Showing posts with label Vietnam Memorial Wall. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Vietnam Memorial Wall. Show all posts

Saturday, September 16, 2017

Wisconsin Vietnam Veterans Honor Flight of Remembrance

Wisconsin Vietnam veterans visit D.C. with Stars and Stripes Honor Flight
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Meg Jones
September 16, 2017


Photos: Stars and Stripes Honor Flight
A group of Vietnam veterans visiting the Air Force Memorial in Washington, D.C., pose for pictures. The Port Washington-based Stars and Stripes Honor Flight brought its first planeload of Vietnam veterans to the nation’s capital as the ranks of World War II and Korean War veterans dwindle. Meg Jones / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
WASHINGTON - They came because they wanted to visit their buddies.

They wanted to see the names of men forever 19 or 20, men who never aged or grew gray or started families or got on with the rest of their lives after serving their country.

They came to experience the camaraderie only people who have served in combat, no matter how many decades ago, feel when they come together. And though they weren’t expecting it — they also received the heroes’ welcome veterans of other wars had gotten but was cruelly denied to many of them.

A group of 80 Vietnam veterans traveled to Washington, D.C., Saturday on the first Stars and Stripes Honor Flight dedicated to men and women who served during that conflict.

Stewart Johnson came to visit Johnnie Vaught Jr. John Phelan wanted to see Bob Gasko. Ted Peller Jr. was paying his respects to Danny Sikorski.

Johnson, 68, a retired Milwaukee police officer, planned to leave a medal awarded to him for saving someone’s life in Vietnam. His daughter, Kelly Becker, encouraged him to instead take a picture of his medal and leave that at the memorial at the spot where Vaught’s name is listed among 58,000 others who lost their lives in Vietnam.
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Sunday, September 10, 2017

A Hundred Vietnam Veterans Return from Honor Flight to Honors

Vietnam vets have emotional homecoming after Honor Flight trip

AUSTIN (KXAN) – About 100 Vietnam War veterans returned home to Central Texas Saturday evening, after visiting our nation’s capital on behalf of Honor Flight.

It’s an experience they said was special for them, and the reception they received upon arrival back at Austin Bergstrom International Airport brought out an emotional response.
“It was my first time in D.C. I really enjoyed it, and I wish everybody could do it,” said Alerse Martinez, Vietnam veteran. “This, I think, is great. I wish we would have had this 50 years ago. It would have been different.”

They were met upstairs in the airport terminal’s west ticketing area with a welcome home greeting from a big crowd.
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Saturday, September 9, 2017

Vietnam Veterans Take Honor Flight With Dignity and Grace

Austin veterans head to D.C. to visit war memorials


FOX 7 News

RaeAnn Christensen
September 8, 2017
“When we saw what happened with these veterans when they saw the wall and when they etched their buddies name off the wall, it was unbelievable, it was a very powerful and painful but a healing experience.” Dulen Lee

There was a long overdue proper send off at the Austin airport Friday morning as more than 100 veterans took off for Washington, D.C. It was part of Honor Flight Austin and was extra special because it was the largest group to go so far and they all served in the Vietnam War.

The vets were met with cheers, smiles, waves, some tears, and many thank yous.

“It's very nice to get recognized because we did not get recognition in the 1970s and 60s,” said veteran Dulen Lee. Lee was one of the many who served in the Vietnam War, considered one of the most controversial wars. Many were not well received when they made their way back home.

“People stayed away from you or insulted you one of the two,” he said.

Lee is part of the group from the Austin area that will be visiting at our Nation’s Capital. But there's one memorial for them in particular, that has special meaning, the one built in their honor.
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Friday, August 11, 2017

Honor Flight, Living Proof Vietnam Veterans Are Worthy of Tribute

Vietnam Veterans Moved to Tears on Honor Flight to D.C.

FOX Insider
August 11, 2017


"When I look at those names, they're not names to me," Medal of Honor recipient Gary L. Littrell said in front of the memorial. "Those little 18, 19-year-old faces, they come back to life temporarily in my heart, my soul, my eyes."

Vietnam veterans who got few thanks for their service since the controversial war were finally appreciated on an honor flight to Washington, D.C. to visit the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.

The 107 veterans of the Vietnam War were treated to a plane decked out in patriotic trimmings. In D.C., they headed to spend time looking at the 58,318 names carved into the memorial wall.
"We all know we didn't get a whole lot of pats on the back, didn't get a lot of thank yous," said Army veteran Bruce Farris. "Well, as of today, that changes."
Old Glory Honor Flight flies World War II, Korean War and Vietnam War veterans out to D.C. to visit the memorials of their wars.

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If you think you don't matter to the people of this country, I dare you to watch the video without having to wipe your eyes!

Let me know if you were not touched by all the people there to welcome this group of Vietnam veterans home!

Sunday, May 21, 2017

Las Vegas Patriot Fest Shows "Magnitude of lives lost" in Vietnam

Replicated monument draws Vietnam vets to Patriot Fest in Las Vegas
Las Vegas Review-Journal
By Katelyn Newber
May 20, 2017
“It’s a powerful thing. When you see how small the names are and how big it is, you see the magnitude of how many people lost their lives.” Branan Allison
A replica of Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall hosted by American Veterans Traveling Tribute at Craig Ranch Park on Friday May 19, 2017 in North Las Vegas.
Erik Verduzco Las Vegas Review Journal
As his motorized wheelchair rolled past 58,307 names on the replica Vietnam Veterans Memorial, Dennis Daniels was consumed with grief. He reminded his wife, Aleta, to use her walker as she traced three familiar names on the wall.

But Dennis was afraid to look.

“It just brings back instant memories,” the 70-year-old said. “I don’t want to look and see if they’re up there.”

The Danielses were attending the third annual American Patriot Fest, underway at Craig Ranch Regional Park in North Las Vegas, on Saturday during Armed Forces Day.

This was the first year the American Veterans Travel Tribute organization brought the replica, sized down 80 percent from the fixture in Washington, D.C., said Branan Allison, the president of Source 1 Events, which organized the festival. The memorial will be open to the public until 3 p.m. Sunday.

Allison said he hopes to bring the memorial to the festival each year.
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Wednesday, May 17, 2017

Billy Ray Cyrus to Honor Vietnam Veteran During Rolling Thunder Ride for Freedom

Billy Ray Cyrus Owes His Career to a Vietnam Veteran
FOX News
By PopZette Staff
May 16, 2017

'Weston Lee died serving our country, and we should all be forever grateful for his service,' said the singer
Billy Ray Cyrus says he owes his success to a Vietnam veteran.

Cyrus will perform on May 28 in Washington, D.C., during the Rolling Thunder Ride for Freedom. It’s an annual motorcycle rally that ends at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial and honors fallen servicemen and women.

He will perform the tune “Some Gave All,” which is about serving in the military.

“This is a full-circle moment, because a week after ‘Some Gave All’ came out, I stood at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall during Rolling Thunder with Don Von Tress, who is not only the writer of ‘Achy Breaky Heart’ but also a Vietnam veteran. That man and that song changed my life,” Cyrus said in a press release.
read more here

Saturday, September 24, 2016

First All Female Veteran Honor Flight Brings Women Together

First all-women Veterans’ Honor Flight from Columbus visits D.C. war memorials
Department Veterans Affairs

Jennifer Sardam
September 21, 2016

“Most times, women were not wanted overseas unless you had a nurse’s degree, and you could take care [of] or nurture the men that were injured,” said Dorothy “Dottie” Wolfe, who served in the Marine Corps, Marine Corps Reserve and Air National Guard. “But I served, and I was proud to have served. I would have gone had they sent me, under any situation. That’s what you signed the contract for, and I knew it.”
Honor Flights from across the country bring Veterans to Washington, D.C., several times a week.

But Sept. 10, the Honor Flight Columbus organization out of Ohio sent the group’s first all-women Veterans’ Honor Flight to the nation’s capital. While there, 81 women—Veterans of World War II, the Korean War and the Vietnam War—visited their respective monuments.

The trip to Washington kicked off with a hosted event at the Women in Military Service for America (WIMSA) Memorial at Arlington National Cemetery, and included stops at a number of sites: the Iwo Jima Memorial, the U.S. Air Force Memorial and the memorials for World War II, and the Korean and Vietnam Wars.

Retired Air Force Brig. Gen. Wilma L. Vaught—one of the most decorated women in U.S. military history—was among those who greeted the group at the WIMSA Memorial; in 1966, she was also the first woman to deploy with an Air Force bomber wing.

“It means so much to see this group of women come in and see what the memorial means to them, because it does mean something to them,” said Vaught. “It is seeing their service to our country paid tribute to by the nation. And yet with it all, there comes laughter and joy, and that’s the way it ought to be about serving our country.”

As the pioneers of their times, these women blazed a path that until then was only traveled for men. And yet despite their contributions, they weren’t so readily accepted as equals.

“My career field was supposed to be aerospace jet mechanic,” said retired Air Force Veteran Phyllis Collins, who goes by the nickname “Sunshine.”

“And the guys didn’t like me there … I was supposed to be working on a dead battery. They hooked it up, and I got zapped,” she said. “So I changed my career field real fast. I became a military cop.”
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Tuesday, September 20, 2016

Sculpture Left At The Wall Allows View Into Remains of War

Sculpture left by widow at Vietnam Wall shows the tragic effects of war
Washington Post
By Michael E. Ruane
September 20, 2016

The object was the painted bust of an American soldier, one side of the face depicting a smooth-skinned young serviceman, the other an aged, long-haired veteran with pocked features and a tearful, staring eye.
The sculpture was packed in bubble wrap inside a taped-up box and was wheeled on a dolly to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial one day last month by three people who looked to be in their 60s.
They asked Al Gallant, a volunteer guide, if it was okay to leave a memento. Sure, he said. They pushed the cart down the path to the Wall, took the sculpture from the box, and walked away. One of them paused to snap a picture as they departed.

What they had left was an unusual piece — “macabre,” Gallant called it. And, like many of the 400,000 items left at the Wall since 1982, it had a story.
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Sunday, September 11, 2016

Rolling Stone Forgets How Long Other Generations Waited For Memorials

Iraq War Veteran Reflects on the Ground Zero Mall
On the failed efforts to build a Global War on Terror memorial, while a shopping mall is built at the 9/11 site
Roling Stone

By Scott Beauchamp
September 9, 2016

The primary reason no GWOT monument yet exists is that, per the Commemorative Works Act of 1997, combat must have ended a decade before work on a memorial can begin. The Global War on Terror continues unabated. How are we supposed to "remember" wars that might never end?
A grand opening event at the Westfield World Trade Center mall in August. Cindy Ord/Getty
Last month, nearly 15 years after September 11th, a mall opened at Ground Zero. The Westfield World Trade Center is aggressively ordinary, despite resting on the site of the nation's most memorable and deadly terrorist attack. As The New York Times notes, "there is little to suggest that [the mall] occupies consecrated ground ... this mall could be just about anywhere." Walking the pristine marble floors of the concourse, past stores like Apple, Sephora and Kate Spade, there's no indication that the soil underfoot might contain debris from the first foreign attack on American territory in two generations.

A nearby museum and memorial officially commemorate those who died in the World Trade Center attacks, underscoring the absurdity of the mall's presence there. The juxtaposition of the memorial and the shopping mall gestures at America's complex attitude toward commemorating wars and tragedies.

As a veteran of the Global War on Terror who deployed twice to Iraq as an infantryman, there's no permanent federal monument where I can publicly mourn and remember. As important as the country's various 9/11 memorials are, they're memorials to civilian victims of terrorism, not members of the military. There is no official government monument recognizing the casualties of what some have taken to calling the Long War.
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If you really want to honor anyone, it would be a good time to refresh history of what already happened. Reminder, it is not the longest war. Vietnam still is at just under 20 years. First name on The Wall is "The first American soldier killed in the Vietnam War was Air Force T-Sgt. Richard B. Fitzgibbon Jr. He is listed by the U.S. Department of Defense as having a casualty date of June 8, 1956." and the last killed ""The ‘Mayaguez Incident’ The battle on Koh Tang occurred on May 15, 1975."


Gulf War "While Feb. 28, 2016, marked the official anniversary of the cease-fire that ended the war 25 years ago, no special celebrations were held on the day, a disappointment several war veterans fumed over." 


And this is how long it took for the Vietnam Memorial Wall to be built. "The Memorial (wall) was completed in late October and dedicated on November 13, 1982."

Korean War ended in 1953. It was dedicated on July 27, 1995 


 WWII ended in 1945. The memorial opened to the public on April 29, 2004

Saturday, July 23, 2016

Vietnam Veteran Rides To Washington Honoring Lives Lost on USS Frank E Evans

Vietnam veteran cycles to Washington D.C. to get names added to wall
WDBJ 7 News
By Noell Saunders
Jul 22, 2016

SALEM, Va. (WDBJ7) A 74-year old Vietnam War veteran is riding his bicycle all the way from Texas to Washington D.C.

Del Francis is on a mission to get his 74 comrades' names added to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.

Francis almost died on a warship 47 years ago after an Australian aircraft carrier cut it in half. The ship sank and all 74 sailors perished that day.

After writing numerous petitions and letters, Francis decided to do something different.
read more here

Sunday, July 10, 2016

Vietnam Veteran Finally Receives Purple Heart To Shock of Buddy

Long thought dead, Warren Vietnam vet gets Purple Heart
Detroit News Washington Bureau
Keith Laing
July 10, 2016
Rivera said he was so convinced that Johnson had died in his arms that he kept a band from one of Johnson’s boots that he wore around his wrist to remind him of the friend he believed died in combat.
Herman Johnson, center, with his onetime Vietnam buddy Fred Rivera, left, on Sunday accepted his Purple Heart that had been long denied him during a ceremony at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington.
(Photo: Keith Laing / The Detroit News)
Washington — Herman Johnson is a Vietnam War veteran who was injured in a 1969 battle that left his best friend believing he was dead for 47 years.

Johnson’s friend, Fred Rivera of California, wrote a book about the impact of believing his best friend had died in his arms during combat that led to the discovery that Johnson was alive and well in Michigan.

The two friends were reunited for the first time in nearly five decades as Johnson, of Warren, was given a surprise Purple Heart decoration in a ceremony at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington on Sunday that that was arranged with the assistance of U.S. Rep. Sander Levin, D-Royal Oak.

Johnson said he never expected to be reunited with an old friend or receive the Purple Heart, which is the military’s oldest award that is given to members who are wounded or killed.

“I didn’t know what was going on,” he said. “I never expected to see Fred again.”

Johnson was nearly moved to tears by the presentation of Purple Heart. He recalled being denied the decoration when he returned from Vietnam in the late 1960s.

“I never thought it would happen, because this lady denied me a couple of times,” he said, referencing an Army official who processed his paperwork after his initial return to the U.S.

“When I got hit, I went down...I said ‘Oh God, am I in heaven?,’ Johnson recalled of the firefight that left Rivera believing he was dead.
read more here

Friday, June 24, 2016

HonorAir Knoxville Flight 21 Filled With Vietnam Veterans

Service and Sacrifice
WBIR News
June 24, 2016

Throughout the month, we are sharing the stories of four veterans we followed aboard HonorAir Knoxville Flight 21. It was the first flight devoted to all Vietnam veterans. A total of 149 troops made the all-expenses paid trip up and back in the same day to Washington to see the war memorials.

After sneaking in his first solo flight at 13-years-old, Joel Pressburg was leading aerial missions in the Vietnam war by age 22.

He would skirt trees in the flight deck of a U-10 Helio Courier, going so low that on one mission he found bolts from an enemy crossbow stuck in the top of his small plane. Pressburg continues to remain humble about his service, though.

"I had it a lot easier than the guys who were down on the ground," Pressburg said. "They have my undying respect."

Pressburg is one of the veterans who received a free one-day trip to Washington D.C. to see the memorials built in their honor. HonorAir Knoxville Flight 21 said it was the first ever trip devoted solely to Vietnam veterans.
read more here

First all Vietnam Honor Air flight back from DC
WBIR news
KNOXVILLE - To hearty cheers and waving flags, some 150 Vietnam veterans returned Wednesday night from their all-day trip to the Nation's Capitol to see monuments erected in their honor.

Wednesday's HonorAir flight was unique in that it was exclusively for Vietnam veterans, and it is the third of 21 HonorAir flights that have included Vietnam veterans.

At least 10 Purple Heart recipients were aboard Wednesday’s flight.

It returned about 8:30 p.m. to dozens of greeters at McGhee Tyson Airport.
read more here

Some 150 Vietnam vets flew back into Knoxville on Wednesday night. It was the first trip that featured only Vietnam-era veterans.

Tuesday, June 7, 2016

Dad Survived USS Frank E Evans, Son Did Not

Schumer to 91-year-old Syracuse veteran: Your son belongs on Vietnam Wall (video)
Syracuse.com
Mark Weiner
June 6, 2016

Larry Reilly Sr. survived the accident, but lost his son, Larry Reilly Jr., who served on the Navy ship with him.
SYRACUSE, N.Y. -- After fighting for decades to have his son's name added to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall, 91-year-old Larry Reilly Sr. had a chance to make his case in person Monday with one of the nation's most powerful members of Congress.

U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., stopped to visit Reilly in his Meadowbrook Drive home in Syracuse, and told him that the Navy veteran's efforts may be close to paying off as his 92nd birthday approaches in two weeks.

The Department of Defense agreed last month to review the case of the 74 sailors who died aboard the USS Frank E. Evans when their destroyer collided with an Australian aircraft carrier during a Vietnam War-era training exercise.

read more here

Thursday, June 2, 2016

Vietnam Veteran Died in Motorcycle Accident After Seeing The Wall

Vietnam veteran was making first trip to memorial
The Herald Bulletin
By Scott L. Miley

June 1, 2016

PENDLETON — Craig Van Brunt had hoped to visit the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C., for years.

This past Memorial Day weekend, Van Brunt, 66, of Pendleton, managed to see the symbolic wall Friday with about 80 other Hoosier motorcyclists participating in the annual Rolling Thunder Ride for Freedom and Ride to the Wall.

Two days later, he joined in a demonstration ride urging Washington political leaders to find prisoners of war and service members still missing in action. After the demonstration, his motorcycle crashed on the way to the group's hotel. He died at George Washington University Hospital.

"This is something unfortunately that we have to live with," said Mike Clark, president of the Rolling Thunder Indiana Chapter 1, which organized area residents in the ride. "Most of us who ride motorcycles all know that once you swing your leg over the saddle, it could happen to any of us at any time."

Clark added, "At least he got to see the wall and participate in the Ride for Freedom demonstration. He got to accomplish his mission."
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Sunday, May 29, 2016

Vietnam War Memorial In Venice Desercrated

Vandals Deface Vietnam War Memorial In Venice
CBS Los Angeles
May 27, 2016


“It’s a desecration. I mean it’s very simple. There’s no sort of other way around it. It isn’t graffiti,” Francisco said.
VENICE (CBSLA.com) — Vandals defaced a memorial to Vietnam war veterans in Venice – an awful sight on this Memorial Day weekend.

Stewart Oscars welled up as he looked at the vandalized mural located on Pacific Avenue near Sunset Court. It was covered in graffiti from end to end.

“This knocked me out. So sickening. Just sadness…think of all these people. They’re gone,” Oscars said. “I remember the Vietnam war and how friends went to war, and bodies came back. Somehow, it has to be taught that this is not a good idea. This is actually stupid.”

The memorial was dedicated to service members who were listed as missing in action during the Vietnam War.

George Francisco is the Vice President of the Venice Chamber of Commerce. He also runs a nonprofit called Veterans Foundation Incorporated.
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Thursday, May 12, 2016

USS Frank E. Evans May Be Added to Vietnam Wall

Pentagon may add Syracuse vet's son, 73 Navy shipmates to Vietnam Memorial
Syracuse.com

By Mark Weiner
May 12, 2016

"For more than four decades, surviving crew members and relatives of those lost on the USS Frank E. Evans, like Larry Reilly Sr. of Syracuse, have struggled to understand why geographical lines have superseded these sailors' sacrifice and service," Sen. Charles Schumer
World War ll and Vietnam veteran Larry Reilly Sr., age 91, served in the Navy. During the Vietnam War he and his son were together on a Navy ship when it was involved in a collision with an Australian destroyer. His son Larry Reilly Jr. was killed.
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- The Department of Defense has agreed to review a request from families of 74 U.S. Navy sailors, including one with ties to Syracuse, to add their names to the national Vietnam Veterans Memorial wall, according to U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer.

The sailors died aboard the USS Frank E. Evans when the Navy destroyer collided with an Australian aircraft carrier in the South China Sea during a Vietnam War-era training exercise.

The sailors who perished June 3, 1969 are not listed on the Vietnam memorial wall in Washington because the accident happened outside the official combat zone for the Vietnam War.
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Tuesday, March 1, 2016

Seventy Four Names Missing From Vietnam Memorial Wall?

Man Fights for Brother to Be Included on Vietnam Memorial
The Marin Independent Journal, Novato, Calif.
by Stephanie Weldy
Feb 29, 2016
The 20-year-old died, along with 73 others, aboard the USS Frank E. Evans in an accidental collision in the South China Sea in 1969.
For years, Novato resident and Vietnam War veteran Jim Reilly had no interest in visiting the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall.
Seeing the names of those he had known inscribed on the granite wall in Washington D.C. would have been too difficult, he said.

When Reilly did at last visit it in 1999, he was shocked. The name of his younger brother was missing. The 20-year-old died, along with 73 others, aboard the USS Frank E. Evans in an accidental collision in the South China Sea in 1969.

As he would learn, the omission of Lawrence Reilly Jr.'s name, and those of the other fallen men — dubbed "The Lost 74" — was no accident. Now 47 years since his brother's death, Reilly, 70, is not done fighting. He is involved in a campaign to have the names of those killed aboard the USS Evans added to the wall.

"Ultimately, of course we'd like the 74 names added to the wall," Reilly said. 

"Space is going to be a problem so it may be necessary to make some kind of accommodation. Whatever accommodation needs to be made, it should be made."

In the early hours of June 3, 1969, the USS Evans, a Navy destroyer carrying 272 men, was ripped in two during Operation Sea Spirit, a training exercise involving more than 40 ships of allied countries.

After one flawed move by the USS Evans 225 miles off the coast of Vietnam, the HMAS Melbourne, an Australian carrier, tore into the ship, killing 74 men. The brothers' father, Lawrence Reilly Sr., was also aboard the ship as a U.S. Navy master chief, but survived.
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Sunday, November 15, 2015

Vietnam War Deaths 90,220 1955 to 1975

Who Do We Forget Paid The Price?
Wounded Times
Kathie Costos
November 15, 2015

When we talk about veterans we fail to talk about how many witnessed the deaths of their brothers and sisters in service.  For every servicemember killed in war there are many survivor witnesses who will never forget.

How many is something that we may convince ourselves we know, but the truth is, we never really know the true cost of war. The worst thing is that our own government doesn't seen to know either.

Too many politicians call Afghanistan the longest war, including the President.
Statement by the President on the End of the Combat Mission in Afghanistan

"Today's ceremony in Kabul marks a milestone for our country. For more than 13 years, ever since nearly 3,000 innocent lives were taken from us on 9/11, our nation has been at war in Afghanistan. Now, thanks to the extraordinary sacrifices of our men and women in uniform, our combat mission in Afghanistan is ending, and the longest war in American history is coming to a responsible conclusion."
In October of 2001 troops were sent into Afghanistan and as of this month there are 9,000.

In 1955 they started dying in Vietnam and did not stop dying there until May of 1975. So how was this forgotten?

How is it that the American public believes there were less than 60,000 killed in Vietnam?
Memorial is dedicated to the 2.7 million men and women in the U.S. military who served in the designated war zone.
With the addition of six names added in 2010 the total is now 58,272 names listed on the Memorial. Approximately 1200 of these are listed as missing (MIA's, POW's, and others).
So then how did this happen?
That was from PBS How many Americans have died in U.S. wars?
Vietnam Conflict Total 8,744,000, Total Deaths 58,220 Battle Deaths 47,434 Other 10,786
This is from the National Archives

Statistical Information about Fatal Casualties of the Vietnam War


The dates are from 1956 to 1975 with more added up to 2006. They include 38,224 Army deaths, 2,586 Air Force deaths, 2,559 Navy deaths and 14,844 Marine deaths and 7 Coast Guard deaths.

What about all the others?

Where did the 90,220 Vietnam War Deaths on the PBS image come from? The Department of Veterans Affairs "Other Deaths in Service (Non-Theater) 32,000 and it came from "Covers period 11/1/55 – 5/15/75""

Think about that for a second. Aside from all the years they were fighting and dying in Vietnam, there were also 32,000 killed, forgotten about in all the talk about Vietnam.

Naturally this does not even touch on all those who paid the price because of Agent Orange.
AGENT ORANGE CASUALTIES KEEP MOUNTING
"roughly 2.8 million U.S. military personnel — out of 7.4 million total — who served in Vietnam between 1962 and 1971 and were exposed to Agent Orange, one of several potent defoliants deployed by the military to destroy the Vietnamese jungle and, along with it, the enemy's hiding place."

It does not include those who died due to suicide from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder but with both of these, we'll never get the true number until every Vietnam veteran is in the grave. Even then it is doubtful especially when they can't even get the numbers that should be right, actually right to begin with.

So who do we forget about? What service is not good enough to remember? How many paid the price of retaining freedom? What life was not worth counting?

That is also happening today when the press keeps reporting "22 a day" is if that number was acceptable when it is not even close to the number of veterans in this country committing suicide every day.  It may be easier to say but it sure as hell isn't making it any easier to live with.

Top that off with the simple fact that the majority of the veterans they bother to talk about are over the age of 50 and then, then you may be closer to the truth.

Wednesday, October 7, 2015

Vietnam Veteran Takes HonorAir Flight to Washington DC

First Vietnam veterans to take HonorAir Knoxville flight eager to visit memorials in their honor
WATE ABC News
By Laura Halm
Published: October 6, 2015

MARYVILLE (WATE) – Tickets are purchased and excitement is building for more than 125 East Tennessee veterans.

Wednesday is flight day for Honor Air, but this plane ride to Washington, D.C. is a first for Vietnam veterans. Two of the veterans who will make the flight say they are anxiously waiting to see the memorials built in their honor.

Vietnam veteran Tommy Terry said he is only packing two items: a hat and a camera. “I’m not taking that much. So it won’t take long,” said Tommy Terry.

Tommy Terry said he has waited a long time for the chance to go to Washington, D.C. “When we came back from Vietnam, we were not treated well,” he said. “But this is one of the greatest things.”
read more here

Friday, August 7, 2015

Vault of Priceless Vietnam Memorial Mementos Now Online

Items left at The Wall: Vault of priceless Vietnam Memorial mementos now online
FOX 2 St. Louis
BY TRIBUNE MEDIA
AUGUST 6, 2015
“When I reach out and touch their names on The Wall, I become a part of that memorial. I become a part of them again,” he said. “This is a healing place. It’s a place where I come to heal.”
WASHINGTON — Conversations that take place at The Wall, the Vietnam Veterans Memorial on the Mall here, are reminders of how intense the memories, emotions and experiences are that this polished black granite wall stands to soothe and heal.

They’re also reminders of a new chapter in the memorial’s life that its founder hopes will help it to further enrich the country and its veterans.

“Combat wounded,” is how O’Donnald Parker describes himself.

The Washington, D.C. native served in Vietnam from January to December 1970, during which time he earned his Purple Heart. “Finger shot off,” he said, as he used his right pointer finger to point to the stub where his left pointer had been before a firefight north of Saigon 45 years ago. “Shot in the back of my hand here,” he said, while standing next to The Wall.

He also described why he visits the memorial multiple times a week, and looks at the names of his fallen comrades.

read more here