is a simple one -- we make official US government information on
the casualties of the Vietnam war available to the general public.
That's one reason the site is simple to the point of ugliness (as
some would see it) -- a certain portion of our intended audience is at
least partially-disabled, and we want things to be Lynx-compatible and
as accessible as possible.
The Vietnam casualty list is a public document, and anyone who wants
to can get it from the National Archives (see the Archives site on our
links page). It does cost money, though, and it not the most user-friendly
document around. The one we offer is formatted for easier reading, and
we've added some information to it. Otherwise, it it's what the government
has.
We were the first web site to put this information on the Web, though
we are not the only one to do it now. We do not consider ourselves to be
in competition with other sites offering this kind of information, though
we like to think that we fill our little niche rather well.
We do not have any political agenda. We do, however, feel pretty
strongly that this is not a fit subject for a profit-making enterprise.
We do not carry advertising nor do we have anything for sale. We do not
accept donations - there are other causes more worthy if you have the inclination
and resources.
Rick became involved with No Quarter in 1996 by donating web space and UNIX administration
services. Over time, he eventually assumed all duties involved in hosting and administering the system.
In 2000, he took over programming duties from Chris Shepard and developed the current search engine.
Rick hosts the NQ site on a small ShuttleX server running the RedHat Linux operating system. The server
resides in his home office.
Rick served as a programmer with the 42nd Logistics Group
at Loring Air Force Base, Maine from 1986 to 1994. He currently lives in Tyler, TX.
Tom arranged the database from the November 1993 Combat Area Current
Casualty File for SouthEast Asia and several additional government sources. He
served with the Army Security Agency as a Russian linguist from 1975 -
1979, mostly in Berlin.
Chris wrote the original search code, started "www.no-quarter.org" and was all-round Chief Geek. He served with the 9th Infantry Division in Vietnam in 1967-1968, and resides somewhere in the mountains of Colorado.
While staying within the advertising-free policy of No Quarter, we would be remiss not to mention those people "behind the scenes", without whose contribution this site would never have existed.
For several years, Constance Menefee donated countless hours for No Quarter as Advocate Researcher. She researched the really tough questions and assisted many visitors to our site.
John Sinks, formerly of the Army Security Agency (ASA), also provided No Quarter with living space for some time.
Without the volunteer spirit of "major players" like Connie and John,
you would not be reading this.