Adding a Name to the Vietnam Memorial "Wall"
Responsibility for initiating the actions necessary to add a name to the memorial rests with the individual Military Services (i.e., Army, Navy, Marine Corps, and Air Force).
For clarification, please let us explain how the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund obtained the list of names which are included on the memorial and the criteria under which the list was developed.
Following the Vietnam War, the individual Military Services each compiled a list of Vietnam War casualties according to criteria set in an Executive Order and a Department of Defense (DoD) Instruction. Executive Order No. 11216, signed by President Johnson on April 24, 1965, designated Vietnam and adjacent coastal waters, within specified geographical coordinates, as a combat zone. As hostilities spread, the combat zone was expanded to include additional areas, such as Laos and Cambodia, in or over which U.S. forces operated.
Department of Defense Instruction 7730.63, "Reports on Active Duty Military Personnel Casualties, in Official Combat Areas and in Noncombat Areas" provided that the casualties to be reported as battle deaths were all those occurring within the designated combat areas and those deaths occurring anywhere as the direct result or aftermath of an initial injury occurring in a combat zone.
In September 1985, DoD expanded the definition of "combat casualty," for the purpose of the Memorial, to include "any deaths which occurred as a result of aircraft accidents enroute to or returning from a direct combat mission to bomb, strafe, or perform surveillance of targets within the defined combat area."
Public Law 96-297, signed on July 1, 1980, authorized the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund to establish, on two acres of Federal parkland, a memorial "in honor and recognition of the men and women of the Armed Forces of the United States who served in the Vietnam War." The Fund members testified before Congress that, as a special tribute, the names of those listed as Vietnam battle deaths by the Armed Forces would be inscribed on the memorial. On November 11, 1984, the Vietnam Veterans Memorial was turned over to the National Park Service to operate.
Any names omitted by error can be added to the wall. In recognition that names might have been omitted for a number of reasons, DoD set up a mechanism to review individual cases and determine whether a name should be added to the official roster of casualties, and by extension, to the memorial.
In order to have a name considered for inclusion on the memorial, the requesting party should start by sending a written request to the appropriate Service casualty office. This letter should include the full name, date of birth, social security or serial number, and the date of service in the military. If the service member's Service and the reviewing body of the Defense Department's Washington Headquarters Service make a favorable determination in this matter, the Department of the Interior will have the name inscribed on the memorial.
Service casualty office information is listed below:
Department of the Army
Casualty and Mortuary Affairs Operations Center
1600 Spearhead Division Avenue
Fort Knox, KY 40121
Telephone: (800) 626-3317
Army Family Assistant Hotline (800) 833-6622
Army Casualty Homepage is reached at: https://www.hrc.army.mil/site/Active/tagd/CMAOC/cmaoc.htm.
Navy Casualty Assistance Division
OPNAV N135C
5720 Integrity Drive
Millington, TN 38055-3202
Telephone: (800) 368-3202
Navy Casualty Assistance Division home page is: http://www.npc.navy.mil/CommandSupport/CasualtyAssistance.
Headquarters, Air Force Personnel Center
Air Force Casualty Services
Attn: AFPC/DPWCS
550 C Street, West
Suite #14
Randolph AFB, TX 78150-4716
Telephone: (800) 433-0048 or (210) 565-5000
Air Force Casualty Service Branch information can be found at: http://www.afpc.randolph.af.mil/library/casualty.asp_
U.S. Marine Corps
HQ Marine Corps Casualty Section
3280 Russell Road
Quantico, VA 22134
Telephone: (703) 784-9512 or (800) 847-1597
Marine Corps Casualty Assistance Division has web information at: https://www.manpower.usmc.mil/portal/page/portal/M_RA_HOME/MR/PERSONNEL/Casualty
