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• Did All Those Sacrifices Mean Anything?

So, do yourself a favor this weekend, take a moment to visit The Vietnam Memorial’s website at http://thewall-usa.com/index.asp. Take a moment to remember that no matter how you felt about that war, real humans … actual Americans paid the price. And, be they pacifists or swifties, don’t ever let anyone imply that service in Vietnam was anything but honorable duty.

Corporal Thomas W. Bennett of Morgantown, WV, a U.S. Army medic, is the only conscientious objector to be awarded the Medal of Honor during the Vietnam War. He was killed in action on February 11, 1969. His name is one of 58,178 on The Wall.

The Morenci Boys

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 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 three returned home.

Robert Dale Draper, 19, was killed in an ambush.
Stan King, 21, was killed less than a week after reaching Vietnam.
Alfred Van Whitmer, 21, was killed while on patrol.
Larry J. West, 19 was shot near Quang Nam.
Jose Moncayo, 22, was part of an entire platoon wiped out.
Clive Garcia, 22, was killed by a booby trap while leading a patrol.

They are six of the 58,178 names on The Wall.

The Neighbors

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 days in late 1967, all three were killed there.

LeRoy was killed on Wednesday, Nov. 22, the fourth anniversary of JFK’s assassination.
Jimmy died less than 24 hours later on Thanksgiving Day.
Tom was shot on Dec. 7, Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day.

They are three names of the 58,178 on The Wall

The List Goes On And On

The Vietnam conflict’s first battlefield fatality was Specialist 4 James T. Davis. He was killed on December 22, 1961.

The youngest Vietnam KIA is believed to be Dan Bullock at 15 years old.

The oldest KIA is believed to be Dwaine McGriff at 63 years old.
At least five 16-year-old US GIs were killed in Vietnam.
At least 12 17-year-old US GIs were killed in Vietnam.
At least 25,000 of the 58,178 dead were 20 years old or younger.
More than 17,000 of those killed were married.
Men killed on their first day in Vietnam – 997 (unconfirmed).
Veterans killed on their last day in Vietnam – 1,448 (unconfirmed).

The last American soldier killed in the Vietnam War was Kelton Rena Turner, an 18-year old Marine. He was killed in action on May 15, 1975, two weeks after Saigon was evacuated.

Some historians, however, insist that Gary L. Hall, Joseph N. Hargrove and Danny G. Marshall were the last to die in Vietnam. The three US Marines Corp. veterans were mistakenly left behind on Koh Tang Island during the Mayaguez incident.

Gary, Joe and Danny are located on The Wall’s panel 1W, lines 130 – 131.

My Generation

More then ever, Memorial Day has become my generation’s responsibility.

We’re the majority now, but we do things differently… maybe, with the exception of Rolling Thunder, a little less demonstratively.

I know that can rankle older vets, along with the fact that we’re not huge into the VFW or Legion… hell most of us don’t even know where our DD214s are.

The most interesting thing I see each Memorial Day is that either advertisers wrap the flag around their products, or they use images from World War II.

But, as I mentioned, there are more of us than there are of the older vets, combined.

That leads me to believe that 33 years after Vietnam, we as a culture have not come to grips with it … outside of Hollywood … maybe we just hope to forget it happened.

So, do yourself a favor this weekend, take a moment to visit The Vietnam Memorial’s website at http://thewall-usa.com/index.asp. Take a moment to remember that no matter how you felt about that war, real humans … actual Americans paid the price.

And, be they pacifists or swifties, don’t ever let anyone imply that service in Vietnam was anything but honorable duty.

Peace

Andy

P.S. To let me know what you thought of today’s article, send an e-mail to: feedback@investorsdailyedge.com.
Source: 58,178 Reasons To Pause

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• Did All Those Sacrifices Mean Anything?

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