Print Resources

Yes, people still use the printed page. :-)

This is not intended as a comprehensive listing of books on casualties or Vietnam -- I would recommend Professor Moise's site for that. These are simply some sources that we've run across in our work with the database.

One question that we hear fairly often: "Is the database available in book form?" In short, yes. There are two ways to get a printed copy.

The Directory of Names

The Vietnam Veterans Memorial Directory of Names is about the size of a city phone book, and contains name, rank, service, casualty date, home of record, and position on the Memorial. It also has very brief information on the memorial itself. Contact

    Guest Services, Inc.
    Attn: Vietnam Veterans Affairs
    3055 Prosperity Avenue
    Fairfax, VA 22031,

or see the official VVMF site for information. Larger libraries often have copies, and it is updated from time to time.

National Archive Printed List

In addition to selling you a copy of the computer file, the Archives can actually print you a list of the entire casualty list. It currently costs $48, and is pretty low-tech (several reams of paper run through a laser printer with very small type), but the information is the same as that contained in the CACCF electronic file. Sections of the file can also be printed by special arrangement.

More information at the NARA site.

Some of the books about the wall have also included lists of names in the back, as an appendix. We don't have a list of those available, though I've seen several. Usually it's just the names, though.
 

GENERAL INFORMATION

Certainly not a complete bibliography, even for just information on casualtie and the Memorial. Still, these sources could be of help.  Baskir & Strauss is a good study of who went to Vietnam and why.  Scruggs is the standard work on how the Memorial got started; Stanton's book is excellent for finding what units were where, when in Vietnam.

• Baskir, Lawrence M. and William A. Strauss.  Chance and Circumstance: The Draft, the War, and the Vietnam Generation.  New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1978.

• Brandon, Heather.  Casualties: Death in Viet Nam; Anguish and Survival in America. New York: St. Martin's, 1984.

• Palmer, Laura.  Shrapnel in the Heart: letters and remembrances  from the the Vietnam Memorial. New York: Random House, 1987.

• Scruggs, Jan C. and Joel L. Swerdlow.  To Heal A Nation: the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. New York: Harper & Row, 1985.

• Stanton, Shelby L.  Vietnam Order of Battle.  New York: US News & World Report, 1981.

• U.S. Department of Defense.  U.S. Casualties in Southeast Asia: statistics as of April 30, 1985.  Washington DC: Headquarters Services, Directorate for Information, Operations and Reports. 1985.  SuDoc: D 1.2:C27/2.

• U.S. Department of the Interior. National Park Service. Vietnam Veterans Memorial: Official Park Guide.  US Government Printing Office, 1993 [GPO 1993  -- 342-398/80008 Reprint 1993]

ACADEMIC STUDIES

Again, this is not intended to be a complete bibliography of academic studies on Vietnam casualties. It's simply a selection of things we've encountered. We do not have copies of any of these, see an academic library (your local public will probably not have many of these). "NTIS" is the National Technical Information Service -- you can find out more about them at URL HERE.
 

• Badillo, Gilbert and G. David Curry.  "Social Incidence of  Vietnam Casualties: Social Class or Race?" Armed Forces and Society 2:3 (May 1976), pp. 397-406.

• Barnett, Arnold; Timothy Stanley, and Michael Shore.    "America's Vietnam Casualties: Victims of a Class War?" Operations Research 40:5 (September-October 1992),  pp. 856-866.

• Butler, Michael R., Edward M. McNertney, Brian L. Goff and Robert D. Tolleson.  "The Allocation of Death in the Vietnam War: A Public Choice Perspective." Southern Economic Journal 54:2 (February 1988), pp. 316-321.

• Butler, Michael R., Edward M. McNertney, Brian L. Goff and Robert D. Tolleson.  "The Allocation of Death in the Vietnam War: Comment." Southern Economic Journal 55:4 (April 1989), pp. 1029-1036.

• Cobden, P., and L.A. Palinkas.  "Combat Casualties Among US Marine Corps Personnel in Vietnam 1965-1972." Interim Report Nr. NHRC-87-19.  Naval Health Research Center, 1986.  NTIS: AD-A160 856/1.

• Fallows, James.  "Low-class Conclusions: A widely reported new study claiming that all classes shared the burden of the Vietnam War is preposterous." The Atlantic 271:4 (April 1993), pp. 38+

• Palinkas, L.A., and P. Cobden.  "Combat Casualties Among US Navy Personnel in Vietnam 1965-1972."  Final Report Nr. NAVHLTHRSCHC- 85-11. Naval Health Research Center, 1985.  NTIS: AD-A189 689/3.

• Stanley, T.  "Economic Status of Casualties of the Vietnam War." Master's thesis, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Electrical Engineering. 1992.  NTIS:  AD-A250 979/2.

• Willis, John Martin.  "Who Died in Vietnam? An Analysis of the Social Background of Vietnam War Casualties."  Ph.D. dissertation, Purdue University, 1972.

MIA/POW ISSUES

This is a complicated and emotional subject. The sources below were chosen not necessarily because we believe them to be "correct", but because they might lay out the issues and lead you to more information. We are not interested in getting involved in a debate on POW/MIA politics, thank you.

Franklin's bibliography is perhaps  the best guide to other sources even though he does take a strong and probably not-very-popular position on the issue.  Clarke is a good description of the  government's procedures for declaring individuals MIA or POW.

• Clarke, Douglas L.  The Missing Man: Politics and the MIA.  Washington DC: National Defense University, 1979.  [SuDoc D5.402:M69]

• Franklin, H. Bruce.  M.I.A., or Mythmaking in America.  Brooklyn NY: L. Hill Books, 1992.

• Jordan, W.H.  "Americans Missing in Southeast Asia."  Study project. US Army War College, 1990.  NTIS: AD-A223 341/9.

• U.S. Congress. House.  Americans Missing in Southeast Asia:  Hearings Before the House Select Committee on Missing Persons in  Southeast Asia. Parts 1-5. 94th Congress. 1st & 2nd sessions.  Washington DC: US Government Printing Office, 1975-76.  [SuDoc Y4.M69/3:AM3]

• "Vietnam Era's Last P.O.W. is Declared Dead By U.S." New York Times, 25 September 1994, p. A25.