Veitnam Memorial Wall facts by my Dad nam vet retired U.S.M.C.

My oldman did 2 tours of Veitnam in the mid 60's right out of High school. He enlisted in the U.S.M.C. and went to boot camp at Paris Island, Beufort South Carolina. He did 32 yrs in the Marine's reaching Cheif Warant Officer 4. Well this week he posted this on his facebook;

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 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. TET!

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.

I salute all my fallen Brother's and Sister's !

SEMPER FIDELIS

 

Thanks for sharing. Thanks to those that served..Jim

 

It is an insult to our soldiers that you cant spell Viet Nam

 

Reading this brought a tear to my eye. Viet Nam encompassed most of my thoughts as I was growing up. It is something that those of us in that age group can never forget. I still have lingering guilt that I was not shot there.God bless those who never made it back alive.
Your father made an excellent, thoughtful and poignant post.Thanks.

 

Thank you for posting and tell your Dad,I said Semper Fidelis.
Pete

 

I dunno, he spells it better than me. I spell it: s-h-i-t-h-o-l-e.

 

That's what you got out of this???

 

Wow. I am humbled by how so many gave and/or lost so much. I have heard so many stories from people that were there. I am just a couple of years too young to have been involved myself. And with all respect to the Veterans, I am still not clear on exactly why the USA stayed involved there for so long. I grew up listening to the news reports about the campus protesters, etc. I have heard storied about our Soldiers not being allowed to actually go kick the enemies asses! At 53 years old, I still am not sure exactly what Viet Nam was all about. And I repeat, this is in NO WAY meant to disrespect the Soldiers!

 

Well my Dad wrote this and he was there fighting and several of his buddies were KIA. I think he can spell it how he see's fit. but thanks anyways

 

scot thank you for the posting

i bitch about mechanic and body work on rods and customs but doing run for the wall and freedom ride 3 times approaching the wall was the hardest thing that i did in my life, was sent to deliver a momento for a soldier held in enemy hands, i could not do it and had to get some girl to place it against the wall for me so that took 2 years to get that done

a place that is very hard to see with the mists in my eyes, but very proud to wear the colors for doing it and having the privelege of doing it with my many veteran friends many from Rolling Thunder out of South Dakota

but my biking days are now over

 

My Dad & Uncle were drafted to the Viet Nam conflict, in 65-67. My Dad always wanted to make his way to the memorial wall, but never did. He just passed in the beginning of this year. Reminds me not to put things off for too long! You only live once

 

I'm not insulted at all.

Thanks for posting this so close to Memorial Day.

 

I was a soldier from 1968-1972 and I was not insulted by a misspelled word.Thanks to your dad, I didn't have to go back.

 

I think it is an insult to the OP and more importantly, his father who actually authored it that you would even point that out. I appreciate all that our servicemen have done for us and I believe they can spell the names of countries they have served in any way they choose. Just my 2 cents.

 

I too salute our fallen brothers and sisters from Vietnam. As a teenager on Guam from 1967 to 1974 I lived daily with the war. My aunt, an Air Force sergeants wife and volunteer medical assistant, tended to many wounded when the C-141 Starlifter medivac planes came in from Vietnam on the way back to "the world". I overheard her telling my mom about some of the casualties she tended to, many still teenagers who would be forever maimed by the war. It left a mark on her that she can never forget.
One of my best friends' father was a B-52 pilot. He was so afraid his dad would be shot down at the latter part of the war. Thats a hell of a thing for a kid in high school to deal with but he did. Fortunately his dad was not shot down.
I have other memories, like riding to school on the bus alongside an Air Force flat bed truck loaded with bombs, headed for Anderson Air Force Base, and knowing where they were ultimately headed. A somber memory indeed.
Many people don't realize that the sacrifices made are from not only our valiant warriors but also their families and those who cared for them.
Please don't forget what this weekend means, I for one will be going to the military cemetery at Punchbowl tomorrow to say thanks and pay my respects. Politics aside, freedom is not free and we should never forget those who fought and paid the ultimate price for our country.

 

Spelling who cares

This is what google says. http://maps.google.ca/maps?hl=en&ba...ode_result&ct=title&resnum=10&ved=0CC0Q8gEwCQ

Still the ultimate price to pay.

T

 

im so thankful to all the men and women who serve their country. they gave it their all for me and you.what more can they do.its suppose to be what we can do for them.id give them the shirt off my back if a vet needed it.i didnt go to the service. i was 1a but nixon stopped the draft and i qyess i was lucky, or was i. ive always felt guilty that i didnt serve. my dad was a korean vet.and he was very proud to have served his country. i lost a few friends in vietnam, im told their names are on the wall. but i cant go and look.i just cant.i hope god has a special place for all our fallen soldiers. and for the families who lost them.what they gave for us, we can never repay.

 

These are facts that I would have liked to hear years ago when I visited the wall. As soon as I saw someone place something at the base of the wall and running their had over their name emotionally I lost it! I have the utmost respect for those that served! Calling a guy out cause he miss spelled veit nam......really??

 

Thank you and your Dad for posting this.

I once had a Lt. Colonel tell me I misspelled Khe Sanh....I told him "Unless you were there, don't tell someone who was how to spell it"

Tell your Dad Semper Fi from a Cav guy

 

WTF.....it was hell no matter how the fuck you spell it.
B.B.
THANXZ FOR THE POST

 

Some veterans are just a little too touchy. Sometimes I'm one of them...but I'm working on it. Thank's for posting your dad's letter. I, too, did two tours and saw some pretty horrific things for such a young age. I feel for our young men now that are serving 3,4 or more tours. Let's make damn sure that they aren't treated as poorly upon their return as we were.

 

FWIW- you can go to the Walls web site and do a search and leave comments or read comments from others.
http://thewall-usa.com/index.asp#search

 

Class of '72, I'm OK with the spelling. There's so much that divides Nam vets from the rest of the population that we don't need spelling and grammar added to it. Tell you dad "welcome home" from me. Glad he made it back. I will say that no matter how its somehow morphed into a single word it will forever be Viet Nam for me.

 

Semper Fi!

 

In my thoughts regarding Viet Nam, I forgot to mention that my wife and I will also visiting the grave of her uncle, Stanley Hashimoto, an American of Japanese ancestry who fought with the 442nd Regimental Combat Team in Europe during WWII. In the few years that I knew him I came to realize that this gentle, humorous man was a brave and capable American soldier even while his family was being treated like shit in Hawaii. He wouldn't say much about it, only that "It was a bad time but we won". That is the epitome of the American spirit.

 

thx, very informative........ many thx to the men and woman who are put in harms way so we don't have to........ i for one have much respect for our soldiers..... thx again....

 

Thank you for the orginal post. God Bless all that served, and those still on active duty. Bob

 

A salute to your dad and all the others. My first wife lost her brother there. Age 19 yrs.

 

Not really... most of us wouldn't care.


I went there with my dad when I came home off my deployment, it was a moving experience. I have to wonder if my generation will ever receive something that nice or if because 99.5% never served and the war is still going on and has largely already been forgtten/ignored if it'll be just a footnote. Eh...

 

On my trip to Dallas from CA I was kind of amazed to be traveling on the Purple Heart Highway (so proclaimed by signs) and then passing under the Khe Sanh Bridge somewhere maybe in AZ or NM. Caused me to pause more than once and remember. Semper Fi