Hicksville Vietnam War Era Memorial

Thanks largely to an incredible effort on the part of one of our Alumni working with the Archivist at the Hicksville Public Library, over 200 new names were added in October, for a new total of 801!!  With the continuation of this effort and the continuing contributions of our entire Alumni, we expect to add many more new names in November as well.

Jay Tranchina of the Project Team is coordinating our fundraising efforts in Hicksville.  We will now likely announce our Fundraising plans after the first of the year.  Memorial design and site selection discussions are still continuing.

Memorial Qualifications:  A person must have been on active duty in one of our Armed Forces during the Vietnam Era.  The person did not necessarily have to serve in Vietnam, because by being in service at that time he or she faced the possibility of being sent to Vietnam and was an integral part of strengthening our Armed Forces during a time of war. 

Overall qualifications include:

• must have been a resident of Hicksville at some time before entering our Armed Forces
• must have attended a public, private or parochial high school while living in Hicksville (attendance at HHS not required)
• must have served on active duty anywhere in the world during America 's Vietnam Era (1961-1973 per the www.vietnamwar.com history timeline)
• Both men and women qualify (We're stating this as we still have very few women on the current list)

While we have accumulated 801 names, we know there are still many more who served and meet these qualifications, but have yet to be identified.  Rough estimates indicate we should be able to collect between 2 and 3 thousand names.  We have access to official records in Washington , D.C. but have found that many people left Hicksville before entering the service and show a different town or city as their home at the time of entry.  So, we need to continue this grass roots effort and will also continue to use official records as a means of confirmation of all personnel on the list. 

Our Project Team consists of the following members:

·        Ken Strafer, Founder (HHS '62)

·        Joe Carfora, Master List (HHS '62)

·        Carl Probst, Input Data, Class of '59 & Others (HHS '59)

·        Tony Plonski, Input Data, Class of '64 & Others (HHS '64)

·        Tommy Sullivan, Press Release Editing (HHS '63)

·        Walter Schmidt, Hicksville Local Coordinator & Town of Oyster Bay Veterans Services Officer (HHS '65)

·        Joe Ingino, Veterans Advocate, Hicksville & Long Island (HHS '67)

·        Jay Tranchina, Input Data, Class of '64 & Others, plus local press contact (HHS 1964)

·        Bill Walden, Commander of Hicksville VFW Post (HHS '65)                                                   

Here's what we continue to need from each person reading this to do:

Please click on the following link and review the current list of names: Click here.

If you know of someone who is not listed, or if you have information to clarify/correct data shown in red and/or with a question mark, please send what you have to Joe Carfora at jcarfora1@nc.rr.com.  Please use the information contained on the current list as a guide for the data we need.

Please also note that with the tremendous growth of our list in the past few months it is now more important than ever for interested Alumni to review the list of classmates names with the hope of supplying us with the information we are still missing next to the names of many individuals.

Thank you!

The Vietnam War Era Memorial Project Team

Footnote extracted from www.vietnamwar.com:  During 15 years of military involvement, over 2 million Americans served in Vietnam with 500,000 seeing actual combat. 47,244 were killed in action, including 8000 airmen. There were 10,446 non-combat deaths. 153,329 were seriously wounded, including 10,000 amputees. Over 2400 American POWs/MIAs were unaccounted for as of 1973.

From left) LTC John Chadbourne, PFC Heidi Gregory, SPC Ernesto Garcia and CSM Harry Jeffries pose in front of the newly-painted sign in front of the 703rd Brigade Support Battalion headquarters at Forward Operating Base Kalsu, Iraq.

Picture courtesy of SGT James Hunter

Airman 1st Class Christopher Hunter, one of the 332nd Expeditionary Civil Engineer Squadron pavement and heavy equipment flight's Dirt Boyz, spreads concrete with a modified rake on the flightline. Spreading out the concrete helps to prevent waste and over flow onto the existing pad. Airman Hunter is deployed from Spangdahlem Air Force Base, Germany .
Picture courtesy of Senior Airman Julianne Showalter

CPL Kristina Andersen, a military police Soldier with the 401st Military Police Company, 716th Military Police Battalion, 18th Military Police Brigade, Multi-National Division-Baghdad, and native of Orlando, Fla., helps an Iraqi policeman disassemble an SA-58 rifle during Day 2 of the two week on the job training at the Jamia IP Station. The training consisted of weapons familiarization, how to clear the SA-58, how to assemble and disassemble the SA-58 and how to do a functions check on the weapon.

Picture courtesy of SGT Daniel Blottenberger

Joint force service members who volunteered their time to help with the United Service Organizations grand opening event pose in front of the first USO in Iraq . The grand opening event was attended by Army Gen. David Petraeus, commanding general of Multi-National Force-Iraq, as well as the USO Board of Governors.

Picture courtesy of Senior Airman Julianne Showalter

Pfc. Kevin Smith of Los Angeles , with 2nd Platoon, Company C, 2nd Battalion, 502nd Infantry Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault), talks with Iraqi children at their home in Iskandariyah , Iraq .
Picture courtesy of SGT James Hunter

SPC Mark Parrish, left, an unmanned aerial systems mechanic, and SSG Terry Rust, maintenance noncommissioned officer in charge, both with the 4th Infantry Division's UAS Platoon, Company A, 3rd Special Troops Battalion, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, attached to Company G, Task Force 12, prepare an RQ7B Shadow 200 to be launched at the launch and recovery site at Camp Taji, Iraq. (
Picture courtesy of PFC April Campbell

SSG Roberson, from C Company, 492nd Civil Affairs Battalion, surveys the Al-Ghazaly Electrical Service Station which provides power to the 143 residents of Muhallah , Iraq , in east Baghdad , Iraq , during an area patrol. Routine patrols and checkups on utility stations such as this help provide consistently reliable services to Iraqis.
Picture courtesy of SPC Nicholas Hernandez