Sponsors (22)
The bill delivers formal recognition and historical completeness by adding 74 sailors' names to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, but does so by carving out the addition from normal memorial-review rules, risking precedent and potential stakeholder disputes.
Vietnam veterans' families and the public (including visitors) get formal recognition and closure when the 74 USS Frank E. Evans sailors' names are added to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.
The Vietnam Veterans Memorial will more accurately reflect those who died in connection with the Vietnam era, improving historical completeness for visitors and researchers.
Exempting the addition from the Commemorative Works Act bypasses the usual review process and stakeholder safeguards for changes to national memorials.
Making an exception could create a precedent and raise the risk of disputes with other memorial stakeholders over placement, nomenclature, or future exceptions.
Based on analysis of 2 sections of legislative text.
Requires the Secretary of Defense to authorize adding 74 USS Frank E. Evans crew names to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall and to consult on placement, exempting the action from the Commemorative Works Act.
Official title: To provide for the inclusion on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall of the names of the lost crew members of the USS Frank E. Evans killed on June 3, 1969.
Introduced November 7, 2025 by Mike Flood · Last progress November 7, 2025
Directs the Department of Defense to add the names of the 74 crew members killed when the USS Frank E. Evans sank on June 3, 1969, to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall in Washington, D.C. It requires the Secretary of Defense to consult relevant authorities about placement and nomenclature and exempts these actions from the Commemorative Works Act to address space constraints, with the work to be authorized within one year of enactment.