Tuesday, May 28, 2013

The Day After Memorial Day Betty Jo Bouvier Took Me On A Trip To The Virtual Wall Vietnam Veterans Memorial

This morning, the day after Memorial Day, Betty Jo Bouvier remembered to email me a memorable link to a website that is The Virtual Wall Vietnam Veterans Memorial.

You click on a state, this brings up a list of the towns in the state which had at least one Vietnam War Casualty.

You then click on the Veteran's name to find a surprising amount of info is provided.

I knew of only one Vietnam War Casualty.

Dennis Linnell.

Dennis graduated from Burlington-Edison High School, but his Home of Record is listed as Mount Vernon. I first looked at the Burlington list, expecting to find Dennis Linnell, there was only one name listed and it was not he.

At the top of the Persons from Washington page it says "The name you seek may not be under the city you expect." Which is why I looked in Mount Vernon and found Dennis.

When you click on the PFC DENNIS RICHARD LINNELL link below is what you see...


Clicking on full profile brings up....


From the above we learn that Dennis Linnell began his tour of duty in Vietnam on August, 17, 1970 and was killed less than 3 months later, on November 11, 1970.  Dennis was only 20 years old.

Clicking on the link in the sentence "DENNIS R LINNELL is on the Wall at Panel W6, Line 52", brings up a photo of the Vietnam War Memorial Wall, with Dennis R Linnell highlighted to facilitate finding the name...


Included is a rubbing from the Vietnam Memorial Wall of Dennis R Linnell...


Rubbing? Is this done by placing a sheet of paper over the name and then running a pencil back and forth?

I believe there are over 50,000 names memorialized on the Vietnam War Memorial Wall. An amazing amount of effort has gone into making this Virtual Wall Vietnam Veterans Memorial.

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