Vietnam Memorial now online.

• Author: Swartz, Nikki
• Position: UP FRONT - United States. National Archives and Records Administration - Www.footnote.com - Brief article

The National Archives has joined with www.footnote.com to recreate the Vietnam Veterans Memorial online.

The project makes the records of tens of thousands of deceased Vietnam War veterans available online for the first time. The interactive website allows access to thousands of pages of casualty records and agency photos, according to the Associated Press (AP). Users can search by name, hometown, birth date, tour date, or many other categories.

This kind of information currently is available only at National Archives' physical locations and by poring over files organized by topic. The agency said that makes searches difficult and time-consuming.

Hundreds of veterans visit the central research room each year "to examine the documents that may enable them to establish their rights, and, just as with the wall, to honor, remember, and appreciate," said Allen Weinstein, archivist of the United States. "And historians increasingly turn to these essential records to explain the significance of the Vietnam conflict in American history."

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The site will help "provide ever-greater access to our critical holdings on this...