I made an error on the video; I referred to Israel Esparza as Willie.
Molina is located in Corpus Christi, Texas. It is part of the West Oso Independent School District. Molina is a neighborhood that may have consisted of about 7,000 people. While there are other places that lost more young men, such as the Edgewood School District in San Antonio.
Edgewood Independent School District has a solemn distinction among military veterans. It’s one that the district and its surrounding West Side community remember every Memorial Day.
According to a national archive report on military casualties, Bexar County lost 300 servicemen during the Vietnam War. Of those lost, 55 were graduates of Edgewood schools.
The loss hit Edgewood High School’s 1967 graduating class the hardest. That class lost 10 of its students in Vietnam — the highest mortality rate for any U.S. high school class during that era, newspaper archives show. The 55 Edgewood students who died serving in Vietnam represent the second-highest number from a single school district in the United States.
The Edgewood High School Class of 1967 (San Antonio, Texas) had a little more than 400 graduates. [1]
This specific class is recognized for its high rate of military casualties, losing 10 of its members in the Vietnam War. [1, 2]
- Total Graduates: ~400+
- Vietnam Casualties: 10 [1]
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West Oso had a graduating class of 100 and lost 3 of its members in the Vietnam War.
Nueces County: Approximately 110 service members from Nueces County, Texas, lost their lives during the Vietnam War. The exact names and specific casualty records of fallen veterans from the area are publicly documented on the Fallen Heroes page maintained by Nueces County.
Philadelphia – Thomas Edison High School
Thomas Edison High School in North Philadelphia (part of the School District of Philadelphia) lost 64 graduates in the Vietnam War, the highest death rate of any single high school in the United States. Known as the “Edison 64,” these soldiers are honored with a memorial garden and a dedicated documentary. [1, 2, 3]
Beallsville Ohio
Beallsville, Ohio, a small Appalachian village in Monroe County. It gained national attention during the Vietnam War for tragically suffering one of the highest per-capita casualty rates of any U.S. community. [1, 2]
Between 1966 and 1971, this tiny community of roughly 400 people lost six young men (all under the age of 21) in the conflict. Because their losses were so staggering, they have been honored and recognized in several ways over the decades: [1, 2]
- The Beallsville Six: The fallen soldiers were Jack Pittman, Duane Greenlee, Charles Schnegg, Richard Rucker, Robert Lucas, and Phillip Brandon.
- The Memorials: A monument stands at the entrance of the Beallsville Cemetery (where five of the men are buried), detailing the tragedy on an official level
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My Uncle Eduardo Garcia passed away last year. He was a Korean War Veteran, so in his honor, a song was written for a TV series about the Korean War.
The M*A*S*H theme song, titled “Suicide is Painless,” is a darkly satirical reflection on the inevitability of death, suffering, and the futility of war. Despite its somber and haunting melody, the lyrics argue that since life is a game we will all eventually lose, death is an effortless and painless escape. [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]
The Origins
- Childlike Origin: Director Robert Altman specifically wanted the “stupidest” song ever written for the 1970 M*A*S*H movie. When he couldn’t write it himself, he tasked his 14-year-old son, Michael Altman, with writing lyrics that felt childish and tongue-in-cheek.
- The Context: In the film, the song is played during a mock “Last Supper” for a distraught character contemplating suicide, intended to be a black-comedy moment
