1Encouraging the United States Department of Defense to include
2the names of the fallen sailors of the Destroyer USS Frank E.
3Evans (DD 754) on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.

4WHEREAS, On March 26, 1969, the officers and men of the USS
5Frank E. Evans (DD 754) departed Long Beach for the Western
6Pacific to carry out the operational orders of their Commander
7in Chief during a time of war with North Vietnam; and

8WHEREAS, On June 3, 1969, the USS Frank E. Evans (DD 754),
9while on an allied naval exercise during the Vietnam War,
10collided with the Australian aircraft carrier, the HMAS
11Melbourne (R 21) in the South China Sea, near the coast of
12Vietnam; and

13WHEREAS, The collision severed the ship into two sections,
14with the forward section sinking in less than three minutes,
15taking the lives of 74 American sailors; and

16WHEREAS, Members of the United States Armed Forces who died

1during the Vietnam War have been memorialized by placing the
2names on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, DC, so
3long as they died within the combat zone; and

4WHEREAS, The United States Department of Defense maintains
5the men who died as a result of the sinking of the USS Frank E.
6Evans (DD 754) do not meet the criteria for inclusion on the
7Vietnam Veterans Memorial since the accident occurred outside
8the combat zone, and continues to deny the placement of the
9names of the 74 lost sailors on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial;
10and

11WHEREAS, The Vietnam War combat zone boundaries were ill
12defined and have been changed from time to time and should not
13be the defining reason to exclude the names of the lost sailors
14from the Vietnam Veterans Memorial; and

15WHEREAS, Other members of the United States Armed Forces who
16have died outside the Vietnam War combat zone have had their
17names placed on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial; therefore be it

18RESOLVED, That the House of Representatives encourage the
19United States Department of Defense to include the names of the
2074 sailors from the USS Frank E. Evans (DD 754) on the Vietnam
21Veterans Memorial; and be it further

22RESOLVED, That the House of Representatives also fully
23support an immediate favorable decision by the United States
24Department of Defense to make an exception to its criteria in
25order to include those names on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.