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 an d 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.
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.

I was fortunate enough to serve in the Navy during peacetime. I will ....NEVER...... know the pain of losing a friend in combat the way these people have.

I was in Deck Division and assigned to the assault boats because I could swim better than average.

We were tasked with dropping 300 Marines and all their tanks, humvees, equipment and other 2 weeks of supplies on the beach.... and then going for more.

Anyhoo..... In-Chop and Out-Chop to our Med Cruise occured in Rota Spain. It's the entry and exit point for the 6th Fleet of the US Navy to the Med.

Coming back home after our 6 month cruise, we were Out-Chopping in Rota before our 2 week trip back across Atlantic.

(During Chopping we wash every single square inch of the ship, equipment and boats)

SN Mike Marusa went missing while we were there.

Rumors galore.... and of course an investigation. He was a model sailor and secretly his friends hoped he was having problems with his girlfriend after 6 months and had gone AWOL.

We finish Out Chopping and start the journey home to Norfolk.

7 days later, we get word that his body had been found after slipping off one of those high pier ladders and striking his head below on his assault boat, slipping below the surface of the water.

The entire Deck Division goes quiet, the lights lowered and most hit their racks.

He was flown home and buried before we got back stateside.

We get home and a few of us take a trip to visit his family in Pennsylvania.

After receiving his family's hospitality, kindness and tears of appreciation, we realized the most important thing...

We had failed to bring their son home safe.