“Girl scouts sending cookies to Vietnam Marines,” Everett Herald, 1969

Reading The Things They Carried is a vivid reminder that the Vietnam War touched the lives of all American communities. Everett was no exception. Of the 1050 Washington State men whose names are etched on the wall of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C., 30 were from Everett. Another 58 were from elsewhere in Snohomish County.

To learn more about these individuals, you can search for these names on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial website. Darilee Bednar of Third Street Book Exchange in Marysville has also created an online memorial, including yearbook photos and biographical information for these local men. There is a page for Everett, one for Snohomish County towns from Arlington to Lake Stevens and one for Lynnwood to Tulalip. Another page indexes many more names from throughout Washington State. She has also created similar pages for Idaho, Montana, and Oregon servicemen. Darilee’s project represents an enormous amount of painstaking research and compassion for those individuals.

“Women sending movies to Vietnam troops,” Everett Herald, 1969

HistoryLink.org, an online encyclopedia of Washington State history, also lists Washington State citizens who died while serving in Vietnam. The Everett Public Library has yearbooks from Everett and Cascade High Schools, as well as Polk’s city directories, and The Everett Herald on microfilm. These sources are useful tools in learning more about these men, their families, and how the Vietnam War affected the local community.

Mindy