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Honor the Navy Sailors Left Off the Vietnam Memorial Wall

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Sponsor: The Veterans Site

Seventy-four Navy sailors died after Vietnam combat support, yet their names remain absent from the Wall more than five decades later.

Long view along the Vietnam Veterans Memorial wall with the Washington Monument visible in the distance across the lawn.

On June 3, 1969, the USS Frank E. Evans was cut in two during a collision with the Australian aircraft carrier HMAS Melbourne in the South China Sea. Seventy-four U.S. Navy sailors died, including three brothers serving together and the son of a senior chief who survived the disaster.1

Their Service Was Tied to Vietnam

The Frank E. Evans had supported combat operations off Vietnam before the collision. Task & Purpose reports the destroyer had fired nearly 2,000 rounds in support of Operation Daring Rebel weeks earlier, after years of Vietnam service.2 Survivors and families argue the sailors died in connection with that war and deserve a place on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall.

A Technical Rule Has Kept Their Names Away

The Department of Defense has repeatedly refused to add the names because the collision happened outside the defined Vietnam combat zone and, under current criteria, was not considered direct support of a combat mission at that moment.3 GAO found that DOD has reviewed the case and continues to rely on those criteria, even though 380 names have been added to the Wall since its 1982 dedication to correct omissions and address other cases.4

Families Have Waited Long Enough

For decades, survivors and relatives have asked the nation to recognize these sailors where their sacrifice belongs. Local and national advocates continue to press Pentagon leaders to revisit the policy and correct what families see as a painful injustice.5

This is a matter of honor, compassion, and historical responsibility. The men of the USS Frank E. Evans served during the Vietnam War, supported U.S. forces, and lost their lives while still part of that mission.

Sign the petition urging Pentagon leaders to add the 74 USS Frank E. Evans sailors to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall.

More on this issue:

  1. Chris Carola, Navy Times / Associated Press (21 May 2017), "US refuses to add sailors' names to Vietnam Memorial."
  2. Matt White, Task & Purpose (26 May 2025), "Why aren’t the names of these 74 sailors on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall?."
  3. U.S. Government Accountability Office, GAO (19 September 2024), "Vietnam Veterans Memorial: Process and Considerations for Adding Names to the Wall."
  4. WGRZ Staff, WGRZ (25 May 2026), "Battle continues against Pentagon policy to not allow names on Vietnam Memorial Wall of 74 Navy sailors killed in 1969 ship collision."

The Petition

To the Secretary of Defense, the Secretary of the Navy, and the Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness,

I urge you to allow the names of the 74 U.S. Navy sailors killed aboard the USS Frank E. Evans on June 3, 1969, to be added to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall.

These sailors died during the Vietnam War era while serving aboard a Navy destroyer that had supported combat operations off Vietnam. The ship had provided naval gunfire support to U.S. forces and had been part of the war effort shortly before the collision that split it in two in the South China Sea. The fact that the disaster occurred outside a defined combat zone should not erase the connection between their service, their mission, and the war in which they served.

For decades, families and surviving crew members have asked the Department of Defense to reconsider this case. Their request is not symbolic in a small way. The Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall is where the nation records the names of those whose lives were lost in connection with that war. To leave these 74 sailors off the Wall continues a painful distinction that many families have carried for more than half a century.

The Department of Defense has a responsibility to apply standards consistently, but it also has a responsibility to recognize when a narrow technical rule fails to meet the deeper obligation of honor. These men served their country. They supported the Vietnam mission. They died while still part of that history. Their families should not have to keep explaining why their loved ones belong among the names of the fallen.

I ask you to review the existing criteria, work with the USS Frank E. Evans families and survivors, and take the necessary steps to add these 74 names to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall.

This action would show humanity and compassion to the families who have waited far too long. It would also affirm that America does not forget those who served, sacrificed, and died in connection with war.

These actions will ensure a better future for all.

Sincerely,

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