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 58,385 names now listed on that polished black wall, including those added through 2020.
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.
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 .
43 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.
I was a bit too young, but my mentors and leaders early in my career were all Vietnam Vets.
Of particular note is Master Gunnery Sergeant Roberson who, much to his amusement, discovered during my onboarding interview into an aviation maintenance training command that he was serving in Vietnam the day I was born in 1964. Apparently he was in a helicopter squadron there supporting the “advisors”.
I’ve always had huge respect for Vietnam vets not just for your service and sacrifice, but because of the lack of support from home while you were there and the outright hostility you experienced when you got back.
You didn’t deserve that and you have my respect and gratitude for serving under those conditions.
My brother-in-law died because of the War in Vietnam but not in the War. He suffered from Agent Orange poisoning that led to the conditions that took his life. He won’t be counted on that wall but he should be remembered.
I was in and out over a seven year period with VP squadrons. I was very fortunate to have seen it that way instead of on my first enlistment (’60-’63) with the Army. I finally got to visit The Wall in ’98 on a business trip tp D.C. A very emotional experience, took me back some. I didn’t know anyone on The Wall but felt like I knew them all. Tears were shed.
The ones that hurt the worst are those that came home in body only. I lost too many friends/schoolmates that way. What I remember a remark one of them made during an illegal drinking party in the dorm when he blew thru on a visit. “I came home and it feels like every day my bruises get pounded on. No warning, no pattern, just an attack from whatever direction I’m not looking at. I’m stateside but I feel like I’m still in country with no safe place to turn off the alert. I’m sitting here, in a college dorm , drinking not very good hooch and I still keep scanning for the clue, the glint that shouldn’t be there, the leaf moving against the wind, the shadow across the window…”
That was approximately his view of his world. I was too young and inexperienced to understand. All I could do was keep pouring and listen. He was gone the next morning and I haven’t heard from him since. I have never forgotten his image of a bruise that never heals because it is constantly pounded on. I hope he got a sanctuary somewhere, sometime.
Many years ago my sons gave me a beautifully framed litho of that painting. It has hung on the living room wall of every house we have occupied since then, and there have been many — 23 addresses in 30 years service, plus 5 since.
My first visit to The Wall was on a foggy morning just after the hard to tell sunrise. Ever since then, my visits have been for that time of day. Highly recommended.
Phan Rang, ’66-’67
Thank you all for your responses.
Those were a lot of interesting statistics. Thank you for chasing all of that information and typing it up for the rest of us to read.
As I was born in 1965, I grew up around quite a few Vietnam vets. Some were good, some bad, like all men. All who served, regardless, have my respect. Many were hated at the time, just for answering the call to service.
Funny thing, though. We heard about vets in California & places like that being spat on, called ‘baby-killers’, etc., but at the same time back then, returning young men could walk into a bar in Tennessee or Kentucky and old vets would buy them a beer. Culture matters.
We drove from San Diego to meet dad at Travis. He was back from his 3rd tour. There were protestors at the main gate.
Waiting at the stoplight, they taunted us, screaming profanaties, shoving on the car. Oh yeah, we were spat upon. A group detached from the main group to follow us through tow. Pulling along side, swerving into us causing dad to swerve, the incessant screaming, more spitting. Mom pleading to dad to take off the uniform. So proud that dad firmly and forcefully said, No!
We pulled into a filling station. Immediately a pickup stopped to block our car. Six or more young men and women started taunting and beating on our car. Dad told us to stay put as he got out to pay inside. Two, maybe three of the brashest young men challenged dad to fight.
Its on. A walk out of sight, behind the station, the thugs giggling and howling followed dad. A couple of minutes later, one man walked into view. The others fell silent and looked at each other wondering what to do. For the first time that night they did the smart thing; they drove away.
Well, they would had except now ead is threatening them. I didn’t hear the words, but I saw the response. Each of them in turn came to mom to offer an apology. Only then were they allowed to leave.
I am fiercely proud to have known those men of great caliber. How any other American could be so violently against them is utterly shameful.
This is a silent and somber weekend. Thank you, men. Every one of you. Thank you.
Thank you very much!
Thanks for the synopsis of Our Dead. I’ve seen the Moving Wall when it was here, but I’m not sure I’d “be OK” if I saw the Wall in D.C. I have a feeling it would hit me as hard as the oil still leaking from the USS Arizona. I had to sit for a minute or two after I saw it coming to the surface.
My service was in Germany and I was discharged in 1966. The way Vietnam vets were treated sickened me. A few “protesters” had the opportunity to experience kinetic push back while I was attending classes at Metro State in Denver. My sister, ten years behind me in school, lost a classmate there in his first week in country.
What’s truly sad….there is no shortage of Americans who, like Hanoi Jane…would cheer about these deaths saying they deserved it and wished it were more.
I was called for a draft physical in 1971, BP 190/110 so they gave me a 1Y designation and told me to go home. My first cousin, Bill, was a mine disposal specialist, one blew up on him. He survived partly because he got special nursing care in Japan by another first cousin who was air force and had enough rank to cover Bill when she heard about it. He couldn’t father children but lived until last year.
I’d never read that. Thank you to whoever compiled it nd to you for sharing it.
🫡
Juan
I remember how it was. My family was poor and I was the last by 6 years. My sister was 8 years older and my brother was 6 years older. I was born in the late 50s and we all worked from 4 years old on.
Once we were out of HS we were out of the house and my sister worked her way through college. My brother got drafted into the Army and was gone and my mom was really upset as my brother was her favorite. My Dad was not happy because he served in the Marines in WW2 and felt if my brother was going to serve it should be the Marines. My Dad had severe wounds from Okinawa and had spent over a year a Naval Hospital.
We did not hear anything from my brother for 3 years until he finally came home from Vietnam on leave on his way to Ft Hood. He became a Ranger in Vietnam and been wounded twice and the last time he was the last of his unit to survive. He would not talk about his time in the military as my Dad never did.
I asked how he became a Ranger and he said that they grabbed him from his unit and that was it. More training was happening in the USA. He spent 3 more years in the Army before leaving. He became a Truck Driver in Texas as he liked the area around Ft. Hood.
I left home after HS in early 70s and found a job to pay to live and college for the next 4 years. Work was not in a good area but I survived. I found and dated my future wife in college. My future wife’s family were all Navy and her father was an Officer that spent many years in CIC of the coast of Vietnam on carriers.
All- Thank you for the stories, and no, I didn’t collect the data, a veteran did years ago and posted it for everyone to use. Sadly, there were/are a lot of ‘negative’ reactions to us coming back, which is why a lot of us made it a point to got to BWI, DFW, and other airports where folks were coming back from the sandbox so they got a good reception!
Dad (Corps of Engineers) pulled 2 tours; ’65-66 when a VC sniper shot a Transit away from in front of his face. THAT close to become a name on The Wall.
Second tour 1969. CO of 92nd Engineer Btn. then S2 of 20th Brigade. He came home Christmas Eve, ’69. Car rental desk at Friendship Airport couldn’t rent Dad and travel buddy a car w/o a credit card. So the manager handed over the keys of his POV along with contact info to arrange return of car on the 26th.
He visited The Wall often when working in DC. Less often once retired. But always once a year.
B-in-law Neil, USN, USS Oriskany, Tonkin Gulf, 2 tours. Would only visit The Wall alone. Didn’t want his little sister see him cry.
BTW, the ChiCom rifle that almost killed him is on the wall in the basement. Below a photo of Dad. It has a gouge in fore-stock and dark stains further back.
I have that painting. When I saw it, it made me cry. It speaks of loss and love.