Vietnam Memorial Index

About this Collection

Dedicated in November 1982, the Vietnam Veterans Memorial honors members of the United States military who died in Southeast Asia during the Vietnam War or were still categorized as missing in action (MIA) at the time the monument was built. Its black granite walls are engraved with nearly 60,000 names. WorldVitalRecords subscribers planning a visit to Washington, DC would benefit from consulting the Vietnam Memorial Index, which pinpoints the panel and line numbers needed to locate a veteran’s name upon the walls of the shrine.

Search options for the Vietnam Memorial Index include given name, family name, place, keyword, or year. The veteran’s "given name" often includes both first name and middle name. If only a middle initial (rather than the full middle name) is known, omit the initial and enter only a first name. Searching for a "place" requires knowledge of the veteran’s hometown and state or the country where he died. Looking for a "year" covers a number of alternatives: birth, death, tour of duty, or the processing date when the most recent change was made to a casualty record.

Records in the Vietnam Memorial Index contain a wealth of other information, including service number, rank and pay grade, age, branch of service, race, religion, marital status, gender, citizenship, and the reason for death. The geo-mapping feature displays an interactive map of cemeteries located near the veteran’s hometown.