Another one that came in via the mil email net… Worth thinking about.
These facts are very interesting for those of us who were in Vietnam as opposed to the lying politicians who continue to claim they were there.
A little history most people will never know.
Interesting Veterans Statistics off the Vietnam Memorial Wall “Carved on these walls is the story of America, of a continuing quest to preserve both Democracy and decency, and to protect a national treasure that we call the American dream.” ~President George Bush
SOMETHING to think about – Most of the parents of these men are now deceased.
There are 58,267 names now listed on that polished black wall, including those added in 2010.
The names are arranged in the order in which they were taken from us by date and within each date the names are alphabetized. It is hard to believe it is 36 years since the last casualties.
And people STILL visit the wall every day…
Beginning at the apex on panel 1E and going out to the end of the East wall, appearing to recede into the earth (numbered 70E – May 25, 1968), then resuming at the end of the West wall, as the wall emerges from the earth (numbered 70W – continuing May 25, 1968) and ending with a date in 1975. Thus the war’s beginning and end meet. The war is complete, coming full circle, yet broken by the earth that bounds the angle’s open side and contained within the earth itself.
The first known casualty was Richard B. Fitzgibbon, of North Weymouth , Mass. Listed by the U.S. Department of Defense as having been killed on June 8, 1956. His name is listed on the Wall with that of his son, Marine Corps Lance Cpl. Richard B. Fitzgibbon III, who was killed on Sept. 7, 1965.
There are three sets of fathers and sons on the Wall.
39,996 on the Wall were just 22 or younger.
8,283 were just 19 years old.
The largest age group, 33,103 were 18 years old.
12 soldiers on the Wall were 17 years old.
5 soldiers on the Wall were 16 years old.
One soldier, PFC Dan Bullock was 15 years old.
997 soldiers were killed on their first day in Vietnam .
1,448 soldiers were killed on their last day in Vietnam .
31 sets of brothers are on the Wall.
Thirty one sets of parents lost two of their sons.
54 soldiers on the Wall attended Thomas Edison High School in Philadelphia . I wonder why so many from one school.
8 Women are on the Wall. Nursing the wounded.
244 soldiers were awarded the Medal of Honor during the Vietnam War; 153 of them are on the Wall.
Beallsville , Ohio with a population of 475 lost 6 of her sons.
West Virginia had the highest casualty rate per capita in the nation. There are 711 West Virginians on the Wall.
The Marines of Morenci – They led some of the scrappiest high school football and basketball teams that the little Arizona copper town of Morenci (pop. 5,058) had ever known and cheered. They enjoyed roaring beer busts. In quieter moments, they rode horses along the Coronado Trail, stalked deer in the Apache National Forest . And in the patriotic camaraderie typical of Morenci’s mining families, the nine graduates of Morenci High enlisted as a group in the Marine Corps. Their service began on Independence Day, 1966. Only 3 returned home.
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. They lived only a few yards apart. They played ball at the adjacent sandlot ball field. And they all went to Vietnam . In a span of 16 dark days in late 1967, all three would be killed. LeRoy was killed on Wednesday, Nov. 22, the fourth anniversary of John F. Kennedy’s assassination. Jimmy died less than 24 hours later on Thanksgiving Day. Tom was shot dead assaulting the enemy on Dec. 7, Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day.
The most casualty deaths for a single day was on January 31, 1968 ~ 245 deaths.
The most casualty deaths for a single month was May 1968 – 2,415 casualties were incurred.
For most Americans who read this they will only see the numbers that the Vietnam War created. To those of us who survived the war, and to the families of those who did not, we see the faces, we feel the pain that these numbers created. We are, until we too pass away, haunted with these numbers, because they were our friends, fathers, husbands, wives, sons and daughters. There are no noble wars, just noble warriors.
This is Lee Teter’s iconic painting called Vietnam Reflections, which, to me, is the portrait of a survivor who keeps coming back to the wall to try to understand why he survived and the others died…
If you ever get to DC, it is worth seeing…
Nuff said.
That memorial is unlike any I’ve seen. What always strikes me is what people leave there – letters to the fallen, flowers, a personal touch that tries to connect, as the man in the painting is trying to do.
I’d also like to point out a memoir from that war that I found my meeting the author at a gun show. It’s just him and his word processor – no fancy editors and “as told to” ghost writers. But it’s what he and his buddies did in the war.
Vietnam: No Regrets by Sgt J. Richard Watkins. I put up a post about it, but I know there are a ton of military folks who read you, Old NFO. This isn’t wasting their time.
A most excellent post.
I was 18 years old in 1969. My lottery number was 42. I didn’t like the war, but mostly because I felt it was another political fuckup like Korea. But I didn’t duck the draft. But it rejected me 3 times. After the draft ended, I enlisted in 1974 and spent almost 13 years in the Army. I made many friends that had served in Viet Nam but I never went. And actually that is what haunts me today. That I survived the war by not being there. That I wasn’t there beside my brothers. I’ve been told that I should rejoice that I didn’t have to be there, but it haunts me nonetheless. Especially when I see the names of high school friends on the Wall.
It’s one of the most powerful and changing experiences, to visit that Wall. Noble warriors, and many of whom were done a disservice by their countrymen upon their return. I don’t have the words, really….
Without question, the best/worst place to visit in DC.
When you lay a hand on that wall, I swear you can hear the spirit of those boys.
BP- they do, and the Park Service collects AND catalogs all of it, and it’s in a warehouse in MD. I’m going to order that book too!
Murph- Thanks!
David- I know that feeling, and I did serve…
MC- Concur
DT- yeah…
Words fail me.
Hallowed ground.
My wife went to DC last year and told me all about it when she got home.
She said she cried almost from the moment she got there, like she did at the Arizona Memorial.
“Some Gave All, All Gave Some”.
Been there … cried there…
’64-’65. Missed the part my brother went through.
I have rubbings of friends names from there. You made me go look at them in my book of memories. Got something in my eye!
Vietnam, to me, was one of the most frustrating wars ever. In retrospect it was, tactically, one of the poorest fought and micromanaged right up to the White House. It exists as one of the finest examples of these tenets:
1. US military forces exist for two reasons: to break shit and kill people.
2. If you don’t FULLY intend to break shit and kill people, DON’T deploy them.
BZ
Great post. The Vietnam Veterans Memorial is one of the quietest places on The Mall, even on a sunny day when people are frolicking around other places down there. All the names put quite a face on what was sacrificed.
Now if we could get people to quit treating the WWII memorial like a skate park… That pisses me off.
WSF- Good point.
drjim- Not an unusual response.
Tim- Yep
Skip- Thanks for your service
Danny- I visit it every couple of months
BZ- You’re right, and it was a horror story…
Andy- Agreed! I’d just declare open season on the skateboarders…
Went there with my Dad, while he pointed out names and told me about them.
I carried a large framed print around of that painting for almost 20 years. Finally donated it to the last squadron I was stationed with before retirement. It still hangs in the office there.
MSGT- Yep, the personal connection is what tears me up… Glad you donated the poster to a good cause!
Agree that it’s as quiet as a church in the memorial. I also like how the Woman’s Memorial just a few yards away has one of the nurses looking over at the wall. It’s like she’s looking for the men she lost.
Another good one is the Korean memorial. If you go at night, it’s very moving to see the faces of the statues floating out in the dark.
DB- True, and even more eerie is to be there at night when it’s foggy… You’d swear the Korean vets are moving!
My uncle hit 2 of the items: He died age 19 in May 1968. I think he’d been a Marine all of 6 months. Only been in country for 2 weeks.
His was the first funeral I went to and I still have brass I policed up after taps faded away. He was my favourite uncle.
At times, I miss him mightily. I still can’t hear taps without tearing up.
STxRynn