A group of senators asked the secretary of defense to meet with them as part of their bipartisan effort to add the names of the “Lost 74” sailors to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall.
The USS Frank E. Evans, a naval destroyer that had just completed a combat tour off Vietnam’s coast and was scheduled to return, sank during a training exercise in June 1969. Seventy-four sailors drowned, and only one body was recovered. For decades, survivors and families have fought to add the names of the perished sailors to the iconic granite wall in Washington, D.C. But the Pentagon opposes the effort since the incident occurred over 100 miles outside the designated Vietnam War theater.
But a dozen senators from both parties sent a letter to Defense Secretary Mark Esper on Friday asking to meet with him to end the Pentagon’s resistance.
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7 comments:
Northwest Woodsman: Why don’t they include anyone serving in the military who died as a result of a training or motor vehicle accident too. Heck, just engrave the names of everyone who actually served, honorably or not? Let’s cheapen all of our military memorials for the egalitarian left. After all, someone might self-identify as a combat veteran and should be included too. God, how I hate this crap!
The USS Frank E. Evans was steaming as part of a battle group centered around the Australian aircraft carrier HMS Melbourne. At a designated time the battle group was ordered to make a hard 90 degree turn. The Evans failed to execute the maneuver and the carrier HMS Melbourne cut her in two right between the stacks just forward of the ASROC launcher and torpedo tubes on the 01 level. The forward section of the Evans sank immediately. The aft section remained afloat and was tied up to Rivera Pier in Subic Bay. Upon searching the aft section of the vessel the remains of a sailor was discovered. The aft section was lifted out of the water on a floating dry dock, stripped of all salvageable materials and was later towed out to sea and sunk as a target.
These men deserve to have their names on The Wall. They died doing their duty during the Vietnam Campaign. Pentagon, get off your high hats and do the right thing.
How do I know all this? Somewhere around my house I have the pictures of this incident that I took when the aft section of the Evans was tied astern of my ship. I was there. John Palmer, Retired Navy Master Chief.
Sorry not a result of enemy aggression. Open that door and everyone who was injured during the Vietnam Era gets a Purple Heart.
They deserve it.
One McCain and Morrison faked the Gulf of Tonkin incident they all deserve to be on the wall.
11:48 I feel sorry for you.
We're gonna need a bigger wall.
6:51 has it right
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