Facts Vietnam Wall

Subject: Vietnam Wall - THIS IS AMAZING

 This is really sobering. Click on the link and find the city you went to high school or any other you are familiar with and look at the names.

Click on the name and it will give details of the death.

Vietnam Wall

First click on a state. When it opens, scroll down to the city and the names will appear.

Then click on their names. It should show you a picture of the person, or at least their bio and medals. 

This really is an amazing web site. Someone spent a lot of time and effort to create it. 

I hope that everyone who receives this appreciates what those who served in Vietnam sacrificed for our country. 
The link below is a virtual wall of all those lost during the Vietnam war with the names, bio's and other information on our lost heroes. Those who remember that time frame, or perhaps lost friends or family can look them up on this site. 
Pass the link on to others, as many knew wonderful people whose names are listed. 
http://www.virtualwall.org/iStates.htm

Things you should know.

Facts about Vietnam Veterans wall in DC.

There are 58,267 names now listed on that polished 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. It is hard to

believe it is 36 years since the last casualties.

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

September 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.

12 soldiers on the Wall were 17 years old.

The largest age group, 33,103 were 18 years old.

Five soldiers on the Wall were 16 years old.

One soldier, Pfc. Bullock was 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.

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.

Beallsville, Ohio with a population of 475 lost six

of their sons.

West Virginia had the highest casualty rate per

capita in the nation. There are 711 West

Virginians on the Wall.

The Marines of Morenci - 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. In the patriotic 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.

The Buddies of Midvale - 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. They all went to

Vietnam. In a span of 16 dark days in late 1967,

all three would be killed. LeRoy was killed on

Wednesday, November 22, the fourth anniversary

of John F. Kennedy’s assassination. Jimmy died

less than 24 hours later on Thanksgiving Day.

Tom was shot dead assaulting the enemy on

December 7, Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day.

The most casualty deaths for a single day was on

January 31, 1968 ~ 245 deaths.

The most casualty deaths for a single month was

May 1968 ~ 2,415 casualties were incurred.

Most Americans who read this will see only the

numbers the Vietnam War created. To those who

survived the war, and to the families of those who

did not, we see the faces, we feel the pain that

these numbers created We are, until we too pass

away, haunted with these numbers, because they

were our friends, fathers, husbands, wives, sons

and daughters. There are no noble wars, just

noble warriors.

Just a thought

It is time that our Government to remember this

what do you think

MEMORIAL DAY

MEMORIAL DAY: Honor the fallen, remember the living

Posted on | May 26, 2013 | 5 Comments

Riverside National Cemetery (Staff/TERRY PIERSON)

Memorial Day. We honor the men and women who died while serving in the military. We honor them with parades, speeches, wreaths, flags, crisp salutes and glistening tears.

We honor our soldiers, sailors and pilots because where would we be without them? We honor them even as more die in a far-off country that we have already said we’re leaving. We will honorthem next year. And for years to come.

Even though Memorial Day Weekend can be a time of pleasant distraction — barbecues, baseball games, blowout holiday sales — it is not entirely lost on us that Memorial Day is the time we pay our respects to the people who died for our barbecues and baseball games. Few would deny that we’re very good at Memorial Day. When it comes to paying tribute to our dead, we’ve got it down.

But when it comes to doing right by the living, we just can’t seem to get it right.

This is old news. Dry, stale, rotting-on-the-shelf news. But if I may drag you all the way back to May 8 for a moment, maybe you’ll view Memorial Day in a slightly different context.

On May 8, the paper ran a local story based on a federal study and congressional testimony. The story contained three startling numbers.

318. Average number of days it takes the Department of VeteransAffairs to process a vet’s disability claim.

900,000. The backlog of veterans’ claims.

2015. When VA secretary says the backlog will be eliminated — a pledge that is already eroding.

Our story focused on Riversider Herberto Eddie Garcia, who waited 10 years to get his claim approved. Sound bad? It’s worse.

Garcia, an ex-Marine, isn’t what you’d call a recent discharge. He’s 65. Served in a place called Vietnam and was exposed to a substance called Agent Orange. An incomplete list of his ailments: coronary artery disease, post traumatic stress disorder,diabetes, skin condition.

Local aides to area congressmen frequently get cases like this and often uncover stories of lost files and inquiries the VA simply ignores.

As news of this huge backlog broke in April, a downright eloquent Vice President Biden said:

“We have a lot of obligations — to our children, to the elderly, to the poor. But there’s only one truly sacred obligation in my view, and that’s to equip those we send to war and care for those who come home from war and their families. That’s a sacred obligation.”

But Biden wasn’t talking about mending a broken bureaucracy. He was promoting jobs for vets — an important front in the battle to get them back into the swing of civilian life.

But there’s also a sacred obligation to make the wounded and disabled as whole as possible, as quickly as possible. That we are lagging so far behind suggests it’s a battle we are losing.

We honor the dead on Memorial Day. We are grateful for their sacrifice and perhaps comforted that they are at rest. We also profess boundless gratitude for our living vets. But we can’t rest until they are comfortable.

Doing right by the dead while failing the living is not fulfilling a “sacred obligation.” It’s a national disgrace.

Montana Restaurant

 Montana Restaurant 
The radio station America FM was doing one of its 'Is Anyone Listening?' bits this morning.
The first question was 'Ever have a celebrity come up with the 'Do you know who I am? routine.
A woman called in and said that a few years ago, while visiting her cattle rancher uncle in Billings , MT , she had occasion to go to dinner at a restaurant ;that does not take reservations. The wait was about 45 minutes; many local ranchers and their wives were waiting.
Ted Turner and his ex-wife Jane Fonda came in the restaurant and wanted a table. The hostess informed them that they'd have to wait 45 minutes.
Jane Fonda asked the hostess, Do you know who I am? The hostess answered, 'Yes, but you'll have to wait 45 minutes.
Then Jane asked if the manager was in. When the manager came out, he asked, 'May I help you? 'Do you know who we are?' both Ted and Jane asked. Yes, but these folks have been waiting, and I can't put you ahead of them.
Then Ted asked to speak to the owner. The owner came out, and Jane again asked, 'Do you know who I am?' The owner answered, 'Yes, I do.

Do you know who I am? I am the owner of this restaurant and I am a Vietnam Veteran. Not only will you not get a table ahead of my friends and neighbors who have been waiting here, BUT you also will not be eating in my restaurant tonight or any other night.Good bye.'
Only in America , is this a great country or what?
To all who received this, this is a true story and the name of the steak house is:
Sir Scott's Oasis
Steakhouse ;
204 W. Main ,
Manhattan , MT 59741
(406) 284-6929

If you ever get there, give this fellow a sharp salute, buy a steak, and tip the waitress. They have ten steaks on their simple menu from 32 oz. to 12 oz. Toothpicks on every table!
Keep passing this on. We should never forget our national traitor"!

 

"IN GOD WE TRUST"

WW II NV. Honor Flight Returns home

WW II NV. Honor Flight Returns home

The Flowing Pictures are from the first Honor Flight from NV On there return To Las Vegas I also have Three shout videos From the airport on there return.Just open the links below

https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B11axbziSq-ESnRBTGFpZzYyeW8/edit?usp=sharing

https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B11axbziSq-ETFVNT1VvSkFYQmc/edit?usp=sharing

https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B11axbziSq-EZTBGLWNxOGpBVWM/edit?usp=sharing

To all Old Navy personal

Richard Small shared this so I thought I would share to all

Interesting old photos of "paddleboat" aircraft carriers.

This is for those who flew Harvards and tried to perfect short field landings and take offs...and for history buffs.   Aircraft carriers on the Great lakes during WWII? 

Here’s more photos of the Lake Michigan aircraft carriers USS Sable & USS Wolverine, with photos of different aircraft operating from them, including a TBD Devastator.

http://warbirdinformationexchange.org/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=48962
 

Honor Flight Pictures

Honor Flight Pictures

[PICTURE] - Honor Guard as the second Nevada Honor 

Flight prepares to take off, taking Nevada's Veterans to see 

their memorial in Washington, D.C

.

Navy Leaders Defend Ford-Class Carrier Program

Apr 30, 2013

Military.com| by Kris Osborn

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Senior Navy officials are responding to critics of the service’s planned Ford-class of aircraft carriers claiming that substantial technological leaps, manpower reducing efficiencies, and a long-term strategic need for the carriers outweigh cost overruns and delays.

Scheduled to enter the water this fall and begin service in 2016, the USS Ford is engineered with a suite of improved technologies compared to its predecessor, the Nimitz-class carriers. Some of these improvements include a larger flight-deck, dual-band radar, upgraded nuclear power plants, increased automation and an electro-magnetic propulsion system, said Rear Adm. William Moran, deputy director for the Navy’s Air Warfare Division.

“The efficiency with which we can load and unload weapons and move aircraft is vastly improved – just in the way it’s designed to be able to move the aircraft. A bigger flight deck with more space to operate is going to make a big difference,” Moran said. “It is hard to imagine what we are going to do with the Ford years from now.”

The Navy’s Ford-class carriers are slated to replace as many as 10 Nimitz-class carriers as they reach their 50-year lifespan over the coming decades.

“The big thing is there is increased capability and margin for future growth and follow-on systems. You and I can’t imagine what in 30-years people are going to want to integrate on an aircraft carrier. We have a design in place that will allow those folks to be able to say ‘we have the space, weight and electrical capacity,’” said Capt. Bob Cady, aircraft carrier branch head for the Navy’s Air Warfare Division.

Navy leaders also emphasized the ever-increasing strategic value of being able to project power and forward-position air assets with the forthcoming Pacific pivot within the defense strategy.

“As we saw the beginning of the end of life for the first nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, [former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld] challenged the Navy to put in as much new technology as possible to really revolutionize the way we operate aircraft carriers in the future. We put in a lot of technology,” Moran said.

Budget issues

Navy priorities in the FY 2014 budget request include $945 million to finance design and construction of the John F. Kennedy (CVN 79), the second planned carrier in the Ford-class, as well as $588 million to build the Gerald. R. Ford (CVN 78).

Government watchdog agencies such as the Government Accountability Office have cited cost concerns, delays and schedule slips regarding construction of the USS Ford. A March GAO report cites valve shortages and construction issues with the ships steel plating for the flight deck.

The report also cites substantial cost-increases with the USS Ford program construction since 2008. Navy developers describe the overall $13-to $15 billion cost of the Ford in terms of a “first-in-class” technology, meaning costs for the follow-on ships, such as the USS Kennedy, will be much less.

“We want to demystify the myths of cost of first-in-class. The first time you roll out a new technology it’s pretty expensive. Then, over time, you are able to bring those costs down. We fully expect the costs of the USS Kennedy and the next USS Enterprise( CVN 80) – these costs will be significantly reduced as we learn from 78 {USS Gerald Ford},” said Moran.

Navy developers said the USS Ford’s cost also include vital, one-time developmental funds able to inform the entire fleet of Ford-class ships.

“We’re always concerned about the impacts of budget cuts and budget drills, but we’re working our way through them and we feel pretty good about where Ford is today.”

New technology

Although the Ford’s flight deck was recently completed in Newport News, Va., there is much more work to be done on construction before the carrier can set sea. While many of the dimensions to the Ford-class are similar to the Nimitz-class in terms of size, weapons and overall length, the Navy officials refer to the Ford-class carriers as a “complete redesign of the Nimitz-class aircraft carrier, in both ship design and systems.”

The Ford-class carriers will fit at least 75 aircraft, compared to at least 60 on the Nimitz, according to Navy statistics. This allows for an increase in what the Navy calls the sortie generation rate, or ability to fly missions from the ship. Also, the Ford-class carriers add about four feet to the width of the flight deck, allowing for additional space.

The configuration of the ship itself is engineered so that it is less visible to adversaries, Moran said. He cited the Ford’s new, more-capable nuclear reactor engineered to propel the ship. Ford-class carriers will also use an Electro-magnetic Aircraft Launch System as opposed to a steam catapult.

“In design it has fewer moving parts, less maintenance, and it’s more automated,” Moran said. “You can dial up the amount of force that is used to launch an aircraft off the front end of the ship. You can do that with steam, but steam has got this shot to it. With a steam catapult there is a lot of steam going into the launching of that aircraft, so the aircraft is under a lot of stress. The EMALS system is more of a controlled force. The hope is we will reduce the fatigue and stress on the airplane so they will live longer.”

When it comes to catching or slowing down arriving aircraft, the Ford-class carriers are equipped with advanced arresting gear consisting of energy absorbers, power conditioning equipment and digital controls designed to replace the existing Mk-7 arresting gear, according to Navy officials.

The Ford-class carriers also have an advanced dual-band radar (DBR), a flat panel array system built on a mast on the ship’s island, Moran said. The DBR combines a range of different radar capabilities such as air-search, surface-search and air-traffic control, he said.

“From our perspective on the aircraft carrier it buys you a cleaner island, less big things up there rotating around and there’s about seven systems is what this replaces. Those functions are now being covered by dual-band radar,” Cady said.

Officials claim the new radar, EMALS and other next-generation technologies will allow the Ford-class carriers to reduce the manpower requirements for the ship by as many as 800 crew members compared to the Nimitz-class.

“One of the biggest cost-drivers with all the services is manpower – and it is all the tail that comes with it -- retirement, health care benefits. We’re trying to make things more affordable by trying to reduce the manpower requirements needed to support weapons systems – this is a classic case of that,” said Cady.

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New Navy Deployment secdule

Navy Plan Would Deploy Carriers More Frequently

Apr 26, 2013

The Virginian-Pilot| by Mike Hixenbaugh

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NORFOLK, Va. -- Tens of thousands of sailors in Hampton Roads would deploy more often -- but also, defense officials say, on a more predictable schedule -- under a plan the Navy hopes to launch by the end of next year.

The plan would overhaul deployment cycles of aircraft carrier strike groups, which have been stretched thin during more than a decade of war in the Middle East.

Under current operations, aircraft carrier crews spend months training for a single deployment that's billed to last six to seven months. But global demands often extend those cruises to eight or nine months, said Rear Adm. John Kirby, the Navy's chief of information.

That wouldn't be the case under the Navy's Enhanced Carrier Presence Plan, Kirby said this week in an online video announcing the proposal.

Instead, crews would go through one pre-deployment workup period to prepare for two seven-month deployments, with seven months at home in between cruises.

Today, carrier strike groups deploy once every 32 months. Under the new plan, the ships and their air wings would deploy twice every 36 months.

"You'll be at sea a little bit longer than you are now, but it will be on a much more predictable, stable schedule," Kirby said in the video, emphasizing that the change was still in the planning phases and would require additional funding from Congress.

The change promises a sense of stability for the Navy's fleet of nuclear-powered aircraft carriers after a period of uncertainty, driven by war and budget cuts.

In February, the carrier Dwight D. Eisenhower deployed overseas just two months after returning to Norfolk from a six-month cruise -- part of a reshuffling of forces sparked by mechanical problems on a West Coast-based carrier.

A month earlier, the aircraft carrier Harry S. Truman had its deployment canceled two days before the strike group was to ship out, a consequence of dwindling defense dollars.

Last August, the aircraft carrier Abraham Lincoln arrived in Norfolk after being away for 10 months -- including a grueling 105 days in the Arabian Sea -- on a deployment that was twice extended.

The new deployment cycle would mean more ships at sea at any given time, allowing the service to respond to crises without extending deployments or forcing ships to deploy unexpectedly.

Half of the Navy's 10 aircraft carriers are stationed in Hampton Roads.

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