Virtual Vietnam Wall.

[madokie]

This is really sobering. Click on the link and find the city you went to high school and look at the names.

Click on the name and it will give details of the death.

Vietnam Wall



First click on a state. When it opens, scroll down to the city and the names will appear.

Then click on their names. It should show you a picture of the person, or at least their bio and medals.


This really is an amazing web site. Someone spent a lot of time and effort to create it.

I hope that everyone who receives this appreciates what those who served in Vietnam sacrificed for our country.



The link below is a virtual wall of all those lost during the Vietnam war with the names, bio's and other information on our lost heroes. Those who remember that time frame, or perhaps lost friends or family can look them up on this site.

Pass the link on to others, as many knew wonderful people whose names are listed.



http://www.virtualwall.org/iStates.htm

[hobbit709]

1. Five from my graduating class in 1968. Plus my cousin from VA.

[Hoppy]

2. I hope someone does this for the Bush Wars (Afgh and Iraq)

[greatlaurel]

7. That is a really outstanding suggestion

I hope the comes to pass. It is truly needed.

[ScreamingMeemie]

18. I have kept up with this site for years...

http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/war.casualties/

[Victor_c3]

3. Wow! Quite a lot of information

Very well put together. I scrolled around and found my home town and found the name of a Marine that was lost over there. It had the newspaper article announcing his death in my local town and a whole slew of information.

I wasn't born until well after that war, but it really helps to give a sense of the scope of the war and its impact on even my small town.

[1monster]

4. Ralph

Ralph Lewis Hammel
Lance Corporal
A CO, 1ST BN, 3RD MARINES, 3RD MARDIV, III MAF
United States Marine Corps
Duncansville, Pennsylvania
May 08, 1947 to March 07, 1968
RALPH L HAMMEL is on the Wall at Panel 43E, Line 44
See the full profile or name rubbing for Ralph Hammel



His son, who was about a month old when he shipped out is now more than twice his age when he died. What a freakin' waste of a very musically talented young man.

[greatlaurel]

5. Thank you for posting the link.

It is so very sobering. Two young men were killed from my tiny little home town:

PFC WILLIAM EUGENE AILES and SGT WILLIAM WALLACE Mc GREW III

May they all rest in peace and the friends and families find comfort, healing and peace.

[Scuba]

6. Bookmarked. Thanks madokie.

[Glorfindel]

8. Thanks for posting this

I couldn't bring myself to visit the real Wall until 1996. I was afraid I'd find the name of someone I knew. I didn't, thank goodness, but it was an overwhelming emotional experience.

[madokie]

15. I still can't bring myself to visit The Wall

two weeks after returning home after 15 months in country the NVA over ran our base and several of my fellow soldiers were killed and or wounded. I know some of my friends were killed but I don't want to remember them as gone, I want to remember them as still here raising hell like I know a few of them would have been doing had the big lie not done them in. I still feel guilty that I wasn't there when this happened but after 15 months in country when I was given an opportunity to return home I took it, never realizing that the NVA was working on some big plans to eliminate our air base. It was hard following this on the nightly news while it was coming down. Shortly afterwards I climbed into a bottle and didn't come out for several years, the guilt was so strong.

Its not right to send kids off to a preventable war. Vietnam War did not have to happen.
War is an admission of failure on our leaders part. If they had to lead the charge I'm sure things would have been different.
Today I kind of have come to grips with all this although its taken a long time and a lot of work to get here

[greatlaurel]

9. Two wealthy suburbs of Columbus, Ohio, Upper Arlington and Bexley are not on the list.

It appears these two places had no one killed in the war. The wealthy were able to shield their children from going to Vietnam. The war hit hardest on the working classes, just like today with the Bush wars.

[riverbendviewgal]

10. a friend and classmate was killed in Vietnam

I remember him so well and the day we found out his jeep hit a mine. H e was engaged to my cousin. His dad worked with my dad.

Awful military conflict.

[malokvale77]

11. I knew so many of the people whose names are on that wall

it is gut wrenching every time I see it.

[Cooley Hurd]

12. From my hometown:

http://www.virtualwall.org/ds/StrykerRF01a.htm

14 Mar 2006
On the morning of November 7th, 3rd squad leader Ron Payne ordered me to tag along with Lt Nery and John Bastardi, his RTO. I was to count pace as we moved to check points.

After we cleared the village of Srok Rung and broke for lunch, we moved out again. Shortly after the column moved forward, point man Paul Summers blasted one NVA and his slack, Baker, wounded a second NVA. The chase was on to track down the wounded soldier. When the column stood up to follow us, the NVA on the right flank opened up.

Things went to hell in a handbasket quickly. The third squad was shot down but not before Robert Stryker charged the 3 NVA soldiers setting up a large claymore on a tripod. He gave his life so others could live. The ultimate sacrifice.

Charley White, 3rd squad machine gunner, was wounded 3 times. Our medic, Doc Faircloth, was gravely wounded. Both survived and Doc Faircloth probably still carries the bullet right next to his spine from the barrage. Willie Omnik survived as well but died back in his home state of Alaska.

The 3rd squad died that day. Willie and I took 5 new replacements out on November 8th for their first ambush patrol as we rebuilt the squad. The war raged on...

Thanks, Stryker. You were a true hero that day and even though you didn't live to see it, your buddy 1st Sgt Poolaw died that day, too. I hope the two of you continued your verbal battles right on through those pearly gates.

Bob Morris
Charlie Company, November platoon, 3rd squad

[Are_grits_groceries]

13. I read every name from South Carolina.

I knew a few.

What struck me were the places they ere from. SC has 3 large cities in Greenville, Columbia and Charleston. They aren't huge places like Atlanta or NYC. The majority of places in SC are towns, tinier towns, and crossroads with names. The majority of the fallen came from these places. More than likely they were poor. I'm sure others noticed this in other states.

Every death causes an earthquake of grief that spreads. In those small communities, these deaths were on a scale of 10 out of 10. They lost a significant part of their community. Everybody probably knew this man in some way. It is still felt there.

It is beyond sad.

[pinboy3niner]

14. Some of the places that were hit especially hard by loss...

Largest per-capita Loss

Beallsville, Ohio (pop. 475) gained unwanted national attention between 1966 and 1971 by having suffered the largest per-capita loss of life in the Vietnam War. Six young men lost their lives in the war, a terrible and profound loss for this small town.

Highest State Casualties

West Virginia had the highest casualty rate in the nation, according to the U.S. Department of Defense. The state had 711 casualties -- 39.9 deaths per 100,000 people. Oklahoma had the second-highest casualty rate.


Highest High School Casualties

Thomas Edison High School in Philadelphia sustained the largest number of Vietnam war casualties of any high school in the nation with 54.


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.

Robert Dale Draper, 19, was killed in an ambush.
Stan King, 21, was killed less than a week after reaching Vietnam.
Alfred Van Whitmer, 21, was killed while on patrol.
Larry J. West, 19 was shot near Quang Nam.
Jose Moncayo, 22, was part of an entire platoon wiped out.
Clive Garcia, 22, was killed by a booby trap while leading a patrol.


The Buddies from 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. Three hallmark all-American days. Three more names to be placed on the The Wall

...


http://thewall-usa.com/names.asp

[LiberalElite]

16. I remember the controversy over the design -

http://www.pri.org/stories/2013-10-06/heres-how-controversial-work-art-healed-america-after-vietnam

[madokie]

17. I believe the design is the best that could have been

All these years I thought Maya Lin who designed the Wall was Vietnamese, rather she was a Chinese American. Not that it matters any.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maya_Lin

[Blue Diadem]

19. Thank you madokie, I'd never seen his picture until now.

I didn't know him, but met his sister some 25 yrs after he will killed. He was her big brother and she told me how her family, especially her Mom was never able to recover. So many lives lost, so many families and communities never the same. I wonder what our country would be like if that war had never happened.

[PRETZEL]

20. Thanks for the link,

Everyone who had friends or relatives should always honor their life and the sacrifice they ultimately made,

This is my cousin, "Poomper"

Louis Emidio Brizzoli
ON THE WALL: Panel 20E Line 6
PERSONAL DATA:
Home of Record Coraopolis, PA
Date of birth: 02/26/1947
This page Copyright© 1997-2013 www.VirtualWall.org
MILITARY DATA:
Service: Army of the United States
Grade at loss: E3
Rank/Rate: Private First Class
ID No: 52850971
MOS/RATING: 11B10: Infantryman
Length Service: 00
Unit: C CO, 2ND BN, 8TH CAVALRY, 1ST CAV DIV, USARV
CASUALTY DATA:
Start Tour: 02/19/1967
Incident Date: 05/16/1967
Casualty Date: 05/16/1967
Age at Loss: 20
Location: Binh Dinh Province, South Vietnam
Remains: Body recovered
Identified: 05/22/1967
Casualty Type: Hostile, died while missing
Casualty Reason: Ground casualty
Casualty Detail: Gun or small arms fire
URL: www.VirtualWall.org/db/BrizzoliLE01a.htm
Data accessed: 5/19/2014

[Sunlei]

21. Thanks for the link, it is really sobering.

BRICK TOWN, NEW JERSEY:
SSG ROBERT CROUTER SP4 RAYMOND WILLIAM DEGE III 1LT CARL EDWARD LAMBERSON Jr
LCPL DONALD RICHARD MARSHALL PFC THOMAS LEEONAS YOHN

BRICK TOWNSHIP, NEW JERSEY:
PFC JAMES ROBERT NASH