I just received this today from a fellow squadron member and I thought you might find interesting.

S/F Gary Alls
HMM-263 '66-'67

Please take a few moments as you reflect on the meaning of Memorial Day to read this document in its entirety and offer a prayer of thanksgiving for their sacrifices on our behalf, and for their families who still grieve their losses.

Say a prayer for those who are no longer with us.

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.
Beginning at the apex on panel 1E and going out to the end
of the East wall, appearing to recede into the
earth (numbered 70E - May 25, 1968), then resuming at the
end of the West wall, as the wall emerges
from the earth (numbered 70W - continuing May 25, 1968) and
ending with a date in 1975. Thus the war's beginning and end meet. The war is complete, coming full circle, yet broken by the earth that
bounds the angle's open side and contained within the earth itself.

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.

The largest age group, 8,283 were just 19 years old.

3,103 were 18 years old.

12 soldiers on the Wall were 17 years old.

Five soldiers on the Wall were 16 years old.

One soldier, PFC Dan 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.

31 sets of brothers are on the Wall. Thirty one sets of parents lost two of their sons.

54 soldiers on the Wall attended Thomas Edison High School
in Philadelphia.

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 her
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. And 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. And 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, Nov. 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 Dec. 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. That's 2,415 dead
in a single month!

"We sleep safely in our beds because rough men stand ready
in the night to visit violence on those who would harm us."
George Orwell