Vietnam generation begins to fade as death rate rises

Chuck Crow, The Plain DealerFormer Marine sniper Ron Willoughby has seen the ranks of his old unit thin in recent years, and though at 63 he's about the average age of Vietnam vets, he says, "Inside, I still feel like I'm 18 years old."

Vietnam generation begins to fade as death rate rises for war's veterans
By Brian Albrecht
February 07, 2010, 7:00AM

Forty years ago, Ron Willoughby was death with a telescopic sight as a Marine sniper in Vietnam.

Today, mortality has Willoughby and other Vietnam veterans in its crosshairs.

The generation of an estimated 8 million military service members of the Vietnam era, 1964-1975, is fading.


The number of Vietnam veteran deaths has almost doubled since 2001 and, according Department of Veterans Affairs' projections, will hit 103,890 this year -- approaching 300 a day. That's more than five times the average daily number of U.S. combat deaths during the peak casualty year of the war in 1968.

Willoughby, now 63 and a year older than the national average age of Vietnam vets, said three members of his old unit have died in the past five years, two from cancer and one from a heart attack.