Viet Nam Veteran Statistics

Viet Nam Veteran Statistics

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 surviving Parents 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.

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 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.

Please pass this on to those who served during this time, and those who DO Care.

Thanks Randy. I think.

Wow! I am looking forward to seeing it for the first time next May during Rolling Thunder, on my way to Arizonia.

I do not remember the numbers, but there are some of our Canadian Brothers listed on the Wall as well. My Uncle Dennis Toms (my mother's brother) is listed. He was serving on the USS Bon Homme Richard in the South China Sea.

May we never forget.

Dave

Thank you. As someone else also said, may we always remember.

Fuzzy

Thank God for our soldiers.

My wife and I walked the Wall 25 years ago. One way.. we couldn't go back....

Quickstep and I had the honour to stand with the South Dakota PGR while at Sturgis. The Vietnam Wall stood behind the Freedom Field at Buffalo Chip the whole time...... very heart wrenching to see.

I spent several hours there and the Korean war area around 2000. Kept coming back to the wall and was tore up. It is so simple and plain in it design, but when upon it it is large with names looking back at you. The shine of the black granite and the "littering"(not meant disrepectful) of flowers, letters and personal items bring it to life. I knew no one on it but knew that you (dad) knew a few. Have friends whose fathers seen action action and one whose dad got messed up by a landmine. (jp's dad) But not any friends who lost dads. Some that had slight mental issues maybe.

But what I remember the most was buying one of those pins from the pow-mia guys that said served in veitnam or my dad served in veitnam. When I showed to my dad he pointed to me real quick that he did not serve in veitnam. Thialand is not Veitnam was said and was proud of what he did but that he was not one of the Veitnam vets.

Thanks to all who did their part, and especially you dad.

Love ya, brian.

There are 58,267 names now listed on that polished black wall, including those added in 2010.

Are the recent names added because of the war in Afghanistan? So this is no longer a Vietnam wall but a general war wall?

Are the recent names added because of the war in Afghanistan? So this is no longer a Vietnam wall but a general war wall?

No, this is just Vietnam. For anyone added later, it would have to have been Vietnam related, such as a positive identification of found remains or some other reason.

RandyA

On the 12th of this month the Combat Vets of Louisiana will be escorting the moving Wall to its location in Jennings,La. While I am proud to be a part of the Escort I do not look forward to seeing the Wall once it is in place....there are too many good men on the Wall that I served with....and to this day I wonder why I survived that horrendous experience known as Vietnam and they did not. I can assure you that they were all better men than me.

Boomer

Venturous, I would agree with all of your post except the part about no noble war. I agree with the quote from John Stuart Mill:

War is an ugly thing, but not the ugliest of things. The decayed and degraded state of moral and patriotic feeling which thinks that nothing is worth war is much worse. The person who has nothing for which he is willing to fight, nothing which is more important than his own personal safety, is a miserable creature and has no chance of being free unless made and kept so by the exertions of better men than himself.

My father was a veteran of WWII. I have met many people in Europe who were alive and well only by God's grace and the force of Allied armies. My oldest brother and brother-in-law are Viet Nam vets. I know Vietnamese in this country who came here to enjoy the freedoms they learned of from our troops. I and two of my sons are vets of Iraq, one is and Afghan vet. I interact with Iraqis often that fervently wish their countrymen to enjoy the kind of freedoms we have. Since I was an advisor to an Iraqi army unit I was able to interact with the common man there more than most Americans. That country was torn up pretty badly by the war, just as Europe and Vietnam were, but there was hopelessness for the majority of the people there under Sadam. They now have the chance to change their lives.

The bottom line to my post is that even though war brings destruction, if it also brings freedom and an end to inhuman treatment, I count it as noble.

The bottom line to my post is that even though war brings destruction, if it also brings freedom and an end to inhuman treatment, I count it as noble.

I find a difference between the collective and the individual experience of war. War, when viewed in the collective sense of a nation's or an alliance's intent, purpose, and achievements, looks quite different from the individial's experience on the battlefield.

The intent in entering upon a war can be noble, The determination and purpose with which it is prosecuted can be noble. It's achievments, the effect it has on the people whose lives are eventually improved can be noble. The day to day business of executing these missions remains a horror in which some die, some are damaged permanently (whether mentally or physically), and all who participate (and their families) are affected.

I thank God daily that good and true men and women can still be found to enter that horror on our behalf, whether they be Canadian, American or of other of the nations involved.

Below is something I wrote when a friend was killed shortly after the start of my first tour in Afghanistan. He was Canada's 45th fatality and the first of that tour.

A Soldier Went Home Today

Forty-four friends stand waiting

At the gate to honour’s hall

Some smile, some are stern

Faces and names etched in stone

Lined respectfully along the wall

And behind them thousands more

From earlier answered call

History’s missions, conflicts, wars

Soldiers who did what duty demanded

Until it was their turn to fall

Our country asks and we deliver

Willing and proud to give our all

Forty-fifth for Canada

The first for us

His sacrifice seems not small

For those of us who are new

To war’s great cost, its pall

History, tales of glory

Do not tell the simple story

The loss of one is a loss for all

A Soldier Went Home Today

We will remember him.

· 997 soldiers were killed on their first day in Vietnam .

First Cousin, helicopter pilot, first mission out, 14 hours and about 20 minutes in country .....