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Wednesday, March 23, 2016

A Viewer Writes:The Viet Nam Wall--Things you never knew

First click on a state. When it opens, scroll down to the city and the names will appear. 

Then click on their names. It should show you a picture of the person, or at least their bio and medals. 

I hope that everyone who receives this appreciates what those who served in Vietnam sacrificed for our country.

The link below is a virtual wall of all those lost during the Vietnam war with the names, bio's and other information on our lost heroes.
Those who remember that time frame, or perhaps lost friends or family can look them up on this site. 

Pass the link on to others, as many knew wonderful people whose names are listed.

The Vietnam Virtual Wall link:

http://www.virtualwall.org/iStates.htm

Some interesting fact about the warriors listed on the Vietnam Wall that most of us never knew:

In signing of the peace accord in
Vietnam January 27, 1973, some things you should
know about 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.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

And like Iraq thanks to the politicians who sent us to our deaths and than decided to leave these hell holes to go on to the next current event assured so many of us died for nothing. The politicians should all be treated as criminals.

Anonymous said...

I have been to the Wall.

Reading this, I am again touched, humbled, grateful, saddened, and thanking the viewer who shared so we could Remember Once Again.