites, the sponsor makes arrangements Please take a moment to let our troops know how much we appreciate their service and sacrifice. the reader loses composure. One soldier, PFC Dan Bullock was 15 years old. 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. You could also keep these files on a computer at your I could tell you about how real the fear was that I felt, since from the time we crossed the Delta and made the run into Saigon, we were over enemy territory. The most comprehensive and authoritative history site on the Internet. 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. Their service began on Independence Day, 1966. Written requests should be mailed to: National Personnel Records Center, 9700 Page Ave., St. Louis, MO 63132-5100. On the other end of that phone call was an former Air Force officer who had served in Vietnam. 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. 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. 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 feeling is that the poor, the undereducated and the minorities made up the vast majority of the combat arms during that war. 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. Its now one of the most popular memorials in Washington. The DOD database listed precise religious preferences for the 58,152 Vietnam casualties. while they download, thank you. Despite their inexperience, they were thought to accept discipline readily. In addition, millions of documents had been lent to the Department of Veterans Affairs before the fire occurred. Officer casualties in Vietnam, including warrant officers, numbered 7,874, or 13.5 percent of all casualties. This is close to, but not exactly in the same order as the names on the Wall. Written requests should be mailed to: National Personnel Records Center, 9700 Page Ave., St. Louis, MO 63132-5100. 31 sets of brothers are on the Wall. 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. . Interested in a tour as part of your visit? 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. Items are gathered by park staff. Congress. Inscribed dots in the margins of every other panel mark every 10 lines to aid in counting. Their names, however, have been removed from the printed Directory of Names. 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. Access to Non-Archival Military Service Records is limited. The Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization. Marlin on March 19, 1967 and Norman on August 18, 1968 Brothers Bennett and Dennis Herrick were both killed in Vietnam. The panels are numbered beginning from the center out toward the ends of each wall. The numbers on the wall ascend from the center out toward the left and right extremes. but will allow you to download it after you specify a file name. Others, later in the war, were simply ineligible because of high lottery number. Several hundred such designation changes have been made since the Wall was built in 1982. The Air Force lost 2,580 or l percent. "The Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund's registry enables veterans across the world to be able to locate fellow Vietnam Veterans and of course, connect their stories with those who made the ultimate sacrifice. November 11, 1982. 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.
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