IL HR0530

The Vietnam Veterans Memorial wall in Washington, D.C. listed over 58,000 servicemembers who died or went missing during the Vietnam War when completed in 1983.

A 1973 fire at a government storage facility destroyed millions of military personnel records, leaving approximately 24,000 veterans on the wall without pictures in military records as of 2013.

The Illinois Press Association Foundation joined the National Newspaper Association in January 2017 to recover 579 missing photos of Illinois veterans.

Illinois newspapers have successfully located 100 of the missing photos, with 479 soldiers remaining without photos across 45 Illinois counties.

The House urges Illinois communities to participate in the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Foundation's "Wall of Faces" project to locate missing soldier photographs and preserve the legacy of Vietnam War veterans.