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Should Recent Vietnam Casualties Be Listed on The Wall?
TOPIC: Most Americans too young to remember the Vietnam War have come to think of all the names listed on The Wall as being combat deaths. Only when researching the thousands of Americans eternally remembered on The Wall do younger Americans learn that many of those deaths were non-combat related. Some died of disease, suicide, accident, or health problems incurred before arriving in Vietnam. In recent years new names were added to The Wall, and each year the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund receives additional requests to add new names to The Wall. Most of these are Vietnam veterans who succumbed to medical problems derived from their Vietnam War service.
In April 2001 seven American servicepersons aboard a Russion Mi-7l transport helicopter lost their lives while researching possible burial sites of Americans still missing from the Vietnam War. The helicopter crash has so far been ruled an accident.
Some Vietnam veterans are recommending that the names of the seven recent Vietnam casualties be listed on The Wall since their deaths were Vietnam War related. Other Vietnam vets disagree, saying that The Wall should honor only those who died in Vietnam during the war, or later as a direct result of their war-related military service. While others say that a new memorial site, similar to the Three-Soldier and Women's statues, be built and established near The Wall to honor post-Vietnam War related casualties such as the April 2001 accident.
Your thoughts are invited...
Links:
G.I. Photo Museum | Locator/Registry Forms | Vet/Military Websites | Business Card
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