More than names on "The Wall"

Editor:

Last weekend the State of Wyoming and the City of Casper hosted a “Welcome Home Viet Nam Veterans Celebration”. I would like to do two things, the first is to thank Governor Mead, the City of Casper and everyone else that had a hand in making this happen.

The second is, as a Viet Nam Veteran, I would like to share with you some very interesting things about the Viet Nam Memorial, or as it is commonly referred to “The Wall”.

The Wall is a very simple concept in it’s nature. It is that way for a reason, the architects designed it that, way because they did not want anything to distract from it’s purpose, to pay tribute to the individuals that made the supreme sacrifice during the Viet Nam War”.

But even something as simple in concept as this it has a tremendous story to tell. Here are some facts that a lot of people do not know.

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 57 years since the first casualty.

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 listen 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 n 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 Viet Nam..

1,448 soldiers were killed on their last day in Viet Nam..

31 sets of brothers are on the Wall.

31 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 Viet Nam; 153 of them are on the Wall.

Beallsville, Ohio with the 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 led the little Arizona copper town of Morenci [pop. 5058] 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 in the Marine Corps. Their service began on Independence Day, 1966. Only three returned home.

The Buddies of Midvale - Leroy Tafoya, Jimmy Martinez, Tom Gonzalas 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 81, 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 number that the Vietnam War created. To those of us who survived the war, and to the families of those who did not, were 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 are friends, fathers, husbands, wives, sons, and daughters. There are no noble wars, just noble warriors.

Steven E. Wilcoxson

USMC 1968 - 1971