The files are quite large in order that we could save in Rich Text Format 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. ARMY AND MARINE OFFICER CASUALTIES BY RANK AND AGE. 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. Kurt became the man of the house, even as a boy. Since its controversial beginnings, feelings toward the Vietnam Veterans Memorial have changed drastically. The directory can be purchased on the VVMF store. All were nurses, all were single and all but one were in their 20s. This was a reflection of the role of warrant officers as helicopter pilots (of the 1,277 warrant officer casualties, 95 percent were Army helicopter pilots), and of the young lieutenants and captains as combat platoon leaders or company commanders. He did it allsing, dance, create music and crack wise. 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. Interested in a tour as part of your visit? Their sons, if not college material, made up a significant part of the volunteers and draftees. Your donation to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund will help expand our mission to honor, educate and heal. In the military it can be somewhat more deadly. One soldier, PFC Dan Bullock was 15 years old. Unfortunately, the Department of Defense and the individual service branches maintained separate casualty lists with slightly differing criteria. World War II had been, for the most part, a perfect war, clear of purpose, the forces of democracy and freedom lined up against the forces of fascism and tyranny. 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. 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. In quieter moments, they rode horses along the Coronado Trail, stalked deer in the Apache National Forest. Army Center of Military History103 3rd AvenueFort Lesley J. McNair, DC 20319-5058Telephone: (202) 685-4042, NavyU.S. As one walks the Wall slowly, examining the ineffably American names, one is struck by the same recurring surnames. 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. As many as 3 million people visit each year, according to some estimates, and they come for probably as many reasons. Folded American flags were presented to his parents and an Air Force helicopter flew over the ceremony. NAVY AND AIR FORCE OFFICER CASUALTIES BY RANK AND AGE. Many of them, as experienced pilots, were older (two thirds were thirty or older) and many were high ranking. Once download 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. There were 667; How many Andersons?, 178; Garcias?, 102; Murphys?, 82; Jenkins?, 66; One wants to know more about these Americans. Beside each name is a symbol that denotes a service members status: either missing or confirmed dead. The makeup of U.S. combat forces in Vietnam has long been the subject of controversy among social scientists. By providing your mobile phone number, you opt in to receive calls and texts from USO. Individual Award Case Files, 1969 - 1970. The panel numbers are inscribed at the bottom of each panel. Army Major Dale Buis name is etched into the granite half an inch tall, no bigger or smaller than any of the others. The names are listed chronologically by date of death, the first to last. Many of the 17- and 18-year olds were simply late in maturing. 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. They enjoyed roaring beer busts. Quite a different profile emerges among the Navy and Air force officer corps. The names of those who gave their lives and of those who remain missing are inscribed in the order they were taken from us. 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. The Wall of Faces allows family and friends to share memories, post pictures and connect with each other. The Selective Service registration requirement was later suspended in April 1975. The Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall USA website is dedicated to honoring those who died in the Vietnam War. 1st Class Michael J. Carden, "'The Vietnam War' Sponsor Bank of America Teams With The Lumineers to Support the USO ", Programs for Service Members and Their Families. The first two names listed on Panel 1, East Wall, at the apex are from July 8, 1959. If each Vietnam War Casualties, MIA and POWs. The slabs meet at a vertex of 125 degrees, 10 feet above ground level to form the Wall. Database of the 58,195 Names on The Wall in Wash,D.C. On the other end of that phone call was an former Air Force officer who had served in Vietnam. It was fitting that Vandegeer finally returned home to American soil, because he spent his last weeks at war evacuating Americans as Saigon fell. Nevertheless, 336,111 men were phased into the service under this plan (mostly the Army) and 2,072 were killed. Your donation to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund will help expand our mission to honor, educate and heal. Authority Record - NARA, Records of the U.S. Buis can be found at the top middle of a slab designated Panel 1E. 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. By his estimate, he helped pull out close to 2,000 people. Note the panel and line number for the name listed. The Marine Corps lost 14,836, or 5 percent of its own men. 244 soldiers were awarded the Medal of Honor during the Vietnam War; 153 of them are on the Wall. Where previously a high school diploma had been an acceptable goal, now it was college and all the benefits it would bring. There were no indexes created prior to the fire. Once additions are approved by DoD, VVMF receives the list of approved names, coordinates the inscribing and absorbs the costs. This was long before the advent of integrated computer databases. Doubek contacted the National Personnel Records Center, Archives and Records Service, in St. Louis, Mo. The largest age group, 8,283 were just 19 years old. "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. 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. His name is listed on the Wall with that of his son, Marine Corps Lance Cpl. These directories help locate names on the wall. Several hundred such designation changes have been made since the Wall was built in 1982. Buis was in Vietnam by his own volition. EIN: 52-1149668, Copyright 2023 The Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund, Javascript must be enabled for the correct page display. The ceremony is held on Mothers Day and the additions might be as simple as rectifying a clerical error or as heartbreaking as a veteran dying, all these years later, from a wound suffered during the war. Dates of enlsitment or selective service registration will be helpful along with the name military units they served with. The shining surface is intended to reflect the sun, the ground and those who stand before it. The DOD database shows that of the 2,100,000 men and women who served in Vietnam, 58,152 were killed. 1,448 soldiers were killed on their last day in Vietnam. The first Americans to die did not perish in a foxhole or beneath stars obscured by a jungle canopy. It is hard to believe it has been 36 years since the last casualties. 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. Few areas of the world have been as hotly contested as the India-Pakistan border. for all 58,228 names to be read aloud. Instead its nearly in the center. EIN: 52-1149668, Copyright 2023 The Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund, Javascript must be enabled for the correct page display. It is forgotten now, but in the beginning Congress and most of the American people were behind our containment effort in Vietnam. Making these arrangements and printing the pages takes considerable Proving a direct correlation to the injuries is a challenge, Pontes explained. No single persons service or sacrifice would be any greater than anyone elses. Full casualty records may be retrieved online through the National Archives' Access to Archival Databases resource. They often reveal a typically warm American family atmosphere. We were being fired upon by anti-aircraft guns. It ripped men from their loved ones, family, friends, and it left a wave of death in its path. and have two columns per page, rather than only one column. 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. 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 . The Army refused him, for medical reasons, both times. is complete, or you've done a "save as", you can use any word processor HistoryNet.com contains daily features, photo galleries and over 25,000 articles originally published in our nine magazines. If a name was particularly long, it would be swapped with a shorter name. 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 Army suffered the most total casualties, 38,179 or 2.7 percent of its force. (The 58,000 Names) Our fallen Vietnam War heroes are herethe 58,000 heroes who died in Vietnam. I mean, it was bad.. 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 Marine Corps losses were skewed even more to the lower ranks, 91 percent were privates or corporals. There are over 58,000 names on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington DC. Military Reunions, Screensavers, Rubbings, Personal Guestbook for all Names. compiled by Military Records and Research Library, Department of Military Affairs; edited by Julia D. Rather and Jeffrey Michael Duff, Research Our Records. 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. The last 18 names listed on the bottom of Panel 1, West, also at the apex, are from May 15, 1975. Coast Guard casualties are included in the Navy totals. 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. 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. On that panel, above the names is this inscription: In honor of the men and women of the armed forces of the United States who served in the Vietnam War. Postscript: Since 1982, there have been 89 names added to The Wall. The Channeling Memo of July 1965, instructed all local draft boards to give status deferments to college undergraduate and post-graduate students. We honor and remember their sacrifice.". 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. The article was originally published in the June 1993 issue of Vietnam Magazine and updated in November 2004. What will be the evolving historical judgment for those names on the Wall? November 11, 1982. Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund | 3033 Wilson Blvd, Suite 300 | Arlington VA 22201 | 202.393.0090 The resulting aptitude scores were used to classify entrants into four categories and this would, for the most part, determine their subsequent assignments. A diamond symbol signifies that the service members death was confirmed. This memorial was built with private contributions from the American people. How many women soldiers died in the Vietnam War? 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. Photo credit DOD photo. 54 soldiers on the Wall attended Thomas Edison High School in Philadelphia. Nursing the wounded. The names of Army Master Sergeant Chester Ovnand and Major Dale Buis are inscribed on Panel 1E of the Vietnam War Memorial 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). Count down from the top of the panel. The Selective Service System remains in place today. Vietnam War Casualties- Main Alphabetical Index www.VirtualWall.org Find A Name Information Memorial pages honoring Vietnam War casualties, listed by their last names. 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 same profile holds true for the Marine Corps, where 87 percent of all officer casualties (821 of 938) were warrant officers, lieutenants or captains. 8 Women are on the Wall. The widely held notion that the poor served and died in Vietnam while the rich stayed home is way off the mark. 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. You must refer to a database, which gives the names in alphabetical order and includes the position of each on the Memorial. The Vietnam War was no different. 5 soldiers on the Wall were 16 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 . When the Wall was dedicated in 1982, there were 57,939 names inscribed. The Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization. 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. LeRoy was killed on Wednesday, Nov. 22, the fourth anniversary of President John F. Kennedys assassination. The panels are numbered beginning from the center out toward the ends of each wall. In 1964 an Ohio woman took up the challenge that had led to Amelia Earharts disappearance. 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. They seem honored to be putting the names on the Wall.. The Armed Forces Qualification Test (AFQT) was given to all entering enlisted men. What happens to items left at the memorial? Please take a moment to let our troops know how much we appreciate their service and sacrifice. 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. The Air Force lost 2,580 or l percent. It specified the geographic areas of Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia and surrounding coastal areas as combat zones. 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. United States. They refer to older or younger siblings who are either in or on their way to college. | 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. Of 2,590 total Air Force casualties, 1,674 or 65 percent were officers. There is no question that all segments of American society were represented. A.. B.. C.. D.. E.. F.. G.. H.. You could also keep these files on a computer at your Much more detailed Naval Academy, 130; Texas A & M, 112; The Citadel, 66; Virginia Military Institute, 43; Virginia Polytechnic Institute, 26; Norwich University, 19. They played ball at the adjacent sandlot ball field. History is a guide to navigation in perilous times. VVMF receives numerous requests each year from individuals who wish to have particular names added to the Memorial. 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. For a photograph of an inscription of a close friend or relative, write: This website requires a paid subscription for full access. The list of names begins at the vertex of the walls below the date of the first casualty, 1959, and continues to the end of the east wall. Vietnam Veterans Memorial Learn about the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in this brief introductory video. Though 13 were rescued at sea, the rest died, either upon impact or soon after. 5th Marines were killed in . For information regarding official military unit histories, contact: Air ForceU.S. The appearance of DoD visual information does not imply or constitute DoD endorsement. And, as in every American war, it is the very young who are the most willing to volunteer. In the event a service members remains are returned or accounted for, then a diamond symbol is engraved over the plus sign. The names are arranged in the order in which they were taken from us by date and within each date the names are alphabetized. However, if officer casualties are added to the total, then this overrepresentation is reduced to 12.5 percent of all casualties. There are the tourists who make the circuit of all the various monuments and landmarks in our nations capital. While VVMF finances the name additions to the Wall, it is the Department of Defense that makes these difficult and often technical decisions. Text STOP to opt out, HELP for help. 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. Items are gathered by park staff. Richard B. Fitzgibbon III, who was killed on Sept. 7, 1965. The Army lost the greatest number of officers 4,635 or 59 percent of all officer casualties. Learn more about featured topics of the Vietnam War and Vietnam Era. At some The Moving Wall sites, the sponsor makes arrangements Patricia Krause. Written requests should be mailed to: National Personnel Records Center, 9700 Page Ave., St. Louis, MO 63132-5100. And they often show a heartbreakingly wry sense of humor with the same sensibilities as their college-bound peers. See Access to Non-Archival Records for more information. It is hard to believe it is 36 years since the last casualties. 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. Subscribe to receive our weekly newsletter with top stories from master historians. Thus it is safe to say that Hispanic-Americans were over-represented among Vietnam casualties an estimated 5.5 percent of the dead against 4.5 percent of the 1970 population. During the Vietnam War, the Navy and Air Force became substantially white enclaves enlisted and officer casualties were 96 percent white. 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. 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. Locate the line on which the name is inscribed. The DOD database listed precise religious preferences for the 58,152 Vietnam casualties. 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. While their names are not on The Wall, they are never forgotten. 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. Look at the bottom of each panel on the wall for its number. Some went to Canada or Sweden, but few of those who evaded the draft were actually prosecuted and most were eventually pardoned by President Jimmy Carter in 1977. 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. They drew on every segment of American society. as the names on the Wall. As they came through the door, Viet Cong guerrillas opened fire with machine guns. Additionally, many of the names on the wall were other teenagers from the suburban white collar communities with siblings who were in, or would go on to college, but who, as individuals themselves, were slow to mature, struggled through high school and were therefore very available for the Vietnam War. 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. Thus, the wars beginning and end meet. The draft continued from 1948, during both peacetime and war, to 1973, when President Richard M. Nixon signed legislation officially ending the draft. Adding to the problem was Project 100,000. 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. 1972, United States, National Archives, Military Records, 1885-2004, United States, National Archives, Korean War and Vietnam War Records, Start your Military Service Record Request, National Archives at St. Louis, Selective Service Records. It should be noted, however, that the draft was specifically designed to trigger volunteer enlistments. Ninety-one percent of these Army officers were warrant officers, second lieutenants, first lieutenants or captains. This can be in the form of a book, The Vietnam Veterans Memorial Directory of Names, or one of the various databases. The beginnings and endings are often hazy and the facts of the story lie at the mercy of the teller. 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. The Wall USA is a non-profit endeavor maintained by veterans . Her name? Brothers Marlin and Norman Eversgerd were both killed in Vietnam. Less than 1 percent (0.8) were Jewish, Hindu, Thai, Buddhist or Muslim combined, and 5.7 listed no religion. Many others joined the reserves or National Guard, which were not mobilized in any appreciable numbers during the war. The DOD percentages reveal that nearly 75 percent of Army enlisted casualties were privates or corporals. On the west wall, the symbol precedes the name; on the east wall, the symbol follows the name. And they all went to Vietnam. 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. This change prompted the addition of 110 names in 1986. but will allow you to download it after you specify a file name. Jimmy died less than 24 hours later on Thanksgiving Day. The memorial consists of three separate parts: The Three Soldiers statue, the Vietnam Women's Memorial and the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall, also known as The Wall That Heals, which is the most popular feature. Department of Veterans Affairs BIRLS Death File, 1850-2010: see the "National Cemeteries and Beneficiaries" section below. 997 soldiers were killed on their first day in Vietnam. The burden of combat fell on the very available non-college-bound young. Once a master list was compiled, the names were checked manually for errors. The Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization. Alphabetical listing of the names on the Vietnam Memorial Wall . 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.