| The Vietnam Veterans Memorial serves as a testament
to the sacrifice of American military personnel during one of this nation's
least popular wars. By erecting this memorial, it was hoped that the issue
of the veterans and their sacrifice could be separated from the U.S. policy
in the war, thereby creating a venue for reconciliation.
The Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall Statistics and Facts
There are 58,272 names now listed on that polished black wall, including
those added in 2011.
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.
The largest age group, 8,283 were just 19 years old
3,103 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 Vietnan.
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.
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"It's time that we recognized that ours was in truth a noble cause." ~Ronald
Reagan
"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
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.
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