Beginning Research in United States Military Records, National Vietnam War Veterans Day - Wikepedia, National Park Service Vietnam Veterans Memorial. Little about it is concrete. Of the 7,262 blacks who died, 6,955, or 96 percent, were Army and Marine enlisted men. Naval Academy, 130; Texas A & M, 112; The Citadel, 66; Virginia Military Institute, 43; Virginia Polytechnic Institute, 26; Norwich University, 19. 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. These casualties came largely from the Northeast and North Central regions of the United States, many from the traditionally patriotic, Catholic working class neighborhoods. THE NAMES ON THE WALL: AN HISTORICAL JUDGMENT. peruse. They drew on every segment of American society. 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. Please say a prayer for our fallen heroes, their family members, and our hero Vietnam War Veterans during your visit. One additional factor, often overlooked, that influenced volunteer enlistment was military tradition the influence of fathers, grandfathers, brothers, uncles and others who had served in previous 20th century wars. It is forgotten now, but in the beginning Congress and most of the American people were behind our containment effort in Vietnam. If a name was particularly long, it would be swapped with a shorter name. Doubek was tasked with identifying all of the names to be included on the Wall. | Note the panel and line number for the name listed. Black leaders, including Martin Luther King Jr., protested, and President Johnson ordered black participation in combat units cut back. U.S. Army Personnel and Dependent Casualties, 1961-1981 85% of the records in this database are related to the Vietnam Conflict. The central idea of the poem is that the Vietnamese War took hundreds of lives away from the United States of America. It may come as a surprise to some that 63.3 percent of all Vietnam enlisted casualties were not draftees but volunteers. 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. compiled by Military Records and Research Library, Department of Military Affairs; edited by Julia D. Rather and Jeffrey Michael Duff, Research Our Records. These directories help locate names on the wall. The Vietnam Wall at the Buffalo and Erie County Naval & Military Park features the names of local fallen soldiers. The officer corps casualties alone would satisfy that judgment, but that is not the same as being representative. 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. The affected record collections are described below. Inscribed dots in the margins of every other panel mark every 10 lines to aid in counting. 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 figures show that on average 65 percent of white enlisted men and 60 percent of black enlisted men were high school graduates. A.. B.. C.. D.. E.. F.. G.. H.. On November 7, 2021 VVMF began a daily virtual Reading of the Names. Congress. 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. 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. 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. prepared by Frances A. Hortsch for the Phoenix Genealogical Society. Compounding these difficulties was the issue that many casualties, particularly from the Air Force, were not always straightforward in terms of locale. The panel number is a number/letter combination, such as 10W or 35E. The draft continued from 1948, during both peacetime and war, to 1973, when President Richard M. Nixon signed legislation officially ending the draft. The names of those who gave their lives and of those who remain missing are inscribed in the order they were taken from us. They enjoyed roaring beer busts. 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. In some instances, names needed to be shuffled in order to fit on a line. These names are followed by the inscription: Our nation honors the courage, sacrifice and devotion to duty and country of its Vietnam veterans. What happens to items left at the memorial? 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 Wall USA is a non-profit endeavor maintained by veterans . 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. In the event a service members remains are returned or accounted for, then a diamond symbol is engraved over the plus sign. While their names are not on The Wall, they are never forgotten. Since its adoption in 1951, at the time of the Korean War, this policy had been renewed by Congress every four years. The appearance of DoD visual information does not imply or constitute DoD endorsement. 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. http://www.freetoursbyfoot.com/vietna.. Buis was in Vietnam by his own volition. 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. Some are drawn to the Wall like pilgrims to Mecca. but will allow you to download it after you specify a file name. 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. 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. As a result, the software improperly truncated or abbreviated names. The training for American officers is thought by most foreign military authorities to be the best in the world. Locate the line on which the name is inscribed. 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. As one stands before the Wall one feels that no other judgment is acceptable to their living memory. The Vietnam Veterans Memorial is open 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, for all who wish to visit. 39,996 on the Wall were just 22 or younger. While I was in training, my motivation was to get these wings and I wear them today proudly, the airman recalled in 2015. 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. In 2004, the total is 58,241 names. He tried to make the best call he could when adding names to the list. All other individual draftee files from that period were destroyed by the Selective Service System in 1978, in accordance with approved records retention schedules. Unfortunately, he mistakenly added a small number of names of men who were still alive. By his estimate, he helped pull out close to 2,000 people. In addition, millions of documents had been lent to the Department of Veterans Affairs before the fire occurred. 12 soldiers on the Wall were 17 years old. 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. In the military it can be somewhat more deadly. 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. There are officially 58,228 names on the Wall, but the database these files were derived . Hed volunteered to join a small U.S. military advisory team attached to the South Vietnamese army, and hed been in the village of Bien Hoa for only two days. 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. All would be represented equally, with generals listed alongside infantrymen. 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. More Info At www.themovingwall.org Visit site I.. J.. K.. L.. M. N.. O.. P.. Q.. R.. S.. T.. U.. V.. W.. X.. Y.. Z Individual Award Case Files, 1969 - 1970. Their service began on Independence Day, 1966. This amounted to 4.1 percent of all enlisted casualties in Vietnam. 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. 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. If the two branches are combined, then 80 percent of the Army and Marine enlisted casualties were privates or corporals, grades E-1 to E-4. The names are arranged in the order in which they were taken from us by date and within each date the names are alphabetized. Less than 1 percent (0.8) were Jewish, Hindu, Thai, Buddhist or Muslim combined, and 5.7 listed no religion. Its still fought in the bodies and minds of the men who waged it all those decades ago. More than 200 names have been added to the Wall This takes about 72 hours. 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. An aunt came and loaded the three boys into the car. 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. columns per page. The most comprehensive and authoritative history site on the Internet. With the glitch discovered, Doubek and his team located and hand-corrected each error. Written requests should be mailed to: National Personnel Records Center, 9700 Page Ave., St. Louis, MO 63132-5100. 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. They often reveal a typically warm American family atmosphere. An estimated 11,000 women served in Vietnam. Lower end category IVs consisting of those who scored below 20 on the AFQT were usually rejected for service. Military Reunions, Screensavers, Rubbings, Personal Guestbook for all Names. information is available on this web site: These files are lists of the names on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, listed Getting to Washington, D.C. Records of U.S. Military Casualties, Missing in Action, and Prisoners of War from the Era of the Vietnam War are available through the National Archives. This change prompted the addition of 110 names in 1986. This can help veterans or relatives find other persons who died with 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. They were at their peak physically. No other moniker for Sammy Davis Jr. was more accurate. The Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C. has the names listed in chronological order by date of loss. Proving a direct correlation to the injuries is a challenge, Pontes explained. Additionally, many of the names on the wall were other teenagers from the suburban white collar communities with siblings who were in, or would go on to college, but who, as individuals themselves, were slow to mature, struggled through high school and were therefore very available for the Vietnam War. Your donation to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund will help expand our mission to honor, educate and heal. Authority Record - NARA, Records of the U.S. ".for those who have died." Army Major Dale Buis name is etched into the granite half an inch tall, no bigger or smaller than any of the others. For a photograph of an inscription of a close friend or relative, write: This website requires a paid subscription for full access. History is who we are and why we are the way we are.. The feeling is that the poor, the undereducated and the minorities made up the vast majority of the combat arms during that war. We honor and remember their sacrifice.". Vietnam War Casualties, MIA and POWs. The USO relies on your support to help service members and their families. Lins vision prevailed. Much more detailed LeRoy was killed on Wednesday, Nov. 22, the fourth anniversary of President John F. Kennedys assassination. 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. The Army suffered the most total casualties, 38,179 or 2.7 percent of its force. If the veteran is still alive, ask his or her help finding records. Blacks were 85 percent Protestant. 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. Note that the files are large, and are in Rich Text Format (RTF), with two The Vietnam War was no different. This is close to, but not exactly in the same order 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. HistoryNet.com contains daily features, photo galleries and over 25,000 articles originally published in our nine magazines. 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. Gather facts from sources at home,and talk to relatives. Full casualty records may be retrieved online through the National Archives' Access to Archival Databases resource. We were one giant Hollywood B-17 bomber crew, one perfect socioeconomic platoon storming Omaha Beach or Okinawa. 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. You could also keep these files on a computer at your 1,448 soldiers were killed on their last day in Vietnam. As the Vietnam War dragged on, Kurt tried twice to enlist. Each name is listed with great honor and respect. There are 58,267 names now listed on Vietnam Wall, including those added in 2010. The VC had commandeered Air America Hueys, and they were flying them around, which simply made for a very interesting chess game. Access to Non-Archival Military Service Records is limited. . Please take a moment to let our troops know how much we appreciate their service and sacrifice. And in the patriotic camaraderie typical of Morencis mining families, the nine graduates of Morenci High enlisted as a group in the Marine Corps. The names of Army Master Sergeant Chester Ovnand and Major Dale Buis are inscribed on Panel 1E of the Vietnam War Memorial Wall. Thats a tragic 2,415 more names on the Vietnam Wall in a single month. If each 1970 NAID 570973, State-Level Fatal Casualty Lists sorted Alphabetically by Last Name, List of United States servicemembers and civilians missing in action during the Vietnam War (196165) Wikipedia, U.S., Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency, Unaccounted-for Remains, Group A (Recoverable), 1941-1975, U.S., Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency, Unaccounted-for Remains, Group B (Unrecoverable), 1941-1975, Vietnamw-Era POW/MIA Databases & Documents. For blacks, however, only 7 percent placed in categories I and II and 93 percent placed in categories III and IV. 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. Instead its nearly in the center. They did not, in most cases, carry the burdens of wife or children. person reads for 20 minutes, (270 names) this will require 216 volunteer name do this, be sure to have an alternate reader assigned to take over in case Making these arrangements and printing the pages takes considerable Others, later in the war, were simply ineligible because of high lottery number. There are students on field trips, some solemn and curious, but some just happy to get out of class. To put a circle around the symbol beside their names would not provide the correct historical context related to their situation. The widely held notion that the poor served and died in Vietnam while the rich stayed home is way off the mark. 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. 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. This can be in the form of a book, The Vietnam Veterans Memorial Directory of Names, or one of the various databases. Richard B. Fitzgibbon III, who was killed on Sept. 7, 1965. Nevertheless, 336,111 men were phased into the service under this plan (mostly the Army) and 2,072 were killed. 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. November 11, 1982. With this list in hand, he went to the various locations where individual service records were kept to review files. You may print these files and have the pages available for visitors to effort, but is a very effective means to express the enormity of the war and Kurt became the man of the house, even as a boy. The Selective Service System it said, has the responsibility to deliver manpower to the armed forces in such a manner as to reduce to a minimum any adverse effect upon the national health, safety, interest and progress. As they came through the door, Viet Cong guerrillas opened fire with machine guns. More names are added to the wall every year. 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. The Marine Corps losses were skewed even more to the lower ranks, 91 percent were privates or corporals. If you The Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization. His name does not appear at either far end. to open, search, edit, or print the name files. 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. 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. And they are so respectful when they do the engraving. Millions more come to experience this Memorial each year. Every day, Americas service members selflessly put their lives on the line to keep us safe and free. In civilian life, poor aptitude testing can have a tremendous negative impact, whether for college placement or for simple job advancement. She wanted the names to tell the journey, or the timeline, of the war. The Selective Service registration requirement was later suspended in April 1975. All were nurses, all were single and all but one were in their 20s.