Sponsors (4)
The bill delivers timely, meaningful recognition to the families and veterans of the USS Frank E. Evans by adding the fallen crew's names to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial while requiring consultation, but it does so by sidestepping normal commemorative review processes and imposing a rapid deadline that may strain agency resources.
Surviving family members and veterans will have the 74 USS Frank E. Evans crew members' names added to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial within one year, giving those families and veterans formal national recognition and closure.
Federal agencies must consult the Interior Department, the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund, and other relevant authorities to ensure the names are placed respectfully and that space and nomenclature issues are managed collaboratively.
Exempting the name additions from the Commemorative Works Act bypasses established planning and public-review procedures, reducing formal safeguards and opportunities for public input on modifications to a national memorial.
The one-year deadline to add the names may impose administrative and funding pressures on the agencies responsible for the memorial, potentially straining resources or forcing rushed work.
Based on analysis of 2 sections of legislative text.
Requires the Secretary of Defense to add the 74 USS Frank E. Evans crew members killed June 3, 1969, to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall within one year, with consultations and a waiver of the Commemorative Works Act.
Official title: 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 6, 2025 by Adam Schiff · Last progress November 6, 2025
Directs the Secretary of Defense to add the names of the 74 crew members of the USS Frank E. Evans who were killed on June 3, 1969, to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall in Washington, D.C., within one year of the law taking effect. It requires consultation with the Department of the Interior, the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund, and other relevant authorities about how to name and place the inscriptions to handle space limitations, and it makes the Commemorative Works Act inapplicable for activities carried out under this authority.