Interesting Veterans Statistics off the Vietnam Memorial Wall
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 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. 12 soldiers on the Wall were 17 years old.
5 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 attended Thomas Edison High School in Philadelphia . I wonder why so many from one school.
8 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 6 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 3 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.
For most Americans who read this they will only see the numbers that the Vietnam War created.To those of us 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.
Please pass this on to those who served during this time, and those who DO Care.
Front row: George W. Bush (future President), Frankie Montagna, Bob Stanley, John Waid, Bill Beuck, and ? Back row: Bob Ittner, Alan Henderson, Jerry Payte, Steve Thomas, Stan Henderson, and ?
First chapter and see if there is an outcry for more….
Written by Bob Ittner
I grew up feeling more comfortable on the baseball diamond than on the basketball court. As others have expressed I have great memories of the Midland baseball scene where I played from age 9 to 17. I went out for high school baseball as a sophomore. Coach Selbo gave me a warm-up pitching jacket which was quite an accomplishment for a sophomore-that team ended up going to State. Someone stole the jacket and Coach Selbo blamed me for being careless so I quickly went to the outhouse. At the same time Coach Todd was telling me how good James “Boots” Reeder was doing in spring basketball. Although I continued to play baseball in the summer I never went out for the high school team again. My senior year, MHS had a new coach who asked me to come out. Over the weekend, I got my glove and spikes together but for some reason I did not to show up and it is a regret. I went out for basketball as an 8th grader at San Jacinto and was one of the last players chosen on the team. I was always one of the taller, skinnier guys and at some point I can’t remember when I was 6’1 ½” and weighed 129. I never saw the court as a player only as a spectator-I did get to watch Dubby Malaise at Odessa Bonham(?) who was great then and great at Texas Tech. In the ninth grade, I didn’t get to play until the last part of the year when I did start a few games. After the season Warren Lynn and myself, Mike Goslin and Melvin Freeman from Cowden were invited by Coach Todd to come to MHS to participate in spring drills. Sam Cox, the SJ coach, had encourage me to start jumping rope which I did and continued through my college career. I started on the B team as a sophomore for the 59-60 season but the real news was one of the best teams MHS ever had on the Varsity: Mike Humphrey and Mike Marsh (Moose and Goose-6’8” ), Dick Campbell, Charlie Dishman (Charlie D.), and Bob Davis with Knox Nunnally coming off the bench. They were undefeated and beating everyone by 20 points or more including Borger who they defeated twice by 25 or 26 points. In Bi-regional, they lost a coin flip and ended up playing Borger at Borger and losing in OT-what a disappointment. Both Marsh and Humphrey were All-State, Charlie D. second team, and Bob Davis honorable mention. Humphrey was all-conference at UT, Marsh and Davis played at SMU, and Charlie at UT/Hardin Simmons.
A funny story about Mike Humphrey who had a mean streak. The Bulldogs were handily beating Permian at their gym ( the first year of Permian) and Humphrey and Gene Ross (who later lettered in baseball at UT) were running side by side when Humphrey nonchalantly elbowed Ross in the chest almost sending him into the stands. Fortunately the referees did not see.
I was lucky to play under Coach ROBERT Todd who was a class person as well as a super basketball coach. He was a great fundamental coach and every Monday was fundamental day. He would open the gym during the summer on Tuesday night and players knew to come for pick up games. You would have college kids home for the summer and high school players wanting to get better. He was prohibited from coaching but it gave us a good opportunity to improve and what fun! It is interesting to see how people at this stage in your life can have a positive impact depending on their encouragement or discouragement-Coach Todd was a wonderful influence on me and his reputation as a coach helped me get a scholarship to UT.
The year 1960-1961 I made the A team and started a couple of games when Knox was still footballing and one game when he was sick. We had one returning starter Charlie D surrounded by Knox, Ross Lynn, Albert Pierce, and Royce Woodard. Ron Peavy was 6th man and started some games late in the year. Charlie D. was a great high school player-All State with an unstoppable jump shot where he gathered his feet like a beaver hitting his tail on the water. Knox was an incredible competitor kind of herky jerky but very quick who later starred at UT for Darrell Royal and played on a National Championship team that beat Navy with Staubach in the Cotton Bowl. The other players filled in nicely. I believe each player scored at least 20 points in a game. Royce played at Tech and I understand is a scratch golfer in Midland. Ron Peavy also played in college at Pasadena Nazarene.
That team won district and beat a team from El Paso to reach Bi-Regional where we faced All State Steve Carter and Amarillo Palo Duro. Carter was a long range shooter who we wore down in the first half. In the second half he regained his touch and begin draining what would now be 3 pointers. Charlie D. had an off game having just broken up with Lynn Wallace and missed a lay-up putting the ball over the rim rather than off the backboard like Coach Todd taught us to do. Nevertheless it was a great season and the community really embraced the team.
The year 1961-1962 dawned with great promise although the squad only returned 2 letterman-me and Warren Lynn and no starters. Coming up from the undefeated B team were 6’8” James (Long Tall Sally-so named after the Little Richard song) , Joe Sanchez, Dwain White, and underclass man Scotty Gilmour. On the B team the year before Coach Spears labelled Dwain White and Ken Hancock the “Gold Dust Twins” because they had dyed their hair peroxide blonde to go with their cavalier attitudes. In the Odessa tournament early in the year we lost in 5 OT’s to the Lubbock Westerners when Jimmy Fullerton hit a shot from the corner at the buzzer when we missed a free throw. We had beaten them earlier in their own gym. We also lost to Abilene in Abilene at the buzzer with a Virgil Pate shot after hammering them at home.
My first memory of Midland is disembarking from the Texas and Pacific railcar on a chilly night in December 1952 after leaving our sunny and green Pasadena California home to be greeted by freezing weather and brown grass. Another memory is my father and me visiting an abandoned Christmas tree lot, gathering up the trees left behind, and placing them in front of our house on 2701 North “L”.
Click above to listen to “Do You Feel Like We Do” by Peter Frampton
Danamite: Tell me what you do to stay in 75-year-old shape, soon to be 76.
Ittner: First, I picked good parents. My father had heart trouble around 50. His normal breakfast was bacon, eggs, toast with butter, whole milk. My parents quickly moved to starting their day with a soy protein drink with non-fat dry milk, banana, and a wide array of vitamins. Other concessions included removing the skin from chicken, cutting the fat off of steaks, giving up butter, etc. My Dad walked to the post office every day about a mile. When he located a downed tree, he asked the person to deliver the tree to the vacant lot behind our house which he chopped for firewood. He played tennis until shortly before he died at 95. My Mom was a regular at the Y for an exercise class where she passed away from a heart attack at 93.
Danamite: I knew you played basketball at MHS. What impact did that have?
Ittner: Once again, good fortune. MHS had a wonderful basketball coach Robert Todd. I did everything I could to be a better player. I lifted weights to try to gain weight. Doc Dodson gave me a boot with weights to strengthen my quads which I used religiously. As others have pointed out Doc was always positive source of encouragement. Warren Lynn and I took a yoga class at the Y. I think Warren still practices. One morning at 6 AM Bill Ingram joined me for a session and I treated him to yogurt and brewer’s yeast afterwards. Bill says he has never had yogurt since.
Danamite: So you were active growing up?
Ittner: Yes, besides basketball I played baseball in the summer starting when I was 9 and played what we now call rec ball through my junior year in high school-my last year I hit 3 out of Hogan Park which was unusual at the time. Steve Thomas, John Waid, Nugent Brasher and I played on a Little League team with George W. Bush. I regretted that I did not go out for the MHS team after my sophomore year but had a clash with the coach when he thought I had not been careful enough with a warm up jacket that was stolen from my locker. Iris Todd, Coach Todd’s wife (Coach Todd passed away from Alzheimer’s about 8 years ago) reminds me that I probably would not have accomplished as much in basketball if I had divided my attention. In retrospect she is probably right.
Danamite: I understand you played basketball for the University of Texas.
Ittner: A wonderful experience that paid for my college education when Midland was in one of its oil slumps. I am still in contact with the three others that were scholarship freshman-all have had very successful lives. I got to play with Midlander Mike Humphrey (MHS ’60) and rub shoulders with other Midlanders on scholarship-Bill Munn, Charles Giesey, Mark and Mike King, Knox Nunnally, Bob Stanley, Dick Kimbrough. Who am I leaving out?
Charlie Dishman (MHS ’61) did not return after his freshman year to my disappointment. Don Patteson and Robert Lambert played on the freshman team when I was a sophomore. Lynn S. and Jay Brim were cheerleaders at UT during this time.
I lived in Moore Hill Hall, the jock dorm, all 4 years a 4-story building with no elevator living at 401 my freshman year. Coach Bradley told us how important it was to get up and have breakfast so I scheduled six 8 AM classes my first couple of years (that means Saturday). I would get up before breakfast and jump rope until the upper classman in 301 came up one morning rubbing the sleep from his eyes “this better not happen again.”
I learned a lot from sports which helped which has helped me in life and in business. UT had success winning the SWC my freshman (Elite Eight in NCAA’s-freshman not eligible) and junior years. As a junior I had the pleasure of watching and playing with Larry Franks (RIP) who was performing at his highest level. It is the only time in my athletic career that I can remember one of my teammates putting it all together (self actualization-the realization or fulfillment of one’s talents and potentialities). Although only a part time starter I was Captain my senior year and had my best varsity performance my final game at Gregory Gym!
Danamite: Take me from there.
Ittner: I played slow pitch softball up until my late 30’s, tennis until a couple of years ago, and racquetball for about 40 years. I really enjoyed RB-great work-out. Larry Prescott (Midlander) and I played at least once a week from the late 70’s until he retired in 2006 and moved to Santa Fe.
Danamite: What are you doing now?
Ittner: I gave up tennis and RB to save my knees. 17 years ago I started riding in the MS 150 which is a 150 mile two day bicycle ride from Houston to College Station to find a cure for those suffering from Multiple Sclerosis. This year’s ride scheduled for May 2 and 3 has been postponed until September 26.
The rest of the time I try to go to the gym (before they were shut down) every weekday morning setting my alarm for 6:00 to ride the stationary bicycle, do light weight work, and/or play wallyball-volleyball in a racquetball court. During the crisis I have been walking our two golden retrievers twice a day trying to get 10,000 steps minimum. I am contemplating taking up yoga again.
Danamite: Anything else?
Ittner: My wife Linda is 63 and has lots of energy. My Father always advised to hang around younger people. Easy to do now because everyone is younger! Last year we went to Sayulita Mexico, took an Alaskan cruise, and had a great trip to Nashville. In February this year we went to Mexico City (wedding) and Oaxaca (visit Nugent). We were going to go to Italy to ski in March and take a Grand Canyon raft trip (postponed until September 2021). Still on the drawing board is a trip to San Diego in September and a wedding in Cabo in November. Who knows?
Danamite: Final thoughts?
Ittner: God willing and the Creek don’t rise I could live a long time. I know it is important to stay active physically and mentally, eat judiciously, and hang around younger people like my wife, our children, grandchildren, John McElligott and Wemasario! And have a glass of wine. “Well, woke up this morning with a wine glass in my hand. Whose wine? What wine? Where the hell did I dine?” Peter Frampton
The Texas MS 150 is a 2-day bicycle ride from Houston to College Station (formerly Austin) to raise money to find a cure for Multiple Sclerosis. This year I signed up for my 17th ride to take place May 2nd and 3rd but it has been postponed because of corona virus.
WHY DID I START RIDING?
I started riding because one of my friends has MS. I had been invited to ride in the MS 150 many years before I rode but our children were always playing sports in the spring and I was always coaching. I hadn’t ridden a bicycle since my Midland days. On the first training ride, one of the riders told me I had my helmet on backwards. My bike had a kickstand and baskets for the pedals. These are obvious signs among cyclists you don’t know what you’re doing. On the ride even though it was touted as an easy ride they were having to wait on me to catch up with the rest of the group. We had dinner that night with friends, and I said what am I going to do? I can’t even keep up on the easy training ride? One of friends said, my brother about your size was killed in a running accident, but he had this bike he got in Italy and maybe it would fit you. They loaned me a really good bike with clip-in peddles which I used for 7 years before my wife got me a new bike for Christmas.
Having a bike where you clip in is good because it increases your efficiency on the upstroke. The problem occurs when you stop and fail to unclip, tumping over like Arnie Johnson in Laugh-in.
So I had a better bike I needed to get in better shape. I joined a law firm team where the captain was a friend. One of the team members sent out an e-mail that she was going to Chappell Hill near Brenham to ride the next day (Saturday), and is anyone interested? I was the only one who responded and drove over to her house at 5:30 in the morning to drive an hour and half to ride 40 miles in the hills. We did that 5 or 6 times that first season. She was of course a much better rider and would ride ahead and then come back so she probably rode 5 or 10 more miles than I did. She was always encouraging: “You had a strong ride today!” It was almost spring and then spring with the world awakening-wild flowers, blooming trees, colts cavorting, being out in the country. I did other rides with a good friend and finally felt like I was ready. And when the ride came, I did fine.
This year our training was cut short because the ride was postponed. For the first time this year’s ride was going to finish in College Station so I was going to hit up all my Aggie friends (one-just kidding I have many Aggie friends}. On the ride there are rest stops about every 15 miles and you can eat as much as you like, because you’re going to burn it off. Got to stay hydrated. My friends with MS are very appreciative because progress is being made to make their lives better. I know if I had MS I would not have the same positive attitudes they display. The Texas ride has been the biggest fundraiser in the nation for the National MS Society. I have made a lot of good friends, kept in better shape, had some super camaraderie, and raised over $325,000 to find a cure.
Many of my Midland friends have contributed – Don Patteson, Kathie Virginia Ross, Pete Creasey, Larry Prescott, James Shaddix (father died of MS), Peggy Brown Ingram, Bill Gipson, Russell Smith, Suzanne Ellis Gonzales, Eve Kelley Hobbs, Susie Moore Anderson, Warren Lynn, Becky Blackman Loper (husband died of MS), Ferrell Davis, Judith Stone Hatten, and Stella Woehst. Forgive me if I have left someone out.
We moved to Midland in December 1952. My elementary school in Pasadena, California was teaching printing and my new classmates in the pretty Mrs. Jones’ third grade class at Sam Houston were writing. I never really developed elite handwriting. We played keep away at recess and I sustained many bloody noses and some broken teeth.
PARENTS-my mother and father came from Oklahoma, both graduated from OU-my mother taught English there and one of her students was my father who graduated Tau Beta Pi in mechanical engineering. He could not get a job right away as he graduated during the Depression. Coming through the Depression definitely colored their thinking and influenced me also. My mom was a sweetie and my father was always thinking about how to make more money since he had come through the Depression. Both of my parents read to me-I remember The Yearling, Tom Sawyer, and Huck Finn listening by the fire in our fireplace. My father coached my Little League team which included George W. Bush. My mom died working out at the Y when she was 93, having driven herself in her 1964 red stick shift Mustang. My father passed away in a car wreck at 95. I have two older sisters who think I got a better deal than they experienced and I probably did.
MIDLAND DAYS-Midland provided great education, some of my high school teachers were better than college. Memories include going to Lake City, Colorado to fly fish in the summer and staying overnight in Santa Fe. My father loved to go to Lake Buchanan leaving after work on Friday-we had this WWII surplus inflatable raft. After a “good” sandstorm we would look for arrowheads in the Sandhills. We lived across the street from Mike Collins who became a renowned archeologist. We attended Trinity Episcopal where I was an acolyte until I graduated from high school. Cutting yards with John Waid in the summer provided spending money. Lot of my memories are tied up in sports as I played baseball every summer from 9 until 17 and got serious about basketball starting midway in the 9th grade. A lot of good life lessons were learned through sports-hard work, teamwork, discipline, enduring ups and downs and finally in life the game is not over until you die or are physically incapacitated.
SPORTS-as a 10-year-old in Little League I pitched 2/3’s of an inning and gave up 11 runs before I got the hook. Things got better as a 11-year-old as I hit a game winning HR off Marshall King in an all-star game and played on the City Championship all-star team as a 12-year-old with John Nobles, Nugent Brasher, Lee Helis, Wally Tingley among others. This became a lifetime love of sports including my progression as a basketball player which culminated in a full ride to the University of Texas being named Captain my senior year.
UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS-Our family is very connected to UT with 3 of our 4 children being graduates. For me, many fond memories-BBA/MBA, freshman honor society, basketball letterman and Captain, Delta Tau Delta-social fraternity, Texas Cowboys, namedOutstanding Business Student. We are season ticket holder in football and basketball. We established a business school scholarship. I (42) roomed with my teammate Paul Olivier (12) for 3 years and never had a cross word. Knowing that a relationship like this was possible was important in my life.
MILITARY-Upon getting my MBA I was accepted to Naval Officer Candidate School in Newport, RI. A person can travel a day across Texas, but Newport is within a few hours or less from Boston, Baltimore, Philadelphia, NYC, Washington, D.C. 18 weeks of intense training with an outstanding group of guys from all over the country. I still have 3 very good friends from that time 51 years ago. I had 3 years of active duty and made one WestPac Cruise (Viet Nam) on a Destroyer. The military experience gave me a better appreciation of the good fortune of being a US citizen. I wished everyone had government service of some kind.
BUSINESS CAREER-48 years and counting. I am still cranking but the crank turns slower. About a year ago I began a 4-day workweek which I have enjoyed. While getting my MBA, I worked at Capital National in Austin in the credit department courtesy of Don Patteson. I joined Texas Commerce Bank’s management training program (Houston) out of the military where Tim Throckmorton was working. Steve Thomas had been there but left before I arrived. I was impatient for success having spent time getting an MBA and being in the military so I had several jobs before I decided that my best chance for success was staying some place and hammering it out thus: River Oaks acquired by Compass (16 years), left to start Bank of West U/sold to Bank of Oklahoma (12 years), and Texas Gulf Bank (9 years and counting). While at Compass I had the pleasure of working with a talented young man Kim McElligott. Twenty some years later I find that he is John’s son!
“THE RECORD SHOWS I TOOK THE BLOWS AND DID IT MY WAY”…hold on Bro maybe there is a better way!
The Eighties-oh my! They started out peacefully enough but by the time I joined River Oaks Bank in 1983 clouds were on the horizon. Each year the economy got worse. Married in 1981 to the wonderful Linda who left her banking job when we had Caroline (1984), Braxton (1986), and Catherine (1988), October 1987 brought the stock market crash losing 22% in one day. My stockbroker who was using puts and calls came by to tell me that my account which was valued at $90,000 (a huge number in those days) owed $20,000. At same time my father was diagnosed with prostate cancer and my boss told me “he didn’t think I was going to make it.” How did I get in this position? -no reserves, 3 young children, wife not working outside the home, and possibly going to lose my job. Long story short-took a hard look, made some changes, and vowed never to be in that position again. Compass acquired River Oaks in 1991, my boss lost his job and I survived having gone back to school (so to speak).
ME AND THE MISSUS-u see this cat Shaft is a bad mother (Shut your mouth)
LINDA-the person that makes it all happen-sweet, positive, wakes up happy, great wife, great mother, flexible, wonderful traveler. I am a lucky guy.
Christopher Pinkston, Caroline I. Pinkston, Linda, Braxton/Connie I, Roberto, Nicki I. Cashotola, Catherine
I HAVE BEEN IN A Leadership position in many organizations outside of business-Archway Academy, the largest recovery high school in the US (11 years); Diverse Works, an alternative arts space; Upper Kirby District, a redevelopment of Kirby Drive; Stella Link Redevelopment, a redevelopment of a blighted area around two schools; Southampton Civic Association; Palmer Episcopal-vestry and Endowment; West U. Rotary; West U. Softball Association. I have ridden in the MS 150 for 16 years a two-day bicycle ride from Houston to College Station raising $305,000 and counting to find a cure for Multiple Sclerosis.
