THOSE NAMES ON THE POLISHED BLACK WALL

Jerry Doyle and I served together with the Riverside Sheriff’s Department. While I switched over to State Parole, Jerry stayed on until he retired as a captain. We have remained friends ever since. Jerry sent me the following post about the Vietnam War memorial wall.

LEST WE FORGET THOSE WHO FOUGHT FOR US IN VIETNAM
A little history most people will never know

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 57 years since the first casualty.

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.

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 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 so many Americans who read this they will only see the numbers that the Vietnam War created. To those of who survived the war, and to the families of those who did not, they see the faces, they feel the pain that these numbers created. They are, until they too pass away, haunted with these numbers, because they were our brothers, friends, fathers, husbands, wives, sons and daughters.

There are few noble wars. But all wars are fought by noble warriors.