Hicksville Vietnam War Era Memorial

Fund Raising:  Tax exempt status for the Memorial Project was received in mid-October and our first appeal to the subscribers of HixNews for contributions was made in the November 1, 2014 issue.  Since that time, we have received just under $3,400 in donations from just 18 contributors, far short of our overall goal of $25,000.  3 generous contributors alone have accounted for donations just under $2,300 or 70% of the total collected thus far.

NO DONATIONS HAVE BEEN RECEIVED SINCE JUST BEFORE THE HOLIDAYS AND THROUGHOUT THE MONTH OF JANUARY.

Please remember that your contributions to this worthy cause are tax deductible.  We hope that with the Holidays behind us, donations will once again pick up and will be made by a much broader cross section of HixNews readers, plus past and present Hicksville residents in general. 

The Memorial Team will very much appreciate your generosity.  Please make your checks out to:

Hicksville Vietnam Era Memorial Project

Checks should be mailed to:

Hicksville Vietnam Era Memorial Project
c/o William Walden
 245 West 9th Street
 Deer Park , NY 11729  

Since the end of November, 3 new names were added to the Confirmed List of Names, which now stands at 1,893.  Some progress was also made on filling in missing data for the Confirmed List, but no progress has been made on the Unconfirmed List of names.  We continue to need the help of all our readers here!! 

As a HixNews reader, please help us by reviewing both lists when you select the "click here" options near the bottom of this update.  To save you time, just look for names from your class year and other years you may be familiar with, as a reference and see if you have a new name or some missing data on existing names to email to us.  Class years, where known, are specifically shown and missing data is marked in red, to make it easy for readers to see what's needed.

The Unconfirmed List was created to specifically insure we don't leave anyone behind from earlier class years (the 1940's and 50's) who served during the Vietnam War Era and deserve recognition.  Please see if you can help us establish if these folks served during the Vietnam Era (Vietnam Era dates are shown in the "Memorial Qualifications" section below).

Memorial Qualifications:  A person must have been on active duty in one of our Armed Forces, served in the Active Reserves or served in the National Guard during the Vietnam War Era.  Armed Forces personnel did not necessarily have to serve in Vietnam , because by being in service at that time they faced the possibility of being sent to Vietnam and were 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) or on Active Reserve or National Guard Duty in the USA during the same period.
  • Both men and women qualify (We're stating this since, while a number of women have been added, 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, Project Coordinator & 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 '64)

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

·        Terry Wallace, Input Data, Class of '66 & Others, has fundraising experience (HHS '66)                                                    

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

Please click on the following link to review the Confirmed List of Names:  Click here

Please click on the following link to review the UNCONFIRMED List of Names:  Click here

If you know of someone who is not listed, or if you have information we are still missing, please email what you have to Joe Carfora at jcar4a@aol.com.    Please use the information contained on the current list as a guide for the data needed to complete a name's listing.

Thank you!

The Vietnam War Era Memorial Project Team

Footnote extracted from www.vietnamwar.com :  During nearly 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.