When The AV Wall is on display, it is open 24/7 to the public and free of charge.
Interesting Wall Facts
1. Vietnam Era: 1 Nov 1955 — 15 May 1975 (by Congress in 1999)
2. Names added since 1986 — 384 (as of 2021)
3. Number of casualties on The Wall — 58,281
4. Total number of names engraved on The Wall — 58,395 (includes duplications and errors)
5. 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!
6. There are 8 Females on the Wall all Nurses (7,484 Military women served in Vietnam, 6,250 were nurses.)
7. There are 40 sets of Brothers on the Wall
8. There is one set of Step Brothers
9. There are 3 Fathers/Sons on the Wall
10. There are 16 Chaplains on the Wall, 7 Catholic (2 Medal of Honor Recipients – MoH), 2 Jewish, 7 Protestant
11. There are 10 Nurses on the Wall; 8 Female, 2 Male
12. There are 1345 Army Medics on the Wall
13. There are 691 Navy Corpsmen on the Wall
14. There are 8 Coast Guard on the Wall
15. There are 21 different countries represented 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 In Country 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 262
25. Native Americans — 227
26. Most interesting Native American Name: Frank W JEALOUS-OF-HIM (W22, 002)
27. Oldest on Memorial — Frank Luther Huddleston (16E, 109), 12-Aug-02, 68 yrs old (added in 2003)
28. Youngest to Die (Inco) — Dan Bullock (23W, 096), 7-Jun-69, 15.5 years old, Born: 21-Dec-53
29. 40,361 Soldiers on the Wall were under 22 years old.
30. At least two (2) Soldiers and two (2) Marines were killed as the result of an attack by an Indochinese tiger.
31. Most Common Name — Smith – 662
32. 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 Awarded the MoH while interred as the Unknown, but MoH was rescinded when identified, not part of the 261.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.
33. First two Blue Water Navy deaths — Antone Perry, Jr (13E, 074); 23-Dec-66, Thomas Lee Tiglas (13E, 076), 23-Dec-66.
34. Longest name: Rodrigo Velazquez-Feliciano Jr, (42E, 055)
35. Shortest names: Ben Coy, (22E, 024) and Ned Lee, (38E, 029)
36. There are five (5) Smiths in a row on (38E, 014)
37. Professional Football Players who died in Vietnam:
a. Donald Thomas Steinbrunner — Cleveland Browns/Offensive Tackle, (23E, 096)
b. James Robert Kalsu — Buffalo Bills/Guard, (W08, 038)
38. Ronald Walsh Mc Lean — Jimmy Stewart’s stepson, (W23, 113)
39. Wieland Clyde Norris — Chuck Norris’ brother, (W09, 005)
40. Robert John Carmody — Olympic Bronze Medalist 1964, (28E, 079)
41. Richard Warren Pershing — Grandson of General of the Armies John Joseph Pershing, (W09, 005)
42. James Van Howard — Son of Lula Grace Johnson, known professionally as Jan Howard, an American country music singer and Grand Ole Opry star, (40W, 058)
43. 3 Servicemen Statue, sculpted by Frederick Hart, local DC artist (deceased). Dedicated Veterans Day 1984. Weapons — M-60, 45, and M-16
44. 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. Also statue of Ronald Reagan at Reagan Library in CA.
These facts were compiled from various sources, 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.