The bill requires the Secretary of Defense to authorize inclusion on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall (in Washington, D.C.) of the crew members of the USS Frank E. Evans who were killed June 3, 1969.
It directs Department of Defense action to place those names on the Wall and sets a one-year deadline for authorization.
The statute also mandates consultation with the Secretary of the Interior, the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund, and “other applicable authorities” about nomenclature and placement to address space limits, and it explicitly removes the Commemorative Works Act as a constraint on carrying out the addition. For memorial custodians, veterans' families, and federal agencies, the bill creates a binding, expedited pathway to modify a long-established national memorial.
At a Glance
What It Does
The bill directs the Secretary of Defense to authorize adding the names of the lost USS Frank E. Evans crew to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall and requires consultation with Interior, the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund, and other authorities on placement and nomenclature. It also states that the Commemorative Works Act does not apply to these actions.
Who It Affects
Directly affects the Department of Defense and the Department of the Interior, the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund, families of the deceased crew, and agencies involved in National Mall stewardship and memorial approvals. Contractors or conservators who would modify the Wall may also be engaged to implement placement changes.
Why It Matters
This bill creates a statutory, time‑bound route to alter a major national memorial and bypasses statutory review under the Commemorative Works Act, setting a precedent for how late additions can be made to federal memorials and who controls the process.
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What This Bill Actually Does
The bill is narrowly focused: it asks the Secretary of Defense to authorize placing the names of the sailors from the USS Frank E. Evans who died on June 3, 1969, onto the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall in Washington, D.C.
The authorization must occur within one year of the law taking effect, so the statute sets a firm timeline rather than leaving the decision to existing administrative processes.
To manage practical issues—like limited physical space and how the new names will be styled and arranged—the bill requires the Secretary of Defense to consult with the Secretary of the Interior, the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund, and other applicable authorities. That consultation duty is procedural: it doesn’t create new substantive standards in the statute but it does force interagency and stakeholder coordination on placement and nomenclature questions.Importantly, the bill removes the Commemorative Works Act from the equation for this activity.
The Commemorative Works Act ordinarily governs approvals and siting of memorials on federal land around the National Mall; its exclusion here narrows the universe of legal constraints and review procedures that would otherwise apply when altering or augmenting a national memorial.Because the text is limited to authorization and consultation, it leaves several implementation details to those agencies and stakeholders—how the names will be physically incorporated, who pays for fabrication and installation, and how to address any design or conservation concerns. The bill does not establish a funding source or create new eligibility criteria beyond the specific incident and crew it identifies.
The Five Things You Need to Know
The bill requires the Secretary of Defense to authorize inclusion of the lost USS Frank E. Evans crew on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall within one year of enactment.
It identifies precisely 74 crew members who were killed on June 3, 1969, as the names to be added to the Wall.
The bill mandates consultation with the Secretary of the Interior, the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund, and “other applicable authorities” about nomenclature and placement to address space limitations.
Chapter 89 of title 40, United States Code (the Commemorative Works Act), will not apply to activities carried out under this law, removing that statutory review pathway.
The directive applies specifically to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall in the District of Columbia and is narrowly tailored to this single addition rather than creating a general process for adding names to the Wall.
Section-by-Section Breakdown
Every bill we cover gets an analysis of its key sections.
Short title
Declares the statute’s short name as the “USS Frank E. Evans Act.” This is a standard captioning provision with no operational effect beyond identifying the bill for citation.
Authorization to add names
Directs the Secretary of Defense to authorize inclusion on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall of the crew members killed on June 3, 1969. The provision sets a not‑later‑than‑one‑year deadline for that authorization, creating a statutory timing requirement rather than leaving the matter to discretionary, untimed administrative processes.
Consultation requirement and statutory exemption
Requires the Secretary of Defense to consult with the Secretary of the Interior, the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund, and other applicable authorities about nomenclature and placement, explicitly to address space limitations. Subsection (c) removes the Commemorative Works Act from application to these activities, meaning the usual siting, review, and approval rules under that Act do not constrain the authorized changes. Practically, that combination forces coordination on technical decisions while narrowing the legal review pipeline.
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Explore Veterans in Codify Search →Who Benefits and Who Bears the Cost
Every bill creates winners and losers. Here's who stands to gain and who bears the cost.
Who Benefits
- Families and descendants of the USS Frank E. Evans crew — the bill creates a clear, federal-level pathway to have their loved ones’ names placed on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall. This delivers formal recognition on the national memorial that those families have sought.
- Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund (VVMF) — the Fund is named in the consultation duty, giving it a defined advisory role in nomenclature and placement decisions and formalizing its participation in the installation process.
- Survivors and veterans community connected to the USS Frank E. Evans — veterans and unit associations affiliated with the ship gain a federal mechanism to resolve a historical omission and secure public commemoration.
- Historians and heritage organizations focused on Vietnam War memory — successful addition clarifies the official record and preserves commemoration continuity for a specific, documented loss.
Who Bears the Cost
- Department of Defense — the Secretary of Defense must take administrative action and coordinate consultations; DoD also will likely carry responsibility for authorizing and overseeing implementation logistics. Those actions will consume agency time and resources.
- Department of the Interior / National Park Service — as steward of the National Mall and partner in consultation, Interior will need to engage on placement, conservation, and potential permitting or site management implications, absorbing staff and technical costs.
- Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund and nonprofit partners — the VVMF will have to engage in the consultation and may need to contribute funding, design work, or logistical support to implement the physical addition.
- Contractors, conservators, and memorial fabricators — entities that would produce and install additional name panels or undertake conservation work will incur costs and must meet any technical requirements established during consultation.
Key Issues
The Core Tension
The central tension is between the moral and symbolic imperative to ensure specific service members are publicly commemorated and the institutional interest in preserving the Vietnam Veterans Memorial’s established design, conservation standards, and centralized review processes; the bill privileges immediate, statutory inclusion but does so by narrowing the normal review controls that protect memorial integrity.
The bill resolves a decades‑old recognition question through a narrow, statute‑driven instruction, but it leaves crucial implementation choices unresolved. It requires consultation on nomenclature and placement but does not set design standards, font, panel material, or positioning rules.
Those technical choices will determine whether the addition harmonizes with the Wall’s aesthetic and conservation needs or introduces risks to existing panels and patina.
Exempting the Commemorative Works Act removes a statutory review layer intended to protect the National Mall’s planning and design integrity. That expedites the process but also raises questions about precedent: if Congress can remove CWA requirements for this addition, stakeholders may press for similar carve‑outs in other cases.
The bill names “other applicable authorities” without listing them, creating ambiguity about which agencies beyond Interior and VVMF must be consulted and what standards they will apply. Finally, the statute is silent on funding, long‑term maintenance responsibilities for any new additions, and dispute resolution if families or organizations disagree about placement or nomenclature.
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