The last photo found by the Pennsylvania research team made of individuals, organizations, and the Stevenson University history program: MSGT Matthew N. Harris, Jr (USAF) of Philadelphia. Died May 28, 1965. While SU history majors did not find this last photo, they found 116 others in four months’ work.
In early-December the State of Pennsylvania announced that it had located photos of all 3,150 Pennsylvanians killed in Vietnam. Posted to the online Vietnam Wall of Faces, people can now see a photo of each Pennsylvanian killed during that war. In its media release commemorating that accomplishment, the State specifically recognized and thanked the Stevenson History Program for helping locate many of the missing photos.
Headstone of Master Sergeant Matthew N. Harris, Jr. (USAF)
“It is incredibly gratifying to know that all 3,150 Pennsylvanians who died in Vietnam are now represented on the virtual Wall Of Faces where they can be honored by anyone, from anywhere around the world,” said Gov. Tom Wolf. “We owe a debt of gratitude to the Department of Military and Veterans Affairs who led this effort, along with everyone they partnered with over the past four years, for tenaciously searching until the last photo was found. Completing this project demonstrates just how much pride Pennsylvania has in all of those who have served our great nation, and that no one will ever be forgotten.”
A photo collage of US casualties during the Vietnam War. All of these photos are at the VVMF’s Vietnam “Wall of Faces” online.
For the past four years the Pennsylvania Department of Military and Veterans Affairs (DMVA) has partnered with the VVMF in Washington, D.C., to find a photo of every Pennsylvanian whose name appears on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall – commonly referred to as The Wall. The VVMF has been posting the photos on a virtual Wall of Faces in order to put a face and a story to every name to help preserve their legacies.
“This was a great and incredibly important project that helps show the families and friends of the Pennsylvanians lost in Vietnam that their loved ones will not be forgotten,” said Maj. Gen. Anthony Carrelli. “We owe a huge thanks to all of the volunteers from around the country who have been instrumental in locating these photos and spreading the word about the Wall of Faces effort.
“I’d also like to give a few deserved shout-outs to the Pennsylvania media outlets who featured this program, the Public History Program students at Stevenson University in Maryland, members of the Pennsylvania Civil Air Patrol, and Vietnam veteran John Thomstatter and his team of researchers, who helped get us to the finish line.”
Sixty four of the photos of Maryland Vietnam casualties located by Stevenson history students in 2016.
The Stevenson History Program began helping the State of Pennsylvania find photos of its Vietnam casualties after its history students helped the State of Maryland find its last remaining photos in 2016. An ongoing volunteer project within the program, Stevenson’s history majors have located over 160 pictures of Vietnam casualties from Maryland, Pennsylvania, New York, Ohio, Maine, Virginia, and West Virginia. It takes, on average, about eight hours to locate a missing photo.