Armistice Day

The final of the photos taken on Monday, this is the Minnesota Vietnam Veterans Memorial in the Capitol approach. The inscription is a quotation from the poem, "The Young Dead Soldiers Do Not Speak", by Archibald MacLeish. The inscription reads, "We were young. We have died. Remember us."Here is the complete poem:

The young dead soldiers do not speak.
Nevertheless, they are heard in the still houses:
who has not heard them?
They have a silence that speaks for them at night
and when the clock counts.
They say: We were young. We have died.
Remember us.
They say: We have done what we could
but until it is finished it is not done.
They say: We have given our lives but until it is finished
no one can know what our lives gave.
They say: Our deaths are not ours: they are yours,
they will mean what you make them.
They say: Whether our lives and our deaths were for
peace and a new hope or for nothing we cannot say,
it is you who must say this.
We leave you our deaths. Give them their meaning.
We were young, they say. We have died; remember us.

The Minnesota memorial follows the pattern established by the national Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington by listing the names of the dead in the order in which they were taken from us. Minnesota's memorial lists the names of the 1,072 Minnesota residents who were casualties of that war.

Here is a closer look at line one, the casualties from 1962.Robert D. Larson, a Captain in the Air Force, home of record Moorhead, 309th Troop Carrier Squadron, 464th Troop Carrier Wing, 13th Air Force, pilot of a fixed wing aircraft lost over Bien Hoa Province, South Vietnam, on February 2, 1962. Captain Larson was 28 years old. His death occurred while I was still obliviously strolling the halls of my small town high school.

Here are a couple more, selected not exactly at random:

Daniel K. Welin, Private First Class in the Army, home of record Bloomington, a member of E Company, 1st Battalion, 501st Infantry, 101st Airborne Division. Wounded on March 24, 1970, the record indicates "burns". He was declared dead on April 4, 1970 at the age of 20. He was the first Minnesotan to die in Vietnam after my arrival there on April 3, 1970.

Anthony J. Mensen, Chief Warrant Officer in the Army, home of record Sauk Centre, a helicopter pilot for the 54th Medical Detachment, 61st Medical Battalion, 67th Medical Group, United States Army Republic of Vietnam Medical Command. CW2 Mensen died in a helicopter crash on October 22, 1971, in Quang Ngai Province, South Vietnam. He was 21. He was the last Minnesotan to die in Vietnam before I left country on October 28, 1971.

Visible here is the final line, the final casualties, the year 1973.Keith A. Christopherson, a Lieutenant junior grade in the Navy, home of record South Saint Paul, assigned to the USS Ranger, a Forrestal class aircraft carrier, VAQ-130 (Electronic Attack Squadron-130), Task Force 77, 7th Fleet. The record says he was pilot of a fixed wing aircraft lost over the Gulf of Tonkin, North Vietnam, on January 21, 1973. Based on his rank, Lieutenant junior grade, a rank for a very newly commissioned officer, I am guessing that Lieutenant Christopherson was the co-pilot. During the time when we were both alive I was 11 days older than Lieutenant Christopherson, he was 26 years old when he died.

Richard D. Wiehr, an Aviation Electronics Technician 2nd Class in the Navy, home of record Mankato, also assigned to the USS Ranger, a Forrestal class aircraft carrier, VAQ-130 (Electronic Attack Squadron-130), Task Force 77, 7th Fleet. AT2 Wiehr was crew on a fixed wing aircraft lost over the Gulf of Tonkin, North Vietnam, on January 21, 1973, quite probably the same aircraft loss that resulted in the death of Lieutenant Christopherson. Aviation Technician Wiehr was 22 years old.

I didn't find statistics indicating average age at death but I did find a table indicating that of the reported 58,193 American deaths, 35,198 were 21 years old or younger at the time of death, 25,493 were 20 years old or younger, 12 were 17 years old. 40,775 reported a marital status of single. 8 were female.

Average is not the same as median but in a number of casualties as large as 58,193 I believe that it is very likely that the average is very close to the median. The median age of all American casualties in Vietnam was 21. I think it is safe to say that the average age of those individuals was 21. The people we ask to die in our wars are, for the most part, barely more than children.