Hicksville Vietnam War Era Memorial

Five new names were added in July for a new total of 1,788.  You can continue to help this effort by scanning the List of Names.  Please use your class year or years you may be familiar with as a reference, to see if you have a new name or some missing data to email to us.  Class years, where known, are specifically shown to make this effort easier for our readers.

The saturation point of the name gathering stage of this effort is complete.  We continue to concentrate now on finding the missing data, noted with red question marks on our list of names.  However, it's still important to leave no one behind whose name belongs on our list, so please continue to review the List of Names by clicking on the link noted near the end of this update. The data gathering phase of this project must be complete before we can send the list to the bronze plaque engraver.

The letter to all local Hicksville Veterans Group Commanders was finalized in July, but time did not permit sending it to them during the month.  This is now planned for August and will ask them to review the current List of Names and circulate it to their members to insure we have not left anyone off our List of Names who should be included.  This should also help in filling in the remaining missing data. 

Bill Walden continues to work with the Hicksville School Board.  Approval of Memorial construction at one of the potential school sites still looks promising.  An alternative is to pursue JFK Park, located at the intersection of Broadway and Jerusalem Avenue as another excellent location.

Ken Strafer reports that a draft mock up of the Memorial centerpiece is being prepared and will be sent to him by late August with clay models of the male and female service member likenesses for approval.  

Plans for funding the entire project are still being developed and we hope to announce those soon. 

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 (February,1961 through April,1975)
  • Both men and women qualify (We're stating this since, while continuing to add a number of women, we still have relatively few on the current list overall)

Our Project Team consists of the following HHS Alumni and Vietnam War Era Veterans:

·         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, 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, Cmdr of Hicksville VFW Post, Site Selection/Approval & Fundraising Leader (HHS '65)                                                   

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

Please click on the following link to 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. 

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.

 

To access a huge list of veteran related websites that offer assistance, visit http://buffalobobcasale.com