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. Charles Holley; chief editor, Robert J. Martin, 4th Infantry Division. 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. 5th Marines were killed in . 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. ), EDUCATIONAL LEVELS OF ENLISTED CASUALTIES. 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. 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. 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. Alphabetical listing of the names on the Vietnam Memorial Wall . 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. Inscription at the beginning of The Wall. There are students on field trips, some solemn and curious, but some just happy to get out of class. The panel numbers are inscribed at the bottom of each panel. Its now one of the most popular memorials in Washington. Black leaders, including Martin Luther King Jr., protested, and President Johnson ordered black participation in combat units cut back. Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund | 3033 Wilson Blvd, Suite 300 | Arlington VA 22201 | 202.393.0090 Vietnam War Casualties, MIA and POWs. It was fitting that Vandegeer finally returned home to American soil, because he spent his last weeks at war evacuating Americans as Saigon fell. The DOD database shows that of the 2,100,000 men and women who served in Vietnam, 58,152 were killed. I respect the process, but it can be hard to prove something thats in your heart., Thats what makes it so special when you see the name going up, she added. A diamond symbol signifies that the service members death was confirmed. It is forgotten now, but in the beginning Congress and most of the American people were behind our containment effort in Vietnam. Written requests should be mailed to: National Personnel Records Center, 9700 Page Ave., St. Louis, MO 63132-5100. For information regarding official military unit histories, contact: Air ForceU.S. This is close to, but not exactly in the same order as the names on the Wall. In a span of 16 dark days in late 1967, all three would be killed. In order to have your name on the Wall, you had to have died within the war zone, explained Doubek. 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. How to Order a Draft Record. The first two names listed on Panel 1, East Wall, at the apex are from July 8, 1959. The DOD database listed precise religious preferences for the 58,152 Vietnam casualties. Please take a moment to let our troops know how much we appreciate their service and sacrifice. 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 Vietnam Wall at the Buffalo and Erie County Naval & Military Park features the names of local fallen soldiers. 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. 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. Concerning, How do I find a name on the Vietnam War Memorial wall? Department of Veterans Affairs BIRLS Death File, 1850-2010: see the "National Cemeteries and Beneficiaries" section below. Many of them, as experienced pilots, were older (two thirds were thirty or older) and many were high ranking. 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. Vietnam Veterans Memorial Learn about the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in this brief introductory video. 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 . 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. For a photograph of an inscription of a close friend or relative, write: This website requires a paid subscription for full access. The last 18 names listed on the bottom of Panel 1, West, also at the apex, are from May 15, 1975. Army and Marine officer casualties were also quite young. 12 soldiers on the Wall were 17 years old. compiled by Military Records and Research Library, Department of Military Affairs; edited by Julia D. Rather and Jeffrey Michael Duff, Research Our Records. In addition, millions of documents had been lent to the Department of Veterans Affairs before the fire occurred. EIN: 52-1149668, Copyright 2023 The Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund, Javascript must be enabled for the correct page display. Almost 50 percent were majors, lieutenant-colonels, colonels and three were generals. offer to read the block of names that includes their special names. United States. 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). While VVMF finances the name additions to the Wall, it is the Department of Defense that makes these difficult and often technical decisions. . Only 10 percent of enlisted men had even some college to their credit and only 1 percent were college graduates. Authority Record - NARA, Records of the U.S. Colleen Pontes, whose father Kevin Joyce was added in 2003, remembered the rush of emotions she felt as she and her brother watched their dads name being inscribed in the granite. 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. 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. Ninety-one percent of these Army officers were warrant officers, second lieutenants, first lieutenants or captains. prepared by Frances A. Hortsch for the Phoenix Genealogical Society. Once additions are approved by DoD, VVMF receives the list of approved names, coordinates the inscribing and absorbs the costs. 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. 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. Your donation to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund will help expand our mission to honor, educate and heal. It is hard to believe it is 36 years since the last casualties. The Marines of Morenciled some of thebest high school football and basketball teams that the little Arizona copper town of Morenci (pop. 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. The officer corps casualties alone would satisfy that judgment, but that is not the same as being representative. Protestants were 64.4 percent (37,483), Catholics were 28.9 percent (16,806). Download our app to find events, locations and programs near you. History is a guide to navigation in perilous times. 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. 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. How many names are on the wall? The National Park Service offers these steps for locating a name: National Park Service rangers and volunteers are available to assist in locating names at the Memorial. They were at their peak physically. The Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall USA website is dedicated to honoring those who died in the Vietnam War. At the time, approximately 1,300 names were designated as servicemen who were either missing or prisoners of war. A few years after the dedication, the issue of geographic criteria was expanded by DoD to include people who had been killed outside of the war zone while on or in support of direct combat missions. Some recent studies tend to refute what had been the perceived wisdom of social scientists and other commentators that our Vietnam dead came overwhelmingly from the poor communities. effort, but is a very effective means to express the enormity of the war and If your browser displays the text file, you can then use See Access to Non-Archival Records for more information. They enjoyed roaring beer busts. U.S. Army Personnel and Dependent Casualties, 1961-1981 85% of the records in this database are related to the Vietnam Conflict. The Wall is about names. 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. The names are listed in chronological order, according to the date of casualty. Look at the bottom of each panel on the wall for its number. The panels come together to form a point, linking the first and last together in enduring tribute. The Air Force lost the highest percentage of officers. Nor did America recognize, on July 8, 1959the day he was killedthat another long and bloody war lay in wait. 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. Congress. National Mall and Memorial Parks , Vietnam Veterans Memorial, Download the official NPS app before your next visit. The Navy had a similar profile: 55 percent of its 622 officer casualties were 30 years of age or older, and 45 percent were ranked at lieutenant commander or above when they died. More than 200 names have been added to the Wall The most casualty deaths for a single month was May 1968 2,415 casualties were incurred. 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. Of the 8000 Coast guardsmen who served in Vietnam, 3 officers and 4 enlisted men were killed and 59 were wounded. The USO is a not-for-profit organization and not part of the Department of Defense (DoD). By providing your mobile phone number, you opt in to receive calls and texts from USO. 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 National Personnel Records Center (NPRC) in St. Louis maintains Vietnam War Official Military Personnel Files (OMPF). THE NAMES ON THE WALL: AN HISTORICAL JUDGMENT. And they often show a heartbreakingly wry sense of humor with the same sensibilities as their college-bound peers. Kurt Buis was 8 years old the day his father died. 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. columns per page. 1972 NAID 305367, Silver Star Medal and Legion of Merit Award Case Files, 19711971 NAID 5721359. Coast Guard Historians OfficeCommandant (CG-09224)U.S. Coast Guard Headquarters 2100 Second Street SW Washington, D.C. 20593. 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. 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 men and women who valiantly fought in the Vietnam War certainly deserve the title of hero. 8 Women are on the Wall. And in the patriotic camaraderie typical of Morencis mining families, the nine graduates of Morenci High enlisted as a group in the Marine Corps. As a region, the South experienced the greatest numbers of dead, nearly 34 percent of the total, or 31.0 deaths per 100,000 of population. 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. Richard B. Fitzgibbon III, who was killed on Sept. 7, 1965. The Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization. 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. Lower end category IVs consisting of those who scored below 20 on the AFQT were usually rejected for service. Note the panel and line number for the name listed. 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. name within a given date. He tried to make the best call he could when adding names to the list. 5 soldiers on the Wall were 16 years old. Military Reunions, Screensavers, Rubbings, Personal Guestbook for all Names. As a result, the black casualty rate was reduced to 11.5 percent by 1969. The most casualty deaths for a single day was on January 31, 1968 245 deaths. 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. In terms of national origin/ancestries, an extensive sampling of the data-base reveals that Americans of French Canadian, Polish, Italian and other Southern and Eastern European surnames made up about 10 percent of the Vietnam casualties. In addition to WWII Draft Records, the National Personnel Records Center (NPRC) in St. Louis, MO maintains Post-WWII through Vietnam Era Selective Service Records, for all men born before 1960. Officer casualties in Vietnam, including warrant officers, numbered 7,874, or 13.5 percent of all casualties. No single persons service or sacrifice would be any greater than anyone elses. 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. 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. The Vietnam War was no different. Although the names are not listed alphabetically, it is not difficult for visitors to find a name on the Memorial. They seem honored to be putting the names on the Wall.. Their names, however, have been removed from the printed Directory of Names. 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 idea that American enlisted dead were made up largely of societys poverty stricken misfits is a terrible slander to their memory and to the solid working-class and middle-class families of this country who provided the vast majority of our casualties. It gives the names in alphabetical order and . All other individual draftee files from that period were destroyed by the Selective Service System in 1978, in accordance with approved records retention schedules. Brothers Marlin and Norman Eversgerd were both killed in Vietnam. 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. Along with its wave of death, it scarred many people, especially those closest to the men that died fighting the . I mean, it was bad.. As one walks the Wall slowly, examining the ineffably American names, one is struck by the same recurring surnames. Locate the line on which the name is inscribed. 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. What will be the evolving historical judgment for those names on the Wall? As a result, the software improperly truncated or abbreviated names. . They drew on every segment of American society. Buis can be found at the top middle of a slab designated Panel 1E. Indeed, officer casualties of all branches were overwhelmingly white. 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. An aunt came and loaded the three boys into the car. In the military it can be somewhat more deadly. This was long before the advent of integrated computer databases. Thus we can see that the channeling philosophy continued within the armed forces. The panel number is a number/letter combination, such as 10W or 35E.
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alphabetical list of names on the vietnam wall