Vietnam Memorial Names Linked to Web

With a few computer keystrokes, each of the 58,000-plus names on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, in Washington, D.C., is now searchable and linked to that person's service records and casualty report, thanks to the National Archives and the online company Footnote.com at www.go.footnote.com/thewall.

According to the National Archives Web site, Footnote.com started the project by contracting with National Geographic photographer Peter Krogh, who was given the challenge to photograph the entire wall.

Creating this online version of the wall required almost 1,500 individual photos that were stitched together to create a single image, a process that took over five months and resulted in an image that contains nearly 5 gigapixels. Despite the immense size, anyone can view the image on Footnote.com.

Creating this digital image of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial enables computer users to locate each veteran's name in the exact location it appears on the memorial. From there, information on that person is displayed and any visitor to the Web site can upload photos of veterans and leave comments and stories free of charge.

While all the records used to make the database are accessible through the National Archives at www.archives.gov, the Footnote.com site allows computer visitors easier access to these Vietnam War records, according to Allen Weinstein, archivist of the United States. Veterans can be searched through 54 different categories including name, age, birthday, hometown, home state, start of tour date and rank.

The Web site began operations March 26, the 26th anniversary of the memorial's groundbreaking ceremony.

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