In the recent past, the traveling replica of the Vietnam wall was set up on the McConnelsville commons. Many people viewed the names. Here is a little history of the people listed on the wall:
There are 58,267 names now listed on that 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.
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.
Twelve soldiers on the Wall were 17 years old.
Five soldiers on the Wall were 16 years old.
One soldier, PFC Dan Bullock was only 15 years old.
997 soldiers were killed on their first day in Vietnam.
1,448 soldiers were killed on their last day in Vietnam.
Thirty-one sets of brothers are on the Wall.
Thirty-one sets of parents lost two of their sons.
Did you know, 54 soldiers attended Thomas Edison High School in Philadelphia. I wonder why so many from one school!
Eight 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.
Did you know in Beallsville with a population of 475, they lost six 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 Jan. 31, 1968 - 245 deaths.
The most casualty deaths for a single month was May 1968 - 2,415 casualties were incurred.
For most who read this, and viewed the names, they will only see the numbers that the Vietnam War created. To those 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. Also, these were our friends, fathers, husbands, wives, sons and daughters. There are no noble wars, just noble warriors.
Robert D. Carnes
McConnelsville
