Each row contains five names (six where a name has been added since the wall was originally installed). Less than 1 percent (0.8) were Jewish, Hindu, Thai, Buddhist or Muslim combined, and 5.7 listed no religion. Vietnam Veterans Memorial How many names are on the wall? In the military it can be somewhat more deadly. The same profile holds true for the Marine Corps, where 87 percent of all officer casualties (821 of 938) were warrant officers, lieutenants or captains. And, as in every American war, it is the very young who are the most willing to volunteer. On November 13 th, 1982 thousands of Vietnam Veterans participated in a march that ended at the memorial. These young men were trained quickly and shipped to Vietnam quickly. When the Vietnam Veterans Memorial was dedicated, it originally had 57,939 names inscribed on it. The Channeling Memo of July 1965, instructed all local draft boards to give status deferments to college undergraduate and post-graduate students. Blacks were 85 percent Protestant. Inscribed on the black granite walls are the names of more than 58,000 men and women who gave their lives or remain missing. These changes will bring the total number of names on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial to 58,282 men and … With the addition of six names added in 2010 the total is now 58,272 names listed on the Memorial. Maya Lin: Vietnam Veterans Memorial For more great articles be sure to subscribe to Vietnam Magazine today! If officers are added, then almost 70 percent of those who died were volunteers. There is some truth to this, but it is instructive to look at what the DOD database reveals in terms of race, ethnicity, national origin, religious preference and casualties by U.S. geographic areas. The trigger came when the recruiters pointed out that the volunteer could enlist as early as 17 (with parental consent); that he was allowed to select his branch of service; that he would receive specialized training if he qualified; that he could request a specific overseas assignment; and that his three year enlistment followed by three years in the inactive reserves satisfied his military obligation immediately. Please search below to obtain information about the 5,673 names of California Veterans engraved on the California Vietnam Memorial in Sacramento. Mayor of Berlin and Chancellor of West Germany. During the Vietnam War, the Navy and Air Force became substantially white enclaves – enlisted and officer casualties were 96 percent white. The wall construction generally follows the techniques that John Devitt used in building the Moving Wall™. The Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall lists the names of those killed and missing in action in chronological order according to the date of casualty. Officer casualties in Vietnam, including warrant officers, numbered 7,874, or 13.5 percent of all casualties. The Armed Forces Qualification Test (AFQT) was given to all entering enlisted men. Indeed, officer casualties of all branches were overwhelmingly white. Interesting Vietnam Veterans Statistics. These were Mexican, Puerto Rican, Cuban and other Latino-Americans with ancestries based in Central and South America. Only 10 percent of enlisted men had even some college to their credit and only 1 percent were college graduates. In 2004, the total is 58,241 names. ), EDUCATIONAL LEVELS OF ENLISTED CASUALTIES. The widely held notion that the poor served and died in Vietnam while the rich stayed home is way off the mark. NAVY AND AIR FORCE OFFICER CASUALTIES BY RANK AND AGE. HistoryNet.com contains daily features, photo galleries and over 5,000 articles originally published in our various magazines. A relatively small number refused to register for the draft at all. If you require assistance, contact a park ranger or volunteer at the memorial. While the collection is not open to the public, Items Left at The Wall is a virtual collection of nearly 500 items left at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial that can be seen at www.vvmf.org/items. Thus it is safe to say that Hispanic-Americans were over-represented among Vietnam casualties — an estimated 5.5 percent of the dead against 4.5 percent of the 1970 population. (Surprisingly, as it turned out, the percentage of Vietnam veterans who applied for the GI Bill was higher than either World War II or Korea. As one walks the Wall slowly, examining the ineffably American names, one is struck by the same recurring surnames. Our combat arms were thought to be completely classless. Of 2,590 total Air Force casualties, 1,674 or 65 percent were officers. Willy Brandt, German political leader. The Vietnam Veterans Memorial is a 2-acre (8,000 m ) U.S. national memorial in Washington, D.C. Steven Spielberg, film director (E.T., Jurassic Park, and Schindler's List). Nevertheless, 336,111 men were phased into the service under this plan (mostly the Army) and 2,072 were killed. There is no question that all segments of American society were represented. Thus we can see that the channeling philosophy continued within the armed forces. By and large, with the exception of the officer corps, most of the college bound and educated skipped the Vietnam War at the urging of, and with the approval of, their own government. The article was written by Bill Abbott, an independent researcher and writer. …’In honor of the men and women of the Armed Forces of the United States who served in the Vietnam War. They did not, in most cases, carry the burdens of wife or children. 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