Vietnam Veterans Memorial
| Vietnam Veterans Memorial | |
|---|---|
IUCN category V (protected landscape/seascape) | |
| Location | Washington, D.C., USA |
| Area | 2.00 acres (8,100 m²) |
| Established | November 13, 1982 |
| Visitors | 3,799,968 (in 2005) |
| Governing body | National Park Service |
The Vietnam Veterans Memorial is a national war memorial located in Washington, D.C. that honors members of the U.S. armed forces who served in the Vietnam War. The Memorial consists of three separate parts — the Three Soldiers statue, the Vietnam Women's Memorial, and the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall, which is the most recognized part of the memorial. The memorial is sometimes popularly called the Vietnam Memorial, the Vietnam Wall or simply The Wall.
The main part of the memorial was completed in 1982 and is located in Constitution Gardens on the National Mall, just northeast of the Lincoln Memorial. The Vietnam Veterans Memorial is maintained by the U.S. National Park Service, and receives around 3 million visitors each year. The Memorial Wall was designed by US architect Maya Lin.
History
The first official attempt to memorialize veterans of the Vietnam War came in 1978, three years after the conflict had ended. The Pentagon, instead of adding two unidentified bodies of Vietnam veterans to the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, recommended that a display of medals be added behind the tomb with a plaque reading:
"Let all know that the United States of America pays tribute to the members of the Armed Forces who answered their country's call."
A Veterans Affairs subcommittee later changed the statement to read:
"Let all know that the United States of America pays tribute to the members of the Armed Forces who served honorably in Southeast Asia during the Vietnam Era."
Later, in 1978, Congress, prodded by the Vietnam-Era Caucus (composed of veteran Congressmen), discussed creating a "Vietnam Veterans Week" to honor the survivors of the war.
The Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund, Inc., was incorporated on April 27, 1979 as a non-profit organization to establish a memorial to veterans of the Vietnam War. Much of the impetus behind the formation of the Fund came from a wounded Vietnam veteran, Jan Scruggs, who was inspired by the film The Deerhunter. Eventually, $8.4 million was raised by private donations.
Congress authorized the site on July 1 1980, and a competition to design the memorial was announced later that year. On May 6, 1981 a jury of eight architects and sculptors (Harry Weese, Richard Hunt, Garret Eckbo, Castantino Nivola, James Rosati, Grady Clar, Hideo Sasaki, Pietro Bulluschi and Paul Spreireger) unanimously selected a design by Maya Ying Lin, a 21 year old Yale University architecture student from Athens, Ohio, as the winner from 1,421 entries. Lin had originally designed the Memorial Wall as a student project. Controversially, the design lacked many of the elements traditionally present in war memorials, such as patriotic writings and heroic statues, and a flagstaff and figurative sculpture, The Three Soldiers, was added to the design on January 1982.
The design was formally approved on March 11 1982 and the ground was formally broken on March 26, 1982, with dedication of the memorial on November 13, 1982 after a march to its site by thousands of Vietnam War veterans. As a National Memorial it was administratively listed on the National Register of Historic Places the same day. The Three Soldiers statue was installed in 1984, and the Vietnam Women's Memorial was dedicated on November 11 1993. The memorial is managed by the National Park Service under its National Mall and Memorial Parks group.
Controversy surrounded the wall's dedication, with some veterans' groups decrying it as inappropriate or unpatriotic. Lin's Asian heritage was also a sensitive issue, and she was not even named in the memorial's 1982 dedication ceremony. Since then, however, both veterans and the American public in general have come to admire the Wall, which is one of the most visited sites in Washington.
Structure
Memorial Wall
The Memorial Wall is made up of two black granite walls 246 feet 9 inches (75 metres) long, designed by Maya Ying Lin. The walls are sunk into the ground, with the top flush with the earth behind them. At the highest point (the apex where they meet), they are 10.1 feet (3 m) high, and they taper to a height of eight inches (20cm) at their extremities. Granite for the wall came from Bangalore, India and was deliberately chosen because of its reflective quality. The concept is that, while a visitor looks upon the wall, their reflection can be seen simultaneously with the engraved names, thereby bringing the past and present together. One wall points toward the Washington Monument, the other in the direction of the Lincoln Memorial, meeting at an angle of 125° 12′. Each wall has 72 panels, 70 listing names (numbered 1E through 70E and 70W through 1W) and 2 very small blank panels at the extremities. There is a pathway along the base of the Wall, where visitors may walk, read the names, make a pencil rubbing of a particular name, or pray. Some people leave sentimental items there for their deceased loved ones, which are stored at the Museum and Archeological Regional Storage Facility, with the exception of miniature American flags.
Inscribed on the wall with the Optima typeface are the names of those who died in chronological order, starting at the apex on panel 1E in 1959 (although it was later discovered that the first casualties were military advisors who were killed by artillery fire in 1957), moving day by day to the end of the eastern wall at panel 70E, which ends on May 25, 1968, starting again at panel 70W at the end of the western wall which completes the list for May 25, 1968, and returning to the apex at panel 1W in 1975. Symbolically, this is described as " wound that is closed and healing." Information about rank, unit, and decorations are not given. The wall listed 58,159 names when it was completed in 1993; as of 2005, when four names were added, there are 58,249 names, including 8 women. Approximately 1,200 of these are listed as missing (MIAs, POWs, and others), denoted with a cross; the confirmed dead are marked with a diamond. If the missing return alive, the cross is circumscribed by a circle, (although this has never occurred as of August 2005); if their death is confirmed, a diamond is superimposed over the cross. According to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund "[t]here is no definitive answer to exactly how many, but there could be as many as 38 names of personnel who survived, but through clerical errors, were added to the list of fatalities provided by the Department of Defense."[1]
The Three Soldiers
A short distance away from the wall is another part of the memorial, a bronze statue known as The Three Soldiers (or The Three Servicemen). It was designed to complement the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, by adding a more traditional component. The statue, unveiled in 1984, was designed by Frederick Hart, who placed third in the original competition. The soldiers are purposefully identifiable as Caucasian, African American, and Hispanic. The statue and the Wall appear to interact with each other, with the soldiers looking on in solemn tribute at the names of their dead comrades. It has been suggested that the sculpture was positioned especially for that effect.
Women's Memorial
Also part of the Memorial is the Vietnam Women's memorial. It is located a short distance south of The Wall, north of the Reflecting Pool. It was designed by Glenna Goodacre and dedicated on November 11, 1993.
In Memory Memorial Plaque
A memorial plaque was dedicated on November 10, 2004 at the northeast corner of plaza surrounding the Three Soldiers statue to honor veterans who died after the war as a direct result of injuries suffered in Vietnam, but who fall outside Department of Defense guidelines. The plaque is a carved block of black granite, 3 feet by 2 feet, inscribed "In memory of the men and women who served in the Vietnam War and later died as a result of their service. We honor and remember their sacrifice."
Ruth Coder Fitzgerald, founder of The Vietnam War In Memory Memorial Plaque Project worked for years and struggled against opposition to have the In Memory Memorial Plaque completed. The organization was disbanded, but their web site is maintained by the Vietnam War Project at Texas Tech University.
The Moving Wall, also known as The Traveling Wall
Vietnam veteran John Devitt of Stockton, California attended the 1982 dedication ceremonies of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. Recognizing the healing nature of the Wall, he vowed to make a transportable version of the Wall, a "Traveling Wall" so persons who were not able to get to Washington, DC would be able to see and touch the names of friends or loved ones in their own home town.
With his own financial donation John founded Vietnam Combat Veterans, Ltd. With the help of some friends the half-size replica of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial named The Moving Wall was built and first put on display to the public in Tyler, Texas, in 1984.
The Moving Wall soon visited hundreds of small towns and cities all over the USA, staying five or six days at each site. Local arrangements for each visit were made months in advance by veterans organizations or other civic groups. Thousands of people all over the USA volunteered their time and money to help honor the fallen.
Desire for a hometown visit of The Moving Wall was so high the waiting list became long. In 1987 Vietnam Combat Veterans built a second structure of The Moving Wall. A third structure was added in 1989. In 2001 one of the structures was retired due to wear.
By the end of 2005 there had been more than 1000 hometown visits of The Moving Wall. The count of people who visited The Moving Wall when it was near them for five days ranges from 5,000 to more than 50,000, the total estimate of visitors is in the tens of millions.
Schedules of planned visits and other information about The Moving Wall can be seen on the web site www.TheMovingWall.org
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==Trivia
- All nonperishable items left at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial-with the exception of miniature American flags-are collected daily and stored at the Museum and Archeological Regional Storage Facility.
- In one episode of The Simpsons Bart and Lisa never return from a school field trip. Groundskepper Willie inserts their names on the wall as Missing in Action. The Monument was shaped as the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C.
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References
- Vietnam Veterans Memorial, National Park Service leaflet, GPO:2004—304-377/00203
- Wagner-Pacific, R., & Schwartz, B. (1991). The Vietnam Veterans Memorial: Commemorating a Difficult Past. The American Journal of Sociology, 97, 376-420.
- The National Parks: Index 2001–2003. Washington: U.S. Department of the Interior.
External links
- Official NPS website: Vietnam Veterans Memorial
- The Virtual Wall (TM)
- View The Wall
- Maya Ying Lin's Vietnam Veterans Memorial proposal at the Library of Congress
- The Moving Wall (TM)
- Vietnam Veterans Wall South in Pensacola, FL (aka 'The Wall South')
- 360 degree Virtual Tour
- Photo essay: Valentine's Day at the U.S. Viet Nam War Memorial (Wikinews article)
- Maya Lin article in Seattle Weekly