Michael Pond
POA Site Supporter Prowler Junkie
From:Canon City, Colorado Registered: Jul 2003 Admin Use
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posted 07-05-2012 01:20 PM
> A little history most people will never know. > > Interesting facts about the Vietnam Memorial. > > > 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 patriot > amaraderie 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. > > 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. >
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