I
107TH CONGRESS
1ST SESSION
H. R. 3443
To require the Secretary of Defense to report to Congress regarding the
requirements applicable to the inscription of veterans’ names on the
memorial wall of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
DECEMBER 11, 2001
Mr. HORN introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee
on Armed Services
A BILL
To require the Secretary of Defense to report to Congress
regarding the requirements applicable to the inscription
of veterans’ names on the memorial wall of the Vietnam
Veterans Memorial.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Fairness to All Viet-
nam Veterans Act’’.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
Congress finds as follows:
(1) Public Law 96–297 (94 Stat. 827) author-
ized the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund, Inc.,
(the ‘‘Memorial Fund’’) to construct a memorial ‘‘in
honor and recognition of the men and women of the
Armed Forces of the United States who served in
the Vietnam war’’.
(2) The Memorial Fund determined that the
most fitting tribute to those who served in the Viet-
nam war would be to permanently inscribe the
names of the members of the Armed Forces who
died during the Vietnam war, or who remained miss-
ing at the conclusion of the war, on a memorial wall.
(3) The Memorial Fund relied on the Depart-
ment of Defense to compile the list of individuals
whose names would be inscribed on the memorial
wall and the criteria for inclusion on such list.
(4) The Memorial Fund established procedures
under which mistakes and omissions in the inscrip-
tion of names on the memorial wall could be cor-
rected.
(5) Under such procedures, the Department of
Defense established eligibility requirements that
must be met before the Memorial Fund will make
arrangements for the name of a veteran to be in-
scribed on the memorial wall.
(6) The Department of Defense determines the
eligibility requirements and has periodically modified
such requirements.
(7) As of February 1981, in order for the name
of a veteran to be eligible for inscription on the me-
morial wall, the veteran must have—
(A) died in Vietnam between November 1,
1955, and December 31, 1960;
(B) died in a specified geographic combat
zone on or after January 1, 1961;
(C) died as a result of physical wounds
sustained in such combat zone; or
(D) died while participating in, or pro-
viding direct support to, a combat mission im-
mediately en route to or returning from such
combat zone.
(8) Public Law 106–214 (114 Stat. 335) au-
thorizes the American Battle Monuments Commis-
sion to provide for the placement of a plaque within
the Vietnam Veterans Memorial ‘‘to honor those
Vietnam veterans who died after their service in the
Vietnam war, but as a direct result of that service,
and whose names are not otherwise eligible for
placement on the memorial wall’’.
(9) The names of a number of veterans who
died during the Vietnam war are not eligible for in-
scription on the memorial wall or the plaque.
(10) Examples of such names include the
names of the 74 servicemembers who died aboard
the USS Frank E. Evans (DD–174) on June 3,
1969, while the ship was briefly outside the combat
zone participating in a training exercise.
SEC. 3. STUDY AND REPORT.
(a) STUDY.—The Secretary of Defense shall conduct
a study that—
(1) identifies the veterans (as defined in section
101(2) of title 38, United States Code) who died on
or after November 1, 1955, as a direct or indirect
result of military operations in southeast Asia and
whose names are not eligible for inscription on the
memorial wall of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial;
(2) evaluates the feasibility and equitability of
revising the eligibility requirements applicable to the
inscription of names on the memorial wall to be
more inclusive of such veterans; and
(3) evaluates the feasibility and equitability of
creating an appropriate alternative means of rec-
ognition for such veterans.
(6) the National Capital Planning Commission.
Æ