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  • Never Forget

    A serious side of me that isn't often spoken of, out loud at least....

    People say "Everyone gave some and some gave all". 58,267, not all my friends but all my brothers gave their life, and I for one, will never forget. I volunteered like many others, but now, knowing it was a no-win war, what did we gain? I know what we lost......58,267 young lives....Kessler

    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 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 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.
    Kessler
    I used to be indecisive, now I'm not so sure....
    INCOMING GUNFIRE ALWAYS HAS THE RIGHT-OF-WAY!

  • #2
    Kessler, I hope you don't mind, but I moved this post. This deserves to be in a thread of its own.

    I have seen this before, but everytime I see it I still get a little misty eyed.

    Thanks, Kess


    Tex
    = 2
    sigpic

    If we cannot define a simple word like greatness, how can we ever hope to use it as a measuring stick to know when we have risen beyond average?

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    • #3
      Much love and respect Kess... To ALL of you.....
      Liberty is NOT a privilege, it is a RIGHT

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      • #4
        Gone, but never forgotten. Thank you Kess.
        Silence in the face of evil is itself evil: God will not hold us guiltless. Not to speak is to speak. Not to act is to act.”
        Dietrich Bonhoeffer

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        • #5
          While I was too young to serve, I have always felt a deep connection with those who were there. Thank you for keeping us on our toes.
          Defund the Media !!

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          • #6
            Just saw this today. This is awesome. A tribute to our Viet Nam fallen, hanging in the National Veteran's Art Museum in Chicago mentioned starting at about 2:00. Video

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            • #7
              My Dad served two tours. He was a door gunner on a LOACH, a scout helicopter. He was shot down three times, sat in the lap of his dead pilot and best friend to land after he was killed and on his last crash was the last crewman on the ground before being extracted. The men and women that served, fought and died there deserve more than we can offer. It's funny, we were just talking about his tours there today.

              I remember when I was a kid, maybe 8 or 9 the mobile wall came to the Orange County fairgrounds. My Dad thought a lot about it and finally decided to go. I remember walking with him to the wall, he walked straight to it, like a shot. He walked up and placed his index finger on the wall and said, "Spiderman" and turned and walked away. Being young I was confused, Spiderman was my favorite superhero. It was a couple of years later I found out Spiderman was the call sign of that pilot, his best friend, who's lap he sat in to land the ship. My Dad's call sign was Smokey, I have a couple of slides somewhere of him beside his ship. I have a lot of respect for the old man
              I'm drunk tonith.

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              • #8
                Originally posted by angeryamerican View Post
                My Dad served two tours. He was a door gunner on a LOACH, a scout helicopter. He was shot down three times, sat in the lap of his dead pilot and best friend to land after he was killed and on his last crash was the last crewman on the ground before being extracted. The men and women that served, fought and died there deserve more than we can offer. It's funny, we were just talking about his tours there today.

                I remember when I was a kid, maybe 8 or 9 the mobile wall came to the Orange County fairgrounds. My Dad thought a lot about it and finally decided to go. I remember walking with him to the wall, he walked straight to it, like a shot. He walked up and placed his index finger on the wall and said, "Spiderman" and turned and walked away. Being young I was confused, Spiderman was my favorite superhero. It was a couple of years later I found out Spiderman was the call sign of that pilot, his best friend, who's lap he sat in to land the ship. My Dad's call sign was Smokey, I have a couple of slides somewhere of him beside his ship. I have a lot of respect for the old man

                AA, I want to say that is a cool story, but it's not. There is nothing cool about it. Normally I am good with coming up with the right words but I can't think of the proper way to describe that story and what your Dad had to go through. I would say, "Heroic", but if he is anything like my Dad was, he would simply say there were no heroes out there.

                I sometimes find myself comparing the young people coming up today with the ones who came a generation before us and shake my head wondering how we ever got to this point. How many of us would have the tenacity to sit in the lap of our dead best friend in order to land a helicopter? Why didn't people in this country go out of their way to help those guys back then like is done for today's returning warriors? I think it's great that people's attitudes have changed, but I think we will have an eternal black eye for how we allowed yesterday's heroes to be treated.

                When we ever figure out a way to fight wars with the sons and daughters of the politicians, only then will we see an end to wars.


                Tex
                = 2
                sigpic

                If we cannot define a simple word like greatness, how can we ever hope to use it as a measuring stick to know when we have risen beyond average?

                Comment

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