Hicksville Vietnam War Era Memorial

2011 started very well, with the addition of 117 new names in January!  The current total is now 1,139.  More names continue to come in from the work at the Library and the continuing contributions of our entire Alumni.

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 1,139 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 we are still missing, 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.

With the tremendous growth our list has seen over the past number of 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.  The missing information is marked in red with question marks on the spreadsheet to make it simpler for you to see what's needed.

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.

REAL NEWS...

Lindsay Lohan, 24, and Paris Hilton got their names and faces all over the news because they went to jail for a few short weeks or days for acting out, negative behavior, resisting arrest, cocaine possession, being drunk and disorderly, not to mention their insolent attitude.

 What do you know about these men?

Justin Allen, 23
Brett Linley, 29
Matthew Weikert, 29
Justus Bartett, 27
Dave Santos , 21
Chase Stanley, 21
Jesse Reed, 26
Matthew Johnson, 21
Zachary Fisher, 24
Brandon King, 23
Christopher Goeke, 23
Sheldon Tate, 27

Do you recognize any of their names? No? None of them starred in a movie or made a record album, hit a homerun or scored a 3-point conversion or did a celebration in the end zone after scoring a touchdown. None of them brags about "showcasing their talents for their fans" while being paid millions and millions of dollars.

Did that help? No? Well then I should tell you that they are all Marines who gave their lives for YOU. They died for honor and country. They are all heroes of the highest magnitude. How much did you read about them?

Honor THEM by forwarding this. 
I just did!