Survivors and relatives of those killed have been pushing the Department of Defense for years to add the 74 names to the wall because the ship had supported ground operations in Vietnam just weeks earlier and likely would've been sent back to the war zone after the exercise. [...] Pentagon officials in a decision this month stuck to their position that the Evans victims are precluded from being added to the wall because the accident occurred outside the Vietnam combat zone. Instead of granting an exemption to the war zone rule, the Pentagon has offered to pay tribute to the fallen sailors by listing their names on a memorial plaque to be placed inside the education center to be built near the wall. Kraus, a 70-year-old retired utility supervisor from Carlsbad, California, said some in the Evans association reluctantly accepted the Pentagon's offer of a separate memorial, while others advocate continuing the fight for inclusion on the wall. The Evans veterans say the Pentagon has previously granted exceptions to the eligibility criteria for adding names to the memorial, including for dozens of Marines who were killed when the plane carrying them back to Vietnam from leave in Hong Kong crashed during takeoff.