The Channeling Memo of July 1965, instructed all local draft boards to give status deferments to college undergraduate and post-graduate students. There was no need to embellish. (The 58,000 Names) Our fallen Vietnam War heroes are herethe 58,000 heroes who died in Vietnam. Vietnam War U.S. Military Fatal Casualty Statistics, Korean War and Vietnam War casualties listed at the National Archives, Hospital Admission Card Files, ca. It should be noted, however, that the draft was specifically designed to trigger volunteer enlistments. They seem honored to be putting the names on the Wall.. 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. 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. 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. The Selective Service System remains in place today. If a service member were to return alive, a circlethe symbol of lifewould be inscribed around the plus sign. 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. 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. The numbers on the wall ascend from the center out toward the left and right extremes. The Navy fatalities were 2,556 or 2 percent. The unit diary portion of the muster roll should indicate when members of the Lima Company, 3rd platoon. The names are listed chronologically by date of death, the first to last. Postscript: Since 1982, there have been 89 names added to The Wall. These young men were trained quickly and shipped to Vietnam quickly. At some The Moving Wall sites, the sponsor makes arrangements Although the names are not listed alphabetically, it is not difficult for visitors to find a name on the Memorial. Few areas of the world have been as hotly contested as the India-Pakistan border. The DOD database shows that of the 2,100,000 men and women who served in Vietnam, 58,152 were killed. 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. This is the most accurate database online. 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. These directories help locate names on the wall. Congress. It is hard to believe it has been 36 years since the last casualties. 12 soldiers on the Wall were 17 years old. 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. Naval Academy, 130; Texas A & M, 112; The Citadel, 66; Virginia Military Institute, 43; Virginia Polytechnic Institute, 26; Norwich University, 19. the reader loses composure. Where previously a high school diploma had been an acceptable goal, now it was college and all the benefits it would bring. No duplicate copies of the records that were destroyed in the fire were maintained, nor was a microfilm copy ever produced. We worked very hard with volunteers from the Gold Star Mothers, recalled Doubek. Beginning Research in United States Military Records, National Vietnam War Veterans Day - Wikepedia, National Park Service Vietnam Veterans Memorial. columns per page. In an audiotape recorded for a close friend shortly before Vandegeers death, and transcribed in Bernard Edelmans book Dear America: Letters Home From Vietnam, he described the perilous mission in Saigon. Richard B. Fitzgibbon III, who was killed on Sept. 7, 1965. The first Americans to die did not perish in a foxhole or beneath stars obscured by a jungle canopy. 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. Of the 7,262 blacks who died, 6,955, or 96 percent, were Army and Marine enlisted men. We honor and remember their sacrifice.". Vietnam War Casualties- Main Alphabetical Index www.VirtualWall.org Find A Name Information Memorial pages honoring Vietnam War casualties, listed by their last names. 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. They were struggling through or dropping out of high school, or if a high school graduate, had tested poorly for college entrance. Photo credit DOD photo. The Army refused him, for medical reasons, both times. This page has been viewed 167,336 times (0 via redirect). There are students on field trips, some solemn and curious, but some just happy to get out of class. The result: no comprehensive master list of Vietnam War casualties existed. peruse. 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. Order records from the National Personnel Records Center, in St. Louis at the Start your Military Service Record Request page at the National Archives website. The article was originally published in the June 1993 issue of Vietnam Magazine and updated in November 2004. 31 sets of brothers are on the Wall. VVMF does not have the authority to overrule those who adjudicate these matters. The wall at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington is 493 feet and 6 inches long, built of thick, polished black Bangalore granite. do this, be sure to have an alternate reader assigned to take over in case On July 12, 1973, a disastrous fire at the NPRC destroyed approximately 16-18 million Official Military Personnel Files. He was a Navy enlisted man during World War II and has a degree in Political Science from Duke University. . The lists are based on the "home of record - state" data provided by the serviceman or woman upon last entrance into military service. It is more notable, perhaps, only because his was the first name engraved into The Wall. Your donation to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund will help expand our mission to honor, educate and heal. If your browser displays the text file, you can then use 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. Please say a prayer for our fallen heroes, their family members, and our hero Vietnam War Veterans during your visit. All heroes are listed alphabetically by their last name. The Army lost the greatest number of officers 4,635 or 59 percent of all officer casualties. How many Smiths can there possibly be who died in Vietnam? As one stands before the Wall one feels that no other judgment is acceptable to their living memory. 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. Message & data rates may apply. The names of those who gave their lives and of those who remain missing are inscribed in the order they were taken from us. Dates of enlsitment or selective service registration will be helpful along with the name military units they served with. Download our app to find events, locations and programs near you. 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. 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. (Surprisingly, as it turned out, the percentage of Vietnam veterans who applied for the GI Bill was higher than either World War II or Korea. Compounding these difficulties was the issue that many casualties, particularly from the Air Force, were not always straightforward in terms of locale. A(1780 names - 239023 bytes) B(5502 names - 737972 bytes) C(4363 names - 586584 bytes) D(2790 names - 374290 bytes) E(1082 names - 144866 bytes) F(1979 names - 265759 bytes) G(3036 names - 407075 bytes) H(4463 names - 598834 bytes) I(218 names - 29278 bytes) J(1845 names - 247563 bytes) K(2039 names - 273818 bytes) L(2594 names - 347007 bytes) The largest age group, 8,283 were just 19 years old. Your donation to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund will help expand our mission to honor, educate and heal. Brothers Marlin and Norman Eversgerd were both killed in Vietnam. Most of the young American enlisted men who served in Vietnam were not college prospects at the time they entered the service. But after World War II a kind of educational apartheid had settled over the United States. 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. Blacks were 85 percent Protestant. THE NAMES ON THE WALL: AN HISTORICAL JUDGMENT. I went through the whole list of names eight times, because I was concerned about the correct formatting, remembered Doubek. A diamond symbol signifies that the service members death was confirmed. Note that the files are large, and are in Rich Text Format (RTF), with two Nursing the wounded. Fill out the tour request form. The Air Force lost the highest percentage of officers. 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. The names are listed in chronological order, according to the date of casualty. This can be in the form of a book, The Vietnam Veterans Memorial Directory of Names, or one of the various databases. Buis was in Vietnam by his own volition. How many women soldiers died in the Vietnam War? 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. For information regarding official military unit histories, contact: Air ForceU.S. No single persons service or sacrifice would be any greater than anyone elses. 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 chronological order of the casualty date and then alphabetical by last This can help veterans or relatives find other persons who died with The training for American officers is thought by most foreign military authorities to be the best in the world. Of the 8000 Coast guardsmen who served in Vietnam, 3 officers and 4 enlisted men were killed and 59 were wounded. However, if officer casualties are added to the total, then this overrepresentation is reduced to 12.5 percent of all casualties. As a result, the software improperly truncated or abbreviated names. Nevertheless, 336,111 men were phased into the service under this plan (mostly the Army) and 2,072 were killed. If each name within a given date. 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. to open, search, edit, or print the name files. 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. Once additions are approved by DoD, VVMF receives the list of approved names, coordinates the inscribing and absorbs the costs. Look at the bottom of each panel on the wall for its number. Lower end category IVs consisting of those who scored below 20 on the AFQT were usually rejected for service. In addition, millions of documents had been lent to the Department of Veterans Affairs before the fire occurred. but will allow you to download it after you specify a file name. By providing your mobile phone number, you opt in to receive calls and texts from USO. 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. Tom was killed while assaulting the enemy on Dec. 7, Pearl HarborDay. Their names, however, have been removed from the printed Directory of Names. Coast Guard Historians OfficeCommandant (CG-09224)U.S. Coast Guard Headquarters 2100 Second Street SW Washington, D.C. 20593. Physical examination and test results, medical letters, laboratory work and other medical documentation that may have been included in these files no longer exist. Twenty-five years later, in an interview with People magazine, he described playing with his two younger brothers as the news reached their home in Imperial Beach, California. 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. Who were they? As many as 3 million people visit each year, according to some estimates, and they come for probably as many reasons. The Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization. In 2004, the total is 58,241 names. Almost 50 percent were majors, lieutenant-colonels, colonels and three were generals. 5th Marines were killed in . And there is an end. 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. 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. Nor did America recognize, on July 8, 1959the day he was killedthat another long and bloody war lay in wait. Unfortunately, the Department of Defense and the individual service branches maintained separate casualty lists with slightly differing criteria. 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. Concerning, How do I find a name on the Vietnam War Memorial wall? Once a master list was compiled, the names were checked manually for errors. The files are quite large in order that we could save in Rich Text Format offer to read the block of names that includes their special names. There are 58,267 names now listed on Vietnam Wall, including those added in 2010. Many of the 17- and 18-year olds were simply late in maturing. Vietnam War, Awards and Decorations of Honor, 1965-1972. Beside each name is a symbol that denotes a service members status: either missing or confirmed dead. 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 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. The draft policy at the time of the Vietnam War was called the Universal Military Training and Service Act. The major service academies and other military colleges provided close to 900 of the Vietnam officer casualties: the U.S. Military Academy, 278; the U.S. Air Force Academy, 205; the U.S. The Army suffered the most total casualties, 38,179 or 2.7 percent of its force. 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. 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. Eight women were killed in Vietnam, five Army lieutenants, one Army captain, one Army lieutenant colonel and one Air Force captain. . For a photograph of an inscription of a close friend or relative, write: This website requires a paid subscription for full access. Most of these casualties are documented in the Military Index, a FamilySearch file. The most casualty deaths for a single month was May 1968 2,415 casualties were incurred. The resulting aptitude scores were used to classify entrants into four categories and this would, for the most part, determine their subsequent assignments. This is close to, but not exactly in the same order as the names on the Wall. The Vietnam War is no different. Only 10 percent of enlisted men had even some college to their credit and only 1 percent were college graduates. 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. 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. There are three sets of fathers and sons on the Vietnam 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. True enough, but many of the surviving Vietnam casualty families would reply that the ultimate unfairness is death at an early age, in a land far from home, for reasons not clearly defined. is complete, or you've done a "save as", you can use any word processor We were being fired upon by anti-aircraft guns. In 1964 an Ohio woman took up the challenge that had led to Amelia Earharts disappearance. The Marine Corps lost 14,836, or 5 percent of its own men. They did not, in most cases, carry the burdens of wife or children. About 58 thousand of the 7 million American service men and women who served in Vietnam died. Along with its wave of death, it scarred many people, especially those closest to the men that died fighting the . readers. Whether they produced battlefield images of the dead or daguerreotype portraits of common soldiers, []. 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. Those designated by a plus sign were considered to be missing in action when the war ended. 244 soldiers were awarded the Medal of Honor during the Vietnam War; 153 of them are on the Wall. They also died quickly, many within a few weeks or months of arriving in Vietnam. An estimated 11,000 women served in Vietnam. ARMY AND MARINE OFFICER CASUALTIES BY RANK AND AGE. The DOD database provides no civilian or military educational levels for the Vietnam casualties specifically, but it does give us general levels for all enlisted men across all the services during the Vietnam era. And they often show a heartbreakingly wry sense of humor with the same sensibilities as their college-bound peers. Coast Guard casualties are included in the Navy totals. 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. During and after the Vietnam War, the Department of Defense (DoD) compiled a list of combat zone casualties according to criteria in a 1965 Presidential Executive Order. As we have pointed out earlier, more than 80 percent of our casualties were Army and Marine enlisted men with an average age of 19- to 20-years. Of all enlisted men who died in Vietnam, blacks made up 14.1 percent of the total. There were 667; How many Andersons?, 178; Garcias?, 102; Murphys?, 82; Jenkins?, 66; One wants to know more about these Americans. This year, 14 names were etched into the wall. These names are followed by the inscription: Our nation honors the courage, sacrifice and devotion to duty and country of its Vietnam veterans. Interested in a tour as part of your visit? Senate. Learn more about featured topics of the Vietnam War and Vietnam Era. The Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C. has the names listed in chronological order by date of loss. How to Order a Draft Record. Officer casualties in Vietnam, including warrant officers, numbered 7,874, or 13.5 percent of all casualties. 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. Inscribed dots in the margins of every other panel mark every 10 lines to aid in counting. Individual Award Case Files, 1969 - 1970. In a massive sampling of the database, it was established that between 5 and 6 percent of Vietnam dead had identifiable Hispanic surnames. 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. Instead its nearly in the center. Today, more than 58,000 names are engraved in the wall, and more were added in May. 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. Ninety-one percent of these Army officers were warrant officers, second lieutenants, first lieutenants or captains. There are officially 58,228 names on the Wall, but the database these files were derived . 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 officer corps casualties alone would satisfy that judgment, but that is not the same as being representative. His name is listed on the Wall with that of his son, Marine Corps Lance Cpl. 8 Women 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. The Vietnam Veterans Memorial is open 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, for all who wish to visit. Count down from the top of the panel. The first known casualty was Richard B. Fitzgibbon, of North Weymouth, MA; he was listed by theDepartment of Defense as having been killed on June 8, 1956. The Names - Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund The Names When the Wall was dedicated in 1982, there were 57,939 names inscribed. Getting to Washington, D.C. It was fitting that Vandegeer finally returned home to American soil, because he spent his last weeks at war evacuating Americans as Saigon fell. Vietnam War Casualties, MIA and POWs. 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). In many of these families it was considered unpatriotic and indeed reprehensible to avoid active duty by requesting a status deferment or seeking out a draft counselor for advice on how to avoid the draft. Congress and the Johnson administration, therefore, sought to protect our college-bound and educated young men. It stands near Panel 1W, which holds the name of the last to die in combat. 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.