Its now one of the most popular memorials in Washington. Charles Holley; chief editor, Robert J. Martin, 4th Infantry Division. At some The Moving Wall sites, the sponsor makes arrangements Since its adoption in 1951, at the time of the Korean War, this policy had been renewed by Congress every four years. Lower end category IVs consisting of those who scored below 20 on the AFQT were usually rejected for service. 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. The casual visitor might not immediately recognize that Buis name is the first. Most of the young American enlisted men who served in Vietnam were not college prospects at the time they entered the service. name within a given date. The DOD percentages reveal that nearly 75 percent of Army enlisted casualties were privates or corporals. Database of the 58,195 Names on The Wall in Wash,D.C. . The names would become the memorial. Locate the line on which the name is inscribed. These directories help locate names on the wall. Except for the last file, there are approximately 10,000 names per file. The Marines of Morenciled some of thebest high school football and basketball teams that the little Arizona copper town of Morenci (pop. Thus, there were 211,455 killed and wounded, or one in every 10 Americans who served in Vietnam. Bennett on March 25, 1968 and Dennis on August 02, 1970 Brothers Gabriel and Paul Trujillo were both killed in Vietnam. How many women soldiers died in the Vietnam 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). There were no indexes created prior to the fire. 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. The names are arranged in the order in which they were taken from us by date and within each date the names are alphabetized. Vietnam War Casualties, MIA and POWs. Inscription at the beginning of The Wall. person reads for 20 minutes, (270 names) this will require 216 volunteer name 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. 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. Military Reunions, Screensavers, Rubbings, Personal Guestbook for all Names. as the names on the Wall. THE NAMES ON THE WALL: AN HISTORICAL JUDGMENT. Army Major Dale Buis' name is etched into the granite half an inch tall, no bigger or smaller than any of the others. Count down from the top of the panel. The war is complete, coming full circle, yet broken by the earth that bounds the angles open side and contained within the earth itself. 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. There is no question that all segments of American society were represented. In civilian life, poor aptitude testing can have a tremendous negative impact, whether for college placement or for simple job advancement. Be the first to learn about news, service member stories and fundraising updates from USO. Only 3 returned home. 1,448 soldiers were killed on their last day in Vietnam. It is instructive to read the literature of the war, the letters written home from those who died, the novels and narrative accounts of those who served in combat and then returned. W denotes the west wall, and E denotes the east wall. They went for a ride and she gently told them that their father would not be coming home. More Info At www.themovingwall.org Visit site Getting to Washington, D.C. The panel number is a number/letter combination, such as 10W or 35E. It is hard to believe it has been 36 years since the last casualties. The Army suffered the most total casualties, 38,179 or 2.7 percent of its force. The files are quite large in order that we could save in Rich Text Format The chronological order allows veterans who were in a battle to see their friends forever united on the Wall, he explained. Fallen comrades could be together on the Wall, as theyd been in death. 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 names are arranged in the order in which they were taken from us by date and within each date the names are alphabetized. Little about it is concrete. This approach would allow veterans, friends and family members to find a loved one by his or her date of casualty. More names are added to the wall every year. Subscribe to receive our weekly newsletter with top stories from master historians. And they all went to Vietnam. With this list in hand, he went to the various locations where individual service records were kept to review files. Please be patient He was a Navy enlisted man during World War II and has a degree in Political Science from Duke University. The Navy fatalities were 2,556 or 2 percent. The Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization. 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. The names of Army Master Sergeant Chester Ovnand and Major Dale Buis are inscribed on Panel 1E of the Vietnam War Memorial Wall. 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. The shining surface is intended to reflect the sun, the ground and those who stand before it. 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. 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. 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. There was no need to embellish. 5th Marines were killed in . Interested in a tour as part of your visit? 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. Officer casualties in Vietnam, including warrant officers, numbered 7,874, or 13.5 percent of all casualties. The Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall USA website is dedicated to honoring those who died in the Vietnam War. Dates of enlsitment or selective service registration will be helpful along with the name military units they served with. They drew on every segment of American society. The National Personnel Records Center (NPRC) in St. Louis maintains Vietnam War Official Military Personnel Files (OMPF). In 2004, the total is 58,241 names. 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. Frequently relatives or buddies of casualties Once download The Armed Forces Qualification Test (AFQT) was given to all entering enlisted men. 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. 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. And there is an end. Text STOP to opt out, HELP for help. Vietnam Veterans Memorial Learn about the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in this brief introductory video. There were 667; How many Andersons?, 178; Garcias?, 102; Murphys?, 82; Jenkins?, 66; One wants to know more about these Americans. The training for American officers is thought by most foreign military authorities to be the best in the world. An aunt came and loaded the three boys into the car. Those designated by a plus sign were considered to be missing in action when the war ended. Blacks were 85 percent Protestant. 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 It was fitting that Vandegeer finally returned home to American soil, because he spent his last weeks at war evacuating Americans as Saigon fell. 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. Fill out the tour request form. There are 58,267 names now listed on Vietnam Wall, including those added in 2010. and have two columns per page, rather than only one column. The names of those who gave their lives and of those who remain missing are inscribed in the order they were taken from us. Marlin on March 19, 1967 and Norman on August 18, 1968 Brothers Bennett and Dennis Herrick were both killed in Vietnam. There are over 58,000 names on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington DC. It is more notable, perhaps, only because his was the first name engraved into The Wall. 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. The numbers on the wall ascend from the center out toward the left and right extremes. 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. For blacks, however, only 7 percent placed in categories I and II and 93 percent placed in categories III and IV. In 1940, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the Selective Training and Service Act, creating the countrys first peacetime draft and officially establishing the Selective Service System. In addition, millions of documents had been lent to the Department of Veterans Affairs before the fire occurred. Her name? I mean, it was bad.. 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. This takes about 72 hours. 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. Whether they produced battlefield images of the dead or daguerreotype portraits of common soldiers, []. This video can help you find the name of someone you'd like to honor. The National Archives prepared these state level casualty lists by creating extracts from the Korean War Extract Data File and the Vietnam Conflict Extract Data File, both as of April 29, 2008, of the Defense Casualty Analysis System (DCAS) Files, part of Record Group 330: Records of the Office of the Secretary of Defense. 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. It may come as a surprise to some that 63.3 percent of all Vietnam enlisted casualties were not draftees but volunteers. Despite their inexperience, they were thought to accept discipline readily. Instead its nearly in the center. is complete, or you've done a "save as", you can use any word processor The Vietnam Wall. 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. Derek Turner is a freelance writer and a former senior editor of On Patrol. 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. 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. . The draft continued from 1948, during both peacetime and war, to 1973, when President Richard M. Nixon signed legislation officially ending the draft. There are 58,267 names now listed on Vietnam Wall, including those added in 2010. The most comprehensive and authoritative history site on the Internet. Names can also be located on The Wall of Faces on VVMFs web site, www.vvmf.org/wall-of-faces, Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund | 3033 Wilson Blvd, Suite 300 | Arlington VA 22201 | 202.393.0090 Doubek contacted the National Personnel Records Center, Archives and Records Service, in St. Louis, Mo. Look for clues about where he or she lived and served. The VC had commandeered Air America Hueys, and they were flying them around, which simply made for a very interesting chess game. Many others joined the reserves or National Guard, which were not mobilized in any appreciable numbers during the war. Army Major Dale Buis name is etched into the granite half an inch tall, no bigger or smaller than any of the others. Their sacrifices were honored July 8, 2009, in Washington during a ceremony commemorating the 50th anniversary of their deaths. Look at the bottom of each panel on the wall for its number. 5,058) had ever known and cheered. ), EDUCATIONAL LEVELS OF ENLISTED CASUALTIES. 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. 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. Photo credit DOD photo by Army Sgt. But given the draft policies, the hard-sell recruitment, the severe escalation from month to month and the refusal by President Lyndon Johnson to call up the older reserves and National Guard, it could not have been otherwise. They often reveal a typically warm American family atmosphere. The Wall USA is a non-profit endeavor maintained by veterans . 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. A relatively small number refused to register for the draft at all. 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. VVMF does not have the authority to overrule those who adjudicate these matters. The names of the 2,504 Americans missing in action from the Vietnam War are on the Tablets of the Missing at the ABMC Honolulu Memorial. NAVY AND AIR FORCE OFFICER CASUALTIES BY RANK AND AGE. Of course, the Marine, Navy, and Air Force enlisted casualties were all volunteers, but as it turned out, almost 50 percent of Army enlisted casualties were also volunteers. The names of those who gave their lives and of those who remain missing are inscribed in the order they were taken from us. Beginning Research in United States Military Records, National Vietnam War Veterans Day - Wikepedia, National Park Service Vietnam Veterans Memorial. The result: no comprehensive master list of Vietnam War casualties existed. They refer to older or younger siblings who are either in or on their way to college. The first group, added in 1983, included 53 Marines who were killed when their R&R (rest and relaxation) flight crashed in Hong Kong. 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 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. Its still fought in the bodies and minds of the men who waged it all those decades ago. The Buddies of Midvale LeRoy Tafoya, Jimmy Martinez, Tom Gonzales were all boyhood friends and lived on three consecutive streets in Midvale, Utah on Fifth, Sixth and Seventh avenues. The directories are organized alphabetically by last name. By his estimate, he helped pull out close to 2,000 people. All classes were drafted or volunteered and all served and died equally, although it must be noted that most blacks died separately. As of 2017, there are 58,318 names inscribed on The Wall. Naval Academy, 130; Texas A & M, 112; The Citadel, 66; Virginia Military Institute, 43; Virginia Polytechnic Institute, 26; Norwich University, 19. The resulting aptitude scores were used to classify entrants into four categories and this would, for the most part, determine their subsequent assignments. The young enlisted volunteer or draftee had not had much time to form any complicated theories about our Vietnam commitment. offer to read the block of names that includes their special names. On July 12, 1973, a disastrous fire at the NPRC destroyed approximately 16-18 million Official Military Personnel Files. These young men were trained quickly and shipped to Vietnam quickly. Early on President Johnson, his advisers and especially the Congress, realized that if the draft was to be truly equitable and had included combat assignments in Vietnam for the sons of the educationally advantaged and influential Americans from the professional and managerial classes, then the resulting uproar would have shut down the war. Although valuable, this study was almost certainly misinterpreted by its authors when they said that their data showed that most privileged and influential segments of American society were not insulated from the perils of Vietnam conflict. Naval History & Heritage CommandWashington Navy Yard, Bldg 57 (3rd Floor)Washington, DC 20374Telephone: (202) 433-3224, Marine CorpsU.S. If a service member were to return alive, a circlethe symbol of lifewould be inscribed around the plus sign. Making these arrangements and printing the pages takes considerable Thirty one sets of parents lost two of their sons. Tom was killed while assaulting the enemy on Dec. 7, Pearl HarborDay. 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. Beside each name is a symbol that denotes a service members status: either missing or confirmed dead. Photo credit DOD photo. 5 soldiers on the Wall were 16 years old. 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.. Only 10 percent of enlisted men had even some college to their credit and only 1 percent were college graduates. 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. Early in the war (1965 and 1966) when blacks made up about 11 percent of our Vietnam force, black casualties soared to more than 20 percent of the total. But after World War II a kind of educational apartheid had settled over the United States. This page has been viewed 167,336 times (0 via redirect). An Air Force member, with his back to the camera, holds the POW/MIA flag during a full honors funeral for Air Force Second Lieutenant Richard Vandegeer at Arlington National Cemetery on October 27, 2000. . On November 7, 2021 VVMF began a daily virtual Reading of the Names. The Army refused him, for medical reasons, both times. Non-Archival records are those of service members who separated from the military less than 62 years ago. The USO relies on your support to help service members and their families. Army Center of Military History103 3rd AvenueFort Lesley J. McNair, DC 20319-5058Telephone: (202) 685-4042, NavyU.S. 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. 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. 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. A doctor arrived and gave his shaken mother a sedative. For men who registered for the draft prior to 1976, the only Selective Service System information available is that of the individual Draft Registration Card (SSS Form 1) and Classification History (SSS Form 102) records. The 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. It is more notable, perhaps, only because his was the first name engraved into The Wall. In a span of 16 dark days in late 1967, all three would be killed. This is close to, but not exactly in the same order as the names on the Wall. 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. In an effort to further preserve the legacy of those who sacrificed all in Vietnam, VVMF is committed to finding a photo to go with each of the more than 58,000 names on The Wall. The names are listed chronologically by date of death, the first to last. In high school, he joined ROTC and kept his fathers medals pinned next to his own awards on a piece of crimson cloth. The most casualty deaths for a single month was May 1968 2,415 casualties were incurred. The widely held notion that the poor served and died in Vietnam while the rich stayed home is way off the mark. Your donation to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund will help expand our mission to honor, educate and heal. Postscript: Since 1982, there have been 89 names added to The Wall. 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 Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C. has the names listed in chronological order by date of loss. 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. For a photograph of an inscription of a close friend or relative, write: This website requires a paid subscription for full access. 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. 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. 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. They also died quickly, many within a few weeks or months of arriving in Vietnam. The individual Draft Registration Card (SSS Form 1) may contain information such as: name, Selective Service registration number, age, date and place of birth, ethnicity, place of residence at time of registration and basic physical description. I went through the whole list of names eight times, because I was concerned about the correct formatting, remembered Doubek. Yet, a civilian heroine who served in a different capacity during that difficult time also merits particular acknowledgment. This is close to, but not exactly in the same order For information regarding official military unit histories, contact: Air ForceU.S. While their names are not on The Wall, they are never forgotten. 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. 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). An estimated 11,000 women served in Vietnam. Senate. The essence of the Wall is the names and the reaction of the visitor to seeing his or her reflection in this sea of remembrance. We honor and remember their sacrifice.". Nevertheless, 336,111 men were phased into the service under this plan (mostly the Army) and 2,072 were killed. No other moniker for Sammy Davis Jr. was more accurate. 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. compiled by Military Records and Research Library, Department of Military Affairs; edited by Julia D. Rather and Jeffrey Michael Duff, Research Our Records. Learn more about featured topics of the Vietnam War and Vietnam Era. The Vietnam War was no different. 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. This was long before the advent of integrated computer databases. And they are so respectful when they do the engraving. 54 soldiers on the Wall attended Thomas Edison High School in Philadelphia. 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. Many of them, as experienced pilots, were older (two thirds were thirty or older) and many were high ranking. . As one walks the Wall slowly, examining the ineffably American names, one is struck by the same recurring surnames. The Marine Corps losses were skewed even more to the lower ranks, 91 percent were privates or corporals.