New Web Site Offers Vietnam War Records

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New Web Site Offers Vietnam War Records

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New Web Site Offers Vietnam War Records

By HOPE YEN - 13 hours ago

WASHINGTON (AP) - The National Archives is joining with a Web site to make
historical records of tens of thousands of deceased Vietnam War veterans
available electronically for the first time.

The interactive site - http://www.footnote .com <http://www.footnote .com/> -
is a Web re-creation of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial on the National Mall.
The site allows access to thousands of pages of casualty records and agency
photos. People can search by name, hometown, birthdate, tour date, or dozens
of other categories.

Such information now is typically found only at National Archives locations,
including the headquarters in College Park, Md., and by poring through files
organized by topic. That makes searches a hit-or-miss proposition with long
odds of finding relevant information, the agency said.

Hundreds of veterans visit the central research room each year "to examine
the documents that may enable them to establish their rights, and, just as
with the wall, to honor, remember and appreciate," said Allen Weinstein,
archivist of the United States. "And historians increasingly turn to these
essential records to explain the significance of the Vietnam conflict in
American history."

The site will help "provide ever-greater access to our critical holdings on
this subject," he said.

The interactive wall allows people to post photographs they may have of a
deceased veteran and to make comments. The service is currently free for
Vietnam War information; the company is deciding whether to charge fees for
some of the 50,000 National Archives photos now digitized.

The goal is to tell the stories behind the more than 58,000-plus names on
the wall' polished black granite, with information such as specialty, rank,
posthumous decorations, regiment, cause of death and whether the body was
recovered, the company said.

"We know that there are many untold experiences represented on that wall and
we hope that this interactive version of the memorial helps those affected
by the war by sharing their stories," said Russell Wilding, chief executive
officer of footnote.com.

Veterans advocacy groups praised the move as a good way to promote public
awareness of the contributions of those who served in Vietnam. But some said
they would like to see the effort expanded to provide electronic access of
records for living Vietnam veterans. Many of them must go through a lengthy
process of searching for records at the Archives and elsewhere to establish
a disability claim with the government.

"It's a wonderful thing they're doing. We certainly have to do much to honor
our dead," said Rick Weidman, executive director for policy and government
affairs at the Vietnam Veterans of America. "But we continue to press for
access for living veterans. The whole rest of the world is digitized, so why
not military action reports?"

In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material is distributed
without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the
included information for research and educational purposes. Reference:
http://www.law. cornell.edu/ uscode/17/ 107.shtml

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