Database Information

This explains a bit about the casualty file (the CACCF) itself and the use of these names on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. You should bear in mind that while the casualty database and the Wall are very closely related, they are not the same thing.

The Casualty Database [CACCF]

The full name of the government database of casualties is the Combat Area Casualties Current File (Southeast Asia). It is held by the National Archives and updated once a year (usually in November) by the individual service branches. Our links page has a link to the Archives description of the CACCF HERE.

Briefly, the database contains the names of all military casualties (no civilians are included) who died in the geographic area defined by the Department of Defense during a certain period of time. In recent years, it has also included individuals who died after the war if their deaths are considered sufficiently service-connected.

OUR VERSION OF THE CACCF

We are currently using the November 1993 version of the CACCF. We expect to update our version in the near future. FOR PURPOSES OF THIS SITE, WE HAVE ADDED THE FOLLOWING INFORMATION THAT IS NOT IN THE CACCF ITSELF:

Position on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. This information is not part of the CACCF.

Army (only) major unit information from the so-called TAGCEN file.

We have also translated some of the codes used into more easily-readable format (numeric state codes into US Postal Service codes, for example) and divided the name fields into First, Middle, Last, and Suffix (the original CACCF has the entire name in one field). We have also reformatted some of the comment field data to be more readily legible.

We want to emphasize that we have not changed any of the data in the casualty file, we have simple added some - from other official sources - and made some of it more easy to read. We have several changes in mind for our coming upgrade of the database, but these changes involve ONLY the formatting or addition of official information.

NOTE that we have nothing to do with who does or does not get listed in the CACCF, nor do we have any control over changes or error correction. We merely make an enhanced version of the list available to the public.

ERRORS IN THE DATABASE

The database is known to contain errors. We assume that many of these will be corrected when we obtain the latest (November 99) version of the database. Though these errors can be upsetting if they involve someone close to you, they are more-or-less inevitable in a large database such as this. See our ERRORS PAGE.

SOME ISSUES WITH CASUALTY DATES

The CACCF is formatted so that the "Date of Casualty" column for those whose remains have not been recovered does not reflect the date on which the person went missing, but the date on which they were administratively declared dead. These dates can be well after the war was over in some cases. This does not reflect any opinion about what happened to that person or when, it is simply the way the DoD has arranged this particular file. It does cause some confusion, though.

If the Date of Casualty seems unusually late, check the TourDate field, which was often used for the date on which the individual went missing. "Real" casualty dates were often put there, but not consistently, according to the official CACCF documentation.

Several individuals have gotten rather upset with us because of this apparent discrepancy. Once we redo the database to use the November '99 version, we may make some change to take this into account. For now, though, it's just the way the DoD keeps the dates.

The Defense POW/MIA Office (the DPMO) keeps current information on who is and is not accounted for, and the dates on which casualties went missing, were returned, and were identified. See the DPMO link on our Links Page.

The Database and The Wall

Few people know about the CACCF, many know about the Vietnam Veterans' Memorial, also called The Wall. The two have different purposes, and they are not always in synch with each other, for several reasons. Several living veterans who were initially misclassified as deceased have been removed from the casualty database (for obvious reasons); so far as we know, no one has ever been removed from the Wall.

WOMEN ON THE WALL

While most of the military casualties of the war wer men, it seems fitting to mention that there are eight women on the Memorial, all nurses. They are:

      CPT Eleanor Grace ALEXANDER . . . . . . . 31E 008
      2LT Pamela Dorothy DONOVAN. . . . . . . . 53W 043
      2LT Carol Ann DRAZBA. . . . . . . . . . . 05E 046
      LTC Annie Ruth GRAHAM . . . . . . . . . . 48W 012
      2LT Elizabeth Ann JONES . . . . . . . . . 05E 047
      CPT Mary Therese KLINKER. . . . . . . . . 01W 122
      1LT Sharon Ann LANE . . . . . . . . . . . 23W 112
      1LT Hedwig Diane ORLOWSKI . . . . . . . . 31E 015

You can find more details on the Women of the Wall HERE.

ERRORS AND DISCREPANCIES ON THE MEMORIAL

According to an article from the Washington Post, there are potentially 38 names on the Memorial who may not have died in Vietnam. According to the official in charge of the original list used to inscribe the names, they were doubtful cases which could not be resolved in time, and he decided to list them rather than risk leaving someone off.

The New York Times has published the following 14 names of living veterans that are inscribed on the Memorial:

            PFC Robert Lee BEDKER . . . . . . . . . . 10E 069
      SP5 Clark T BOOTZ . . . . . . . . . . . . 07W 112
      SGT Carl COX. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173 034
      PFC Willard D CRAIG . . . . . . . . . . . 12E 087
      SP4 J R GILREATH. . . . . . . . . . . . . 11W 073
      SP4 Andrew J HILDEN . . . . . . . . . . . 14E 108
      PFC Dennis C HUCKABAY . . . . . . . . . . 19W 101
      PFC Darrall E LAUSCH. . . . . . . . . . . 12E 089
      SGT Christopher D MIRACLIA. . . . . . . . 07W 036
      SGT Rockney D MONROE. . . . . . . . . . . 18E 006
      SP4 Alexander Manzanares MORALES. . . . . 19W 103
      SP4 Frankie NORTHERN. . . . . . . . . . . 07W 047
      SSG Daniel P OUELLETTE. . . . . . . . . . 11W 017
      SGT Eugene J TONI . . . . . . . . . . . . 07W 121

Time magazine published a photo of SGT Toni pointing to his own name on the Wall.

The following names are also on the Memorial (Tom has personally confirmed this), but are not in the CACCF. We are not certain if they should be included among living veterans or are some other sort of error (CPL Crilly is actualy CPL Joseph A Grilly, so these may be spelling errors).

      LCPL Joseph A CARDINICI. . . . . . . . . . 07W 007
      CPL David A CRILLY. . . . . . . . . . . . 23W 098
      PFC Marian J DOMINIAK, Jr . . . . . . . . 32E 043
      SP5 James Gray GRINER . . . . . . . . . . 22W 053
      PFC Gailen Cheek GROSSLIN. . . . . . . . 27E 027
      SGT Paul Allen PROEHL . . . . . . . . . . 66E 001
      SP4 Douglas Cecil RISTINE . . . . . . . . 47E 054

SFC Mateo Sabog, on the wall at Panel 12W, Line 049, had initially been declared a deserter, but later MIA and then presumed dead. In March of 1996, SFC Sabog was discovered living in Rossville, Georgia, when he applied for social security benefits at the age of 73.

Some articles which may provide more information:

Castaneda, Ruben. "38 Veterans Listed on Wall May Have Survived Vietnam." Washington Post, 15 February 1991.

"A memorial lists living as the dead." New York Times, 11 February 1991, p. A11 (N) A16 (L).

"The Vietnam Undead." The New Yorker 68:41 (30 November 1992), p. 41.

"The Wall's Mistaken Men." Time 130:21 (23 November 1992), p. 31.

"Missing No More." The Atlanta Constitution, 9 March 1995, p. 02B (State News) [Article on SFC Sabog].