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Contact: Mike Litterst (NPS), 202-306-4166 Contact: Heidi Zimmerman (VVMF), 202-330-0090 X 118
On Monday, May 30 at 1 p.m., the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund (VVMF) and the National Park Service (NPS) will host the annual Memorial Day Observance at The Wall, during which changes to The Wall will be commemorated and all members of America's armed forces who have made the ultimate sacrifice will be honored. The event is free and open to the public. The emcee for the ceremony will be Major General Mike Nardotti, USA (Ret.), a decorated combat veteran, who served more than 28 years on active duty as a soldier and a lawyer. Nardotti currently serves on the Board of Directors for VVMF.
The 2016 Memorial Day Observance at The Wall is generously sponsored by the Xerox Foundation, J.P. Morgan Chase &Company, and TriWest Healthcare Alliance.
Each spring, VVMF works with the Department of Defense to make sure The Wall is accurate. Names are added for those service members who have met the Department of Defense criteria for addition to The Wall, having sustained wounds in Vietnam from which they eventually perished. Those service members who in the last year were returned or accounted for will have their statuses changed from MIA to KIA.
The names of eight American service members will be engraved on the black granite walls of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial over the next week, and the status designations will be changed for nine others whose names are already on The Wall. These changes will bring the total number of names on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial to 58,315 men and women who were killed or who remain missing in action.
Weather permitting, work to inscribe the names and change designations will be complete this week. When names are added, the highly technical procedure requires meticulous work to match the stroke and depth of the surrounding names to within 1/1,000 of an inch. The physical work of adding the names and changing designations will be performed by James Lee of the Colorado-based company, Engrave Write.
The Department of Defense sets the criteria for and makes decisions about whose names are eligible for inscription on The Wall. VVMF pays for the name additions and status changes, and works with the National Park Service to ensure long-term preservation and maintenance of The Wall.
These eight service members will join 58,307 others who lost their lives or remain missing in action as a result of combat in Vietnam:
Jeffrey R. Barber
LCPL, U.S. Marine Corps
Denver, Co.
Oct. 9, 1950 – Sept. 6, 2011
Michael G. Frey
PFC, U.S. Army
Florissant, Mo.
Oct. 21, 1949 – Sept. 15, 2014
Chester A. Lederhouse, Jr.
LCPL, U.S. Marine Corps
Ransomville, NY
Jan. 19, 1947 – July 13, 1966
James S. McGough
SP4, U.S. Army
Fort Dodge, Iowa
Feb. 23, 1951 – Jan 3, 2014
Leonard E. Outlaw, Sr.
ENC, U.S. Coast Guard
Grandy, N.C.
Dec 19, 1936 – March 23, 1972
Lee A. Rawn
PFC, U.S. Marine Corps
Lake Worth, Fla.
May 4, 1946 – April 24, 1967
Jimmy L. Smith
SP5, U.S. Army
Wasco, Ill.
Sept. 30, 1948 – May 24, 2014
John D. Stenhouse
LCPL, U.S. Marine Corps
Spokane, Wash.
April 13, 1949 – August 15, 2012
Beside each name on The Wall is a symbol designating status. The diamond symbol denotes confirmed death. The cross represents missing in action. When a service member's remains are returned or accounted for, the diamond is superimposed over the cross.
These nine service members will have their status changed from MIA to KIA:
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Last updated: May 5, 2016