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Got this from Desertsandman and had to pass it on.

The Viet Nam Wall--Things you never knew


YOU, may have already known all this....


*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 an d 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 Th
anksgiving 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 *.

I've also sent this to those *I KNOW *do care very much, and I thank you
for caring as you do.

When I was in 8th grade we took a trip to DC, just happened to be the same time the wall was unveiled. I can still picture the vets with tears streaming down their faces looking for the names of their comrades on the wall. A very powerful image.

Thanks, T.

God bless them all.

I have read that a few times on thewall-usa.com. It always brings a tear or three to my eye. Thanks for posting it so others can see it and maybe say a prayer or to for the fallen and their families. God bless them.

Bob

Eight guys I knew are on the Wall.

It took me until about 5 years after the Wall was built before I could even go there. Been there about 8-10 times now.

Still have not figured out how to keep the tears from coming down.

What a horrible, horrible waste.

Some of the saddest cases I know of, survived the war but had their minds so badly damaged that they lived in pure agony.

And don't forget how terribly the vets were treated by a lot of Americans when they did get back home. Treating them with contempt, and calling them "baby killers" was probably the most frequent stab in the back.

God bless and keep all of the Vietnam vets.

Steve

Wow, so humbling.

Thanks for sharing this and thank you for your service.

[quote]

Tet Offensive started.

Tet Offensive started. [/quote]

The day I arrived in Pearl.

Salmonella,
Thanks for your comments but I do need to correct an impression I must have made. I did not serve in Vietnam. I graduated from high school in 1958 and knew a lot of guys who were drafted, eight of whom died in Vietnam.
I went to college and then law school and got a student deferment. Got married in law school, had children, and got a further deferment.

My admiration and respect for the guys who went to Vietnam is unlimited, but I did not go and do not deserve the respect that they earned.

Steve

The day I arrived in Pearl. [/quote]

The day my Dad was wounded at Long Binh, dragging his buddy into a bunker. They were downwind of a burning munitions & chemical dump that was the target of a VC rocket attack.

Agent Orange eventually killed him.


I am watching two friends die of Agent Orange complications now and it is a painful thing to see two warriors broken by this invisible foe.


Ed

We have a statue on the courthouse square in prescott arizona. It is a vietnam statue, along with stuff for WWI, WWII, and bucky, leading the charge up san juan hill. So many years later, and i still have trouble with it. I don't just see the names on the plaque, i see the people. It won't be over, till we, my generation, are all dead, and even then i am not sure.
And the saddest thing to me is seeing the current crop of wounded youngin's, thinking when will it ever be better.
I have seen the wall once in washington, I don't really think i want to see it again, it is very painful.

So (1402) were 20, 21, or 22?

Jan Scruggs was the guy who came up with the concept of the wall and worked his arse off to make sure it happened. He is a good friend of my brother in law and I got to have dinner with him a few times. Some interesting stories behind the wall coming into being.

Tet Offensive started. [/quote]

I was there. The saddest thing for me from the war was running into a fairly pathetic kid I looked out for in high school walking down market street in San Francisco in shiny new army green. I could only think that this was the walking definition of cannon fodder and that he would never make it out alive. He made it about a month.

I have two priorities on my bucket list before I get planted,the first a visit to the Wall and second walking through the hallowed Intrepid museum my Dad's ride in the So Pacific during WW2.

"West Virginia had the highest casualty rate per capita in the nation.
There are 711 West Virginians on the Wall."

West Virginia has had more people in uniform per capita since post WWII.

Went to see the "Traveling Wall" once a few years ago, was a hard thing to do and I left before long. It is now approaching 50 years ago, time to put it away, at least for me. Earlier commentator was correct when he said it wont be over until all the soldiers are dead, along with the hippie scum that served the cause of the enemy.

Problem is the hippie scum are celebrated these days as speaking truth to power and the men in the mud in harms way vilified and or forgotten.

dang dust...........my deepest thanks and respect to those who made the ultimate sacrifice, those who served and survived and those who served and have since passed like my Dad.

My dad is on the wall, KIA March 1968 near Thu Duc.