Not Just Numbers, Good Soldiers All

(Do we) find the cost of freedom, buried in the ground
Mother earth will swallow you, lay your body down
Find the cost of freedom, buried in the ground
Mother earth will swallow you, lay your body down

When we go to war we should preconsider out losses against possible gains

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, MA 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.

The largest age group, 8,283 were just 19 years old

3,103 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 Vietnan.

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.

The most casualty deaths for a single month was May 1968 - 2,415 casualties were incurred.

That's 2,415 dead in a single month

Another Soldier's Story

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Getting it Right Means Making it Right

This was written in response to a phone call I got from Art Corley, letting me know that Samuel Boyd Jr's headstone had finally been correctly marked to read, 101st ABN Div, which in long form reads, "101st Airborne Division"

For those of you who expressed an interest in the miss-marked headstone of Samuel Boyd Jr., I am happy to report that on this Memorial Day in 2011 when Art Corley visits Samuel's graveside, the headstone will read 101st ABN Div. That was the unit patch that was on his sleeve when he was killed as result of hostile action on June 6th, 1968, and so now after resting silently for more than 42 years the error has been corrected.

Samuel's story probably has never been told and I can only speculate at much of it with the limited information we were able to gather, along with what Art can recall through personal conversations prior to Samuel's death. He was born on July 28th, 1944, in Newark, NJ. He attended Newark Vocational High School and we are not sure whether or not if he graduated. The address he gave as his home of record no longer exists, nor does the street. After much searching and placement of articles in the local newspapers, no family members came forward.

Samuel was drafted into the US Army on Nov 8th, 1967. If you want to do some research, or you have any memory of that time, much of Newark was in flames and what they called race riots were the order of the day in many northern cities of our country. With all this as a backdrop for this young man's beginnings, and his prospect for a future, he finds himself in the US Army and on his way to Vietnam with minimal training and less desire on May 1st 1968. Thirty-five days later he was dead. He, and about 25 other guys like him were the replacements for the casualties my platoon had taken on May 1st. From what I can piece together, Samuel came into country on the 1st of May and got to the unit, A Troop, 2/17th Cav on May 13th. He was killed on June 6th, 1968. The hell of it is that he was in my platoon for 17 days before I was medevaced out on May 30th. I don't have any recollection of him; his name, his face, his physical features, nothing. And, there were others I'm sure who came and went the same way. In a way, Samuel is my Unknown Soldier who I have finally come to know by name.

I want to thank brother Art Corley. I can't recall who found who a few months ago, but from here on out, we found each other. Also, I realize I'm still putting humpty dumpty back together.

One Day Set Aside for those who Gave it All

In Flanders Fields

In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.



The name of John McCrae (1872-1918) may seem out of place in the distinguished company of World War I poets, but he is remembered for what is probably the single best-known and popular poem from the war, "In Flanders Fields." He was a Canadian physician and fought on the Western Front in 1914, but was then transferred to the medical corps and assigned to a hospital in France. He died of pneumonia while on active duty in 1918. His volume of poetry, In Flanders Fields and Other Poems, was published in 1919.



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