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Post by Cougar on May 3, 2012 3:24:58 GMT 9
The Wall
A little history most people will never know.
Interesting Veterans Statistics off the Vietnam Memorial Wall
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.
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 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.
:us_flag :salute
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Post by Deleted on May 3, 2012 3:38:47 GMT 9
I didnt serve in country, I was in NJ for most of my enlistment. I lived within a half hour of DC for over a year. I worked in DC at least 4 or 5 days each month for another 4 years, within a few blocks of the wall.
I was never able to visit what I call Hallowed Ground. I could get halfway down the ramp, but couldnt ever get all the way down. I could see the splendor of the black marble, but couldnt get close enough to touch it.
I lost too many friends and associates, both in my unit and from home. I've tried to be there many times, but I just cant enter the place that God has put aside to honor the most patriotic humans in my lifetime.
They are being joined daily by those from Iran Iraq and Afghanistan, but there wont ever be a wall for them. Not with the scum who inhabit the houses and buildings we built for them in DC, the silly palace, white house, congress, the senate, etc.
Not until we take back our country from those who dont care about our history or the intent of our being here.
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Post by steve201 (deceased) on May 3, 2012 4:21:17 GMT 9
it's a sad thing to put our kids, fathers, sons and friends thru a war that nobody wanted or declared winable......
Steve
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Post by Bullhunter on May 3, 2012 5:13:59 GMT 9
Vietnam is still killing our warriors. My cousin a U.S. Marine died of many problems a few years back at 55 years old. All were rated with Agent Orange.
The combat maybe over but the killing is still with us.
Their names should be added to the wall.
In memory of My Cousin Robert Price, USMC, Vietnam 1967-69
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Post by Gene on May 3, 2012 6:53:02 GMT 9
:salute :salute :salute  p.s. good to hear from you gary...  |
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Post by jimpadgett on May 3, 2012 21:22:03 GMT 9
Like Ron, I've been to the Wall. Living only 15 miles from it, I have not returned. That once was such a wrenching experience that I cannot. It is a fitting tribute to those brave men and women.
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Post by LBer1568 on May 3, 2012 21:45:49 GMT 9
It is such a sad place, but brings closure to many who come to say farewell to Brothers in Arms. I was amased by the size of the Directory. Like a small town phone book.
I went once on a TDY to DC, but ended up comming back the following day. A monsoon hit right after we got down the steps and we hightailed it back to car.
Does anyone know how many names have been added since initially opened? I know its quite a few.
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Post by ma1marv on May 3, 2012 22:30:44 GMT 9
On one of my TDY's to Ft Meade, Maryland, I went to that memorial and really had an experience. Sometimes you just have to sit down and listen to the little voice inside of you and you get to experience a perspective that no one else can ever have. I have put together a picture and wrote a poem for that moment when I first saw "The Wall". I kept this framed and next to my desk for many years and I'm sharing it now with all of you - all of my brothers and sisters who are associated with the F-106. Enjoy! MArv :fire_missle_ani :patriotic-flagwaver REFLECTIONS -------- SO MANY PEOPLE FILING BY -- SO MANY PEOPLE - THEY MAY NEVER UNDERSTAND WHY - OR HOW - OR EVEN WHEN. SO MANY PEOPLE WILL NEVER GIVE - LIKE THEM YOUNG ONES, OLD ONES, RED ONES, BLUE ONES - WHITES AND BLACKS - AND EVEN NEW ONES - SOME NEVER STOP- SOME NEVER REMEMBER - SOME EVEN AVOID AND RUSH TOWARDS FOREVER. I WONDER IF THEY WERE IN THOSE SHOES - IN THE MUD, MUCK, RICE, AND BLOOD. IF THEY COULD BE ON A WALL - SUCH AS THIS ---- ONE DAY. MARV DONNELLY, SEPTEMBER, 1996 Attachments:
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Post by pat perry on May 3, 2012 23:40:56 GMT 9
Marv,
You have captured the message of the Wall.
During the TET Offensive I was flown into Pleiku to fix a grounded C-130. I sat atop the #3 engine changing the engine bleed air valve. It was quiet except for the gunfire, flashes and smells of gunpowder. We did a leak check with the prop feathered and loaded up to return to Siagon.
There were 5 of us in the cargo hold. Me and four guys on that Wall. I wondered where and how they had died and if their famlies had been notified.
As many times as I have been to DC I have found it impossible to go to the Wall... perhaps for the reasons you have mentioned. But I do think often about those 4 guys and the other 58,263 who are on that Wall with them.
Pat P.
:salute
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Post by ma1marv on May 4, 2012 0:15:24 GMT 9
PAt - I cannot express the feeling properly about when you touch that wall - but it is a feeling that one can only experience for themselves.
I do encourage you to make it a point to do just that the next time you go. The peace after is so much more than anyone can ever express in words. I tried - and I'm still at a loss for words to totally express all those feelings.
Its also a very personal thing - that touch - even though its only marble - a stone just cut and polished - but it is alive and takes your breath away.
MArv :fire_missle_ani :patriotic-flagwaver
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Post by Jim Scanlon (deceased) on May 4, 2012 0:38:43 GMT 9
Than you, Marv
Jim Too
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Post by Jim Scanlon (deceased) on May 4, 2012 0:59:37 GMT 9
When I was at DaNang, 1968 -1969, I lived in Gunfighter Village. At the North end of our compound, no fences or walls, sat the base hospital. It was the receiving hospital for helicopters bringing wounded from the North and West of DaNang. There were times the choppers would be lined up, waiting to land, to download the wounded. They also carried those who didn't make it. Those were taken to the morgue, near the North end of the East runway. Working in Maintenance Control, I handled the the Base Ops and Crash phones. There were times that our flight operations came to an almost complete halt, as there were too many choppers in the air to make for safe operations. You tried to shut the sound of the rotors, as the choppers hovered over the hospital landing pad, but couldn't. How many men came through the DaNang hospital? I just don't know. Nor do I know how many never survived to leave the hospital for more treatment. My one trip to the Wall, was in 1989. That one trip was enough. I don't go to see the portable walls that travel around the country, nor do I intend to. I saw too many planes leave Ubon, and not come back. I saw those aircrews on the Wall. That was enough. Like Marv, I touched the Wall, more than once, as I saw names I knew. I, too, can't describe my feelings, as I stood there, with my hand on the Wall. Our daughter, 15 at the time, came up to me, and held me. It was as if she knew what was in my heart. De was filled with emotions, as she looked at the Wall, and saw the name of a friends husband. I still can't put it in to words. But, it is still there. When Gunfighter Village got hit by 122s, in the middle of one night, we lost one of our controllers, the AGE guy. He wasn't even a citizen when he joined the Air Force. But, he, too, is on the Wall. Too many. Too young. Jim Too  |
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Post by bear (Deceased) on May 4, 2012 3:07:12 GMT 9
I've never been to DC to the wall, But have been to the traveling wall twice and can not go near it. What a shame to lose all those troops, what great thing they could have done.
Bear
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Post by Mark O on May 4, 2012 5:51:58 GMT 9
I went there in 1985 about three years after it was opened. This was just after the "Three Soldiers" statue was placed there, but I really don't remember the statue well. The Wall was the focal point. My brother, and a friend (both Navy men at the time), and I were visiting DC, and had already been to several popular sites. When we got to The Wall things changed. The tourist in each of us went away. The "Wow!", chatting about the sites, etc. fell to the wayside. I still can't really put it into words, but I can say it was reverent, respectful, and moving. No other memorial I've visited before, or since gave me the feeling I got at The Wall. thewall-usa.com/ |
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Post by Deleted on May 4, 2012 6:06:12 GMT 9
Not to change the subject, but in line with remembrance locations, the next time I'm in DC, I want to visit the Korean War Memorial and the Second World War Memorial. Because I've had so many family members who were in those wars, I'd at least have to see and honor those people. I've already been to the Arizona Memorial, the Punch Bowl in Hawaii, Arlington, all the monuments in DC, the Iwo Jima memorial, Gettysburg, West Point and a lot of the other historic sites in the east, I want to see those two, then maybe I'd be able to make it to the Wall.
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Post by shadowgunner on May 4, 2012 13:44:27 GMT 9
Never been to the actual memorial; but have visited the traveller when it's in town.
Sept 1969 we suffered our first loss of AC-119G gunship & crew at Ton Son Nhut. Just at the start of gear rotation, they suffered an engine fire; upon which the Copilot hit the fire bottle, of the good engine. . Of the 8man crew plus photog and interpreter, 6 names became forever etched on that Wall. One of the names was the photog; the 4 survivors have probably gone through a lifetime of hell as a result.
I visit the travelling wall to pay my respects to those guys that didn't have a chance; and all those that I didn't know. Despite not knowing them, we are all bound by that special connection.
:salute
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