Memorials

Grief and Memorials

As of 11/8/2020

The names of the “Lost 74” are not inscribed upon the Vietnam Veteran Memorial Wall in Washington, DC because they were killed outside the designated “Combat Zone,” an area used by the Department of Defense to determine if an individual was a Vietnam conflict fatality. We, the USS Frank E. Evans (DD 754) Association, disagree with that decision. We believe these men gave their lives in defense of their country and they died in the Vietnam War! We have been working diligently to have the Department of Defense add the names to the Vietnam Veteran Memorial Wall. Until that happens, the Association has taken it upon ourselves to honor these men in an appropriate way.

The Cal Rankin Memorial Fund was established to memorialize our “Lost 74″ shipmates, and all shipmates who served aboard our proud ship. Their names will be placed on a memorial stone and suitably placed by the USS FRANK E. EVANS (DD 754) Association. To date, November 2020, memorial stones have been placed in all 26 states which represent our “Lost 74″ shipmates’ Homes of Record.

GRIEF is not a problem to be cured…. It is simply a statement that you have loved someone. A MEMORIAL is an object which serves as a focus for
memory of something, usually a person who has died or an event. Honoring the lives of those who were lost is at the heart of it all.

Memorials are personal, and many individual types exist. The most common is the gravestone or the memorial plaque. For those in military service, even if a person’s remains were not recovered, the Veterans Administration offers a headstone or marker for placement anywhere in the world for national, state veteran or military cemeteries. Flat bronze, flat granite, flat marble, upright granite and upright marble types are available consistent with the location. If other than a designated cemetery is used, the headstone has to be applied for from the Veterans Administration. Then it is shipped at government expense, but does not include cost of placement. Headstones and markers include inscriptions such as the name of the deceased, the years of birth and death, and branch of service.

To our knowledge, over the last 50 years, since the ship was severed and 74 lives were lost, “memorials” have been established in Australia and 33 states, some government issue and others are personal. These memorials exist in the form of bricks, monuments, head stones, benches, FEE Stones, niches, plaques, and tiles the many and diverse ways we use to express grief, honor, and respect for our loved ones.

What follows is a “directory” of sorts for known memorials dedicated to our Lost 74 including state, city, memorial type, name of the lost, and address of the memorial. When traveling, perhaps you might include a visit to a memorial dedicated to our fallen shipmates, and have yourself photographed there. Quite an honorable and perfect way to practice our informal lament, “Lest We Forget.”

WE ALL DIE TWICE. FIRST, WHEN OUR SOUL LEAVES OUR BODY. SECOND, WHEN NO ONE EVER UTTERS OUR NAME AGAIN…