When The AV Wall is on display, it is open 24/7 to the public and is free of charge.
Interesting Wall Facts
1. Vietnam Era: 1 Nov 1955 – 15 May 1975 (by Congress in 1999)
2. As of 2019 – 375 Names added since 1982
3. Number of casualties on The Wall, 58,276
4. At least one US Service member died in Vietnam every day from December 31, 1965 to December 9, 1970. A total of 1,804 days and 52,448 lives lost!
5. There are 8 Females on the Wall all Nurses (7,484 Military women served in Vietnam, 6,250 were nurses.)
6. There are 40 sets of Brothers on the Wall
7. One set of Step-Brothers on the Wall
8. There are 3 Fathers/Sons on the Wall
9. There are 16 Chaplains on the Wall, 7 Catholic (2 Medal of Honor Recipients), 2 Jewish, 7 Protestant
10. There are 10 Nurses on the Wall; 8 Female, 2 Male
11. There are 1345 Army Medics on the Wall
12. There are 691 Navy Corpsmen on the Wall
13. There are 8 Coast Guard on the Wall
14. There are 21 different Countries represented on the Wall
15. There are 57 Canadians on the Wall
16. Earliest to Die – Richard B Fitzgibbon Jr (52E, 021), 8-Jun-56
17. First Name on Panel 01E – Dale Richard Buis (01E, 001), 8-Jul-59
18. There are 13 Flag Officers on the Wall
19. Highest Casualty Day – 31-Jan-68: 246
20. Highest Casualty Month – May-68: 2,416
21. Highest Casualty Year – 1968: 16,916
22. Peak US Inco Troop Strength – 30-Apr-69: 543,482
23. There are 76 Names on the Wall with ties to the Antelope Valley.
24. MoH – 160 (159 from Vietnam, 1 from WWII) on Wall (Average Age of MoH on Wall: 24), Total for Vietnam 261
25. Estimated – 32 men were mistakenly listed on The Wall at dedication that were still alive. These names are not listed in the directories, but are in the total count.
26. Native Americans – 227
27. Most interesting Native American Name: Frank W JEALOUS-OF-HIM: Panel W22, Line 2
28. Oldest on Memorial – Frank Luther Huddleston (16E, 109), 12-Aug-02, 68 yrs old (added in 2003)
29. Youngest to Die (Inco) – Dan Bullock (W23, 096), 7-Jun-69, 15.5 years old, Born: 21-Dec-53
30. 40,361 Soldiers on the Wall were under 22 years old.
31. At least one Soldier was killed as the result of an attack by an Indochinese tiger – Francis Baldino (W39, 063), 14-Nov-68, At about 2145 hours PFC Baldino was acting as his patrol’s RTO three paces behind the patrol leader when he was attacked and carried off, his body was recovered the next day.
32. Top Five Most Common Names
a. Smith – 662
b. Johnson – 525
c. Williams – 402
d. Brown – 381
e. Jones – 346
33. Unknown Soldier – Michael Joseph Blassie (W01, 023), 11-May-72, Interred as Unknown in 1984, reburied 11-Jul-98 in St. Louis, MO. Awarded the MoH while interred as the Unknown, but MoH was rescinded when identified, not part of the 261. There are no remains in the Vietnam Tomb for the Unknown Soldier
34. Longest name: Rodrigo Velazquez-Feliciano Jr, Panel 42E, Line 55
35. Shortest names: Ben Coy, Panel 22E, Line 24 and Ned Lee, Panel 38E, Line 29
36. There are five (5) Smith’s in a row on Panel 38E, Line 14
37. 1968 alone requires 74 of 140 panels – first 33E and last W35
38. Professional Football Players who died in Vietnam:
a. Donald Thomas Steinbrunner – Cleveland Browns/Offensive Tackle, Panel 23E, Line 096
b. James Robert Kalsu – Buffalo Bills/Guard, Panel W08, Line 038
30. Ronald Walsh Mc Lean – Jimmy Stewart’s stepson, Panel W23, Line 113
40. Wieland Clyde Norris – Chuck Norris’ brother, Panel W09, Line 005
41. 3 Servicemen Statue, sculpted by Frederick Hart, local DC artist (deceased). Dedicated Veterans Day 1984. Weapons – M-60, 45, and M-16
42. Vietnam Women’s Memorial, Dedicated 11-Nov-93, Sculpture by Glenna Goodacre of Santa Fe, NM. Goodacre also designed US Silver Dollar issued in 2000 with image of Sacajawea (Native American who aided Lewis & Clark) and the statue of Ronald Reagan at Reagan Library in CA.
These facts were compiled from various source, including VVMF audit, every attempt has been made by AV Wall and PMAV to verify the information, we apologize for any inaccuracies. Please inform us of
changes needed.
Click here to download a PDF of this list.
Click here to download a PDF of a more detailed list.