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. The makeup of U.S. combat forces in Vietnam has long been the subject of controversy among social scientists. Frequently relatives or buddies of casualties We honor and remember their sacrifice.". There was no need to embellish. The names of those who gave their lives and of those who remain missing are inscribed in the order they were taken from us. The civilian and military men who formed the policy did not see it necessarily as a disadvantage. Eight women were killed in Vietnam, five Army lieutenants, one Army captain, one Army lieutenant colonel and one Air Force captain. Text STOP to opt out, HELP for help. Once additions are approved by DoD, VVMF receives the list of approved names, coordinates the inscribing and absorbs the costs. The widely held notion that the poor served and died in Vietnam while the rich stayed home is way off the mark. columns per page. 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. With this list in hand, he went to the various locations where individual service records were kept to review files. The first two names listed on Panel 1, East Wall, at the apex are from July 8, 1959. These names are followed by the inscription: Our nation honors the courage, sacrifice and devotion to duty and country of its Vietnam veterans. the person they know. 5,058) had ever known and cheered. The Air Force lost the highest percentage of officers. 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. 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. But there is a beginning. On the stencil printouts, each line contained five names per row. The Army lost the greatest number of officers 4,635 or 59 percent of all officer casualties. . 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. 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. 26 Similar Questions If you Doubek contacted the National Personnel Records Center, Archives and Records Service, in St. Louis, Mo. It would also enable veterans to find groups of friends who died during the same incident. Your donation to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund will help expand our mission to honor, educate and heal. It is forgotten now, but in the beginning Congress and most of the American people were behind our containment effort in Vietnam. NAID 5709942, U.S. Air Force Historical Research Agency, National Archives Command Chronologies:Vietnam War, National Archives Command Chronologies: Vietnam War: Index to Reports, National Archves. Search the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund’s database of names on the wall. In quieter moments, they rode horses along the Coronado Trail, stalked deer in the Apache National Forest. person reads for 20 minutes, (270 names) this will require 216 volunteer name This is close to, but not exactly in the same order VVMF receives numerous requests each year from individuals who wish to have particular names added to the Memorial. 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. 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. They came largely from California and Texas, with lesser numbers from Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona, Florida, New York and a few from many other states across the country. A diamond symbol signifies that the service members death was confirmed. Nevertheless, 336,111 men were phased into the service under this plan (mostly the Army) and 2,072 were killed. 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 may come as a surprise to some that 63.3 percent of all Vietnam enlisted casualties were not draftees but volunteers. Inscribed dots in the margins of every other panel mark every 10 lines to aid in counting. 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. (The 58,000 Names) Our fallen Vietnam War heroes are herethe 58,000 heroes who died in Vietnam. He tried to make the best call he could when adding names to the list. Some are drawn to the Wall like pilgrims to Mecca. The result: no comprehensive master list of Vietnam War casualties existed. 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. Database of the 58,195 Names on The Wall in Wash,D.C. 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. This is the genius of Mayas design, said Scruggs. Its still fought in the bodies and minds of the men who waged it all those decades ago. The west wall is on the left when standing facing the vertex, and the east wall is to the right. 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. 1972 NAID 305367, Silver Star Medal and Legion of Merit Award Case Files, 19711971 NAID 5721359. Black leaders, including Martin Luther King Jr., protested, and President Johnson ordered black participation in combat units cut back. There is no question that all segments of American society were represented. Much more detailed The Marine Corps losses were skewed even more to the lower ranks, 91 percent were privates or corporals. and have two columns per page, rather than only one column. 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 Wall of Faces allows family and friends to share memories, post pictures and connect with each other. Several hundred such designation changes have been made since the Wall was built in 1982. There are the still-grieving family members who come to pay respects as they would at a cemetery, to leave mementos and make chalk renderings of a loved ones name. 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. Names that become eligible for inclusion are added once each year, in May, a few weeks before Memorial Day. Lins vision prevailed. 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. Therefore, a complete listing of the records that were lost is not available. It is more notable, perhaps, only because his was the first name engraved into The Wall. The slabs meet at a vertex of 125 degrees, 10 feet above ground level to form the Wall. The Vietnam Veterans Memorial was dedicated on November 10, 1982, with 57,939 names. All other individual draftee files from that period were destroyed by the Selective Service System in 1978, in accordance with approved records retention schedules. 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. Her name? The Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C. has the names listed in chronological order by date of loss. We were being fired upon by anti-aircraft guns. This can help veterans or relatives find other persons who died with If your browser displays the text file, you can then use History is who we are and why we are the way we are.. It stands near Panel 1W, which holds the name of the last to die in combat. 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 job of cross-referencing the information of individual branches with the DoD fell to Doubek. 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. The officer corps casualties alone would satisfy that judgment, but that is not the same as being representative. Kurt Buis was 8 years old the day his father died. As one stands before the Wall one feels that no other judgment is acceptable to their living memory. The figures show that on average 65 percent of white enlisted men and 60 percent of black enlisted men were high school graduates. 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. (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. The VC had commandeered Air America Hueys, and they were flying them around, which simply made for a very interesting chess game. The names would become the memorial. peruse. The article was written by Bill Abbott, an independent researcher and writer. On July 12, 1973, a disastrous fire at the NPRC destroyed approximately 16-18 million Official Military Personnel Files. The USO is a not-for-profit organization and not part of the Department of Defense (DoD). Their sons, if not college material, made up a significant part of the volunteers and draftees. 39,996 on the Wall were just 22 or younger. 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. 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 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. 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. 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. do this, be sure to have an alternate reader assigned to take over in case compiled by Military Records and Research Library, Department of Military Affairs; edited by Julia D. Rather and Jeffrey Michael Duff, Research Our Records. Today, more than 58,000 names are engraved in the wall, and more were added in May. Nor did America recognize, on July 8, 1959the day he was killedthat another long and bloody war lay in wait. 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 feeling is that the poor, the undereducated and the minorities made up the vast majority of the combat arms during that war. 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. Buis was in Vietnam by his own volition. No duplicate copies of the records that were destroyed in the fire were maintained, nor was a microfilm copy ever produced. In order to have your name on the Wall, you had to have died within the war zone, explained Doubek. Beginning Research in United States Military Records, National Vietnam War Veterans Day - Wikepedia, National Park Service Vietnam Veterans Memorial. They lived only a few yards apart. The numbers on the wall ascend from the center out toward the left and right extremes. The Wall is about names. These officer casualties came more from the South and West regions, 4.1 deaths per 100,000, in contrast to 3.5 from the Northeast and Midwest regions. Indeed, officer casualties of all branches were overwhelmingly white. There are 58,267 names now listed on Vietnam Wall, including those added in 2010. Another challenge was ensuring the accuracy of the names. in chronological order of the casualty date and then alphabetical by last 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. 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. AGE 17 TO 21 PREFERRED ARMY AND MARINE COMBAT MATERIAL. 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. Unfortunately, the Department of Defense and the individual service branches maintained separate casualty lists with slightly differing criteria. They seem honored to be putting the names on the Wall.. The Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall USA website is dedicated to honoring those who died in the Vietnam War. 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. 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. 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. Unfortunately, he mistakenly added a small number of names of men who were still alive. Click to learn about the In Memory program . 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. And they are so respectful when they do the engraving. 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 page has been viewed 167,336 times (0 via redirect). The panel number is a number/letter combination, such as 10W or 35E. Forces in Southeast Asia, 1950 - 1976 NAID 745, RG, 472, Meritorious Unit Commendations, 1967 - 1971 NAID 4726287, Medal of Honor Awards Case Files, 1965 - ca. HistoryNet.com contains daily features, photo galleries and over 25,000 articles originally published in our nine magazines. More than 200 names have been added to the Wall This is close to, but not exactly in the same order as the names on the Wall. The ship had been taken to the island of Koh Tang. 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. Beallsville, Ohio with a population of 475 lost 6 of her sons. They were at their peak physically. I went through the whole list of names eight times, because I was concerned about the correct formatting, remembered Doubek. Postscript: Since 1982, there have been 89 names added to The Wall. Their sacrifices were honored July 8, 2009, in Washington during a ceremony commemorating the 50th anniversary of their deaths. 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. Concerning, How do I find a name on the Vietnam War Memorial wall? The Vietnam Veterans Memorial is a symbol of American honor and appreciation for the men and women who served and sacrificed their lives during the Vietnam War. Since its controversial beginnings, feelings toward the Vietnam Veterans Memorial have changed drastically. 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. By his estimate, he helped pull out close to 2,000 people. The Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization. This was long before the advent of integrated computer databases. 244 soldiers were awarded the Medal of Honor during the Vietnam War; 153 of them are on the Wall. 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. Though 13 were rescued at sea, the rest died, either upon impact or soon after. The beginnings and endings are often hazy and the facts of the story lie at the mercy of the teller. Most of the young American enlisted men who served in Vietnam were not college prospects at the time they entered the service. John Kennedy, discussing military assignments, said that, life is unfair. 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. readers. 1970 - ca. 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. Look at the bottom of each panel on the wall for its number. The chronological order allows veterans who were in a battle to see their friends forever united on the Wall, he explained. Coast Guard Historians OfficeCommandant (CG-09224)U.S. Coast Guard Headquarters 2100 Second Street SW Washington, D.C. 20593. They played ball at the adjacent sandlot ball field. Please be patient 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. Of the 7,262 blacks who died, 6,955, or 96 percent, were Army and Marine enlisted men. Along with its wave of death, it scarred many people, especially those closest to the men that died fighting the . 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. It is not surprising, for instance, that West Virginia, Montana, and Oklahoma had a casualty rate almost twice that of New York, New Jersey and Connecticut. is complete, or you've done a "save as", you can use any word processor 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. Once a master list was compiled, the names were checked manually for errors. Thus we can see that the channeling philosophy continued within the armed forces. Items are gathered by park staff. Count down from the top of the panel. Many of the 17- and 18-year olds were simply late in maturing. There are three sets of fathers and sons on the Vietnam Wall. Vietnam War, Awards and Decorations of Honor, 1965-1972. prepared by Frances A. Hortsch for the Phoenix Genealogical Society. In the military it can be somewhat more deadly. Of 2,590 total Air Force casualties, 1,674 or 65 percent were officers. 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. . 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. Chronological order by date of casualty allows friends and family members to pick out their loved one from all of the others with the same name. Be the first to learn about news, service member stories and fundraising updates from USO. It is more notable, perhaps, only because his was the first name engraved into The Wall. Instead its nearly in the center. They were struggling through or dropping out of high school, or if a high school graduate, had tested poorly for college entrance. 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. 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. The draft policy at the time of the Vietnam War was called the Universal Military Training and Service Act. There are students on field trips, some solemn and curious, but some just happy to get out of class. 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. http://www.freetoursbyfoot.com/vietna.. It specified the geographic areas of Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia and surrounding coastal areas as combat zones. 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. Air Force Historical Research Agency 600 Chenault Circle Maxwell AFB, AL 36112-6424Telephone: (334) 953-2395, ArmyU.S. The training for American officers is thought by most foreign military authorities to be the best in the world. Coast Guard casualties are included in the Navy totals. The remaining 70 percent of our Vietnam enlisted casualties were of English/Scottish/Welsh, German, Irish and Scandinavian-American ancestries, more from the South and Midwest than the other regions, many from small towns with a family military tradition. Despite their inexperience, they were thought to accept discipline readily. 5th Marines were killed in . Others, later in the war, were simply ineligible because of high lottery number. 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. The panels come together to form a point, linking the first and last together in enduring tribute. 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. The Vietnam Wall at the Buffalo and Erie County Naval & Military Park features the names of local fallen soldiers. 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. Photo credit DOD photo by Army Sgt. Tom was killed while assaulting the enemy on Dec. 7, Pearl HarborDay. On average, 43 percent of white enlisted entrants placed in categories I and II (scoring 65 to 100) and 57 percent in categories III and IV (scoring 10 to 64). The burden of combat fell on the very available non-college-bound young. as the names on the Wall. Adding to the problem was Project 100,000. 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. Thats a tragic 2,415 more names on the Vietnam Wall in a single month. During the Vietnam War, the Navy and Air Force became substantially white enclaves enlisted and officer casualties were 96 percent white. This came at a time when blacks made up 11 percent of the male population nationwide. Gather facts from sources at home,and talk to relatives. In civilian life, poor aptitude testing can have a tremendous negative impact, whether for college placement or for simple job advancement. 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. Each name is listed with great honor and respect. All were nurses, all were single and all but one were in their 20s. The first Americans to die did not perish in a foxhole or beneath stars obscured by a jungle canopy. When the sound of exploding hand grenades rang out in the hall, Buis and others ran toward the sound. 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. Senate. site, for searching with a word processor. The directory can be purchased on the VVMF store. The Vietnam War is no different. At the time, approximately 1,300 names were designated as servicemen who were either missing or prisoners of war. The DOD percentages reveal that nearly 75 percent of Army enlisted casualties were privates or corporals. The names are arranged in the order in which they were taken from us by date and within each date the names are alphabetized. And mores the pity, because many of them were trying to escape this background and didnt make it. Officers of all services, by tradition largely Protestant, remained so during the Vietnam war, sustaining casualties in comparison with Catholics by a 5 to 2 ratio. Dear Mr. Huddleston, Thank you for posting your request on History Hub! Congress. Their names, however, have been removed from the printed Directory of Names. 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. The Navy fatalities were 2,556 or 2 percent. 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 Veterans Memorial Fund | 3033 Wilson Blvd, Suite 300 | Arlington VA 22201 | 202.393.0090 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. Who were they? 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.