The Lake Norman Brief · Carolina history, Lake Norman & North Carolina law · from Adkins Law, PLLCOffice 704-274-5677  ·  Text 704-231-5762
LKN LawThe Lake Norman Brief

The Lake Norman Brief · from Adkins Law

History, the lake & the law.

Carolina and World War II history, Lake Norman stories, and practical North Carolina legal guidance.

Photo: Christopher Sheridan, CC BY-SA 4.0

The Wall: Every Name on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial

The Washington Monument reflected in the black granite of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.
The Washington Monument reflected in the black granite of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. Photo: Antonio Zugaldia, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
A Marine traces a name on the Wall on National Vietnam War Veterans Day, 29 March 2025.
A Marine traces a name on the Wall on National Vietnam War Veterans Day, 29 March 2025. Photo: 3d U.S. Infantry Regiment (The Old Guard), public domain.
Troopers of the 1st Battalion, 7th Cavalry, leave a UH-1D at LZ X-Ray, Ia Đrăng, November 1965.
Troopers of the 1st Battalion, 7th Cavalry, leave a UH-1D at LZ X-Ray, Ia Đrăng, November 1965. Photo: U.S. Army, public domain.
Marines move through the streets of Huế near the end of the 26-day battle, February 1968.
Marines move through the streets of Huế near the end of the 26-day battle, February 1968. Photo: USMC Archives, CC BY 2.0.
Marines at Khe Sanh watch an F-4 Phantom make a close air support run, March 1968.
Marines at Khe Sanh watch an F-4 Phantom make a close air support run, March 1968. Photo: Sgt. Robert F. Witowski, U.S. Army, public domain.
A Navy Swift boat patrols the Long Tàu River to keep the channel to Saigon open, December 1966.
A Navy Swift boat patrols the Long Tàu River to keep the channel to Saigon open, December 1966. Photo: PH1 V.H. McColley, U.S. Navy, public domain.
Released prisoners of war cheer as their C-141 lifts off from Hanoi, February 1973.
Released prisoners of war cheer as their C-141 lifts off from Hanoi, February 1973. Photo: U.S. Air Force, public domain.
A full-honors wreath-laying at the Wall for the 50th anniversary of the end of the war, 24 April 2025.
A full-honors wreath-laying at the Wall for the 50th anniversary of the end of the war, 24 April 2025. Photo: 3d U.S. Infantry Regiment (The Old Guard), public domain.

Vietnam Veterans Memorial · 1959 – 1975

The Wall

Every name on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, in the order they were taken from us. Walk the whole Wall below: hover over a name and it turns to gold, and select it to open that service member’s page.

Explore the Wall

The Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C., was dedicated on November 13, 1982. Its two black granite walls carry the names of the Americans who died or remain missing as a result of the war, beginning at the apex with the first losses in 1959, running east to the end of the east wall, resuming at the far end of the west wall, and returning to the apex with the last losses in 1975. As of 2026 the Wall holds 58,281 names.

Every name on our online Wall opens its own page. Each page gives the official service record from the Department of Defense casualty file preserved by the National Archives: rank and branch, unit, hometown, the date and place of loss, and the panel and line where the name is inscribed. A section called “What was happening” sets the loss in its history: how many others were lost that day and that month, the battle or campaign under way in that province, and links to the chapters of our history of the war that cover it. Medal of Honor recipients’ pages carry their official citations. Nothing on these pages is invented; where a fuller story is researched from sources, it is marked as a story.

Share a photo or memory

If you knew one of the people on the Wall, you are invited to share a photograph or a memory. Families keep the rights to their photographs, and nothing is posted until it has been reviewed. Share one here.

Visiting the Memorial

Each name page gives the panel and line. Panel numbers are inscribed at the base of each panel; count lines down from the top. Panels ending in E are on the east wall, W on the west wall. See the National Park Service for visiting information.

The Wall of Faces

The Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund has gathered a photograph for nearly every name on its Wall of Faces. Every name page here links to it.

Read the history

Nine chapters, from French Indochina to the fall of Saigon and North Carolina’s war, with maps, people and unit pages, and questions answered.

← Back to the Vietnam War section