Vietnam Veterans Memorial

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':,. ,i;,_\li'll}lJ.li,i-l'r t, .:,r,..}i-^tr:';,t,.,;,:.,;i\Lr : i\-i.. i'i,i',r.-','), ,,,.'.' ' ..).':,,,,,I ::, \ii.ir,.,'ri ,i.i t . ouR NATION HONORS THE COURAGT,, SACRIFICE ANn DEVOIION TO DUTY AI\[D COT.JNTRY OF ITS VIETI\AM VETERANS THIS MEMORIALWAS BIJIII WITH PRIVATE CONTRIBUTIONS FROM THE AMERICAN PEOPLE. November11,1982 Beginning the Healing Process t i'i.,, -: t- r-i , u "ll d-r -i -1, I ,'.',). ' t: .. ; jii," j', ii 1;i'i ,t ',, . )r i ', ,', { ., -q i! \ i _ ;;;i; .': +l -rt , i',,u,, A i, *-_rr{ i 3_\ Maya Ying Lin conceived her design as creating a park within a park-a quiet protected place unto itself, yet harmonious with the site, To achieve this elfect she chose polished black granite for the walls. lts mirrorlike surlace reflects the surrounding trees, lawns, monuments, and the people Iooking for names. The memorial's walls point to the Washington Monument and the Lincoln Memoria!. The 58,022 names are inscribed in chronologicalorder of the date of casualty, showing the war as a series of individual human sacrifices and giving each name a special place in history. "The names would become the memorial," Lin said.. The names begin at the vertex of the walls be- "iii.r t'|. ' l! 't :r ! ' ].-jr\'" ,l': ' r'. r .". 'r-r,i',,i \iii't't. low the date of the first casualty and continue !o the end of the east wall. They resume at the tip of the west wall, ending at the vertex, above the date ol the last death. With the meeting of the beginning and ending, a maior epoch in American history is denoted. Each name is preceded on the west wallorfollowed on the east wall by one of two symbols: a diamond or a cross. The diamond denotes that the individual's death was confirmed. The approximately 1,300 persons whose names are designated by the cross were either missing or prisoners at the end ol the war and remain missing and unaccounted for. lf a person returns alive, a circle, as a symbolol life, will be inscribed around the 1 The Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund" lnc., a nonprofit charitable organization formed to establish the memorial, was the idea of Jan Scruggs, a former inlantry corporal during the war. !t was incorporated on April 27, 1979, by a group of Vietnam veterans in Washing- ton, D.C. The founders wanted Vietnam veterans to have a tangible symbolof recognition lrom American society. They early on realized that whatever design would ultimately result, four basic criteria had to be met: (1) that it be reflective and contemplative in character, (2) that it harmonize with its surroundings, especially the neighboring national memorials, (3) that it contain the names of all who died or remain missing, and (4) that it make no political statement about the war. By separating the issue of those who served in Vietnam from that ol U.S. policy in the war, the group hoped to begin a process of national reconciliation. cross. ln the event an individua!'s remains are returned or is otherwise accounted for, the diamond will be superimposed over the cross. Some Facts About the Memorial The walls are246.75 feet long and the angle at the vertex is 125012'. There are 140 pilings with the average depth to bedrock being 35 feet. The height of the walls at the vertex is 10.1 feet. The granite comes lrom Bangalore, lndia; it was cut and labricated at Barre, Vermont. The names were grit-blasted in Memphis, Tennessee, with the height of individual letters being 0.53 inch and the depth,0.038 inch. The Personal Legacy Lives On ,, staff. '''rl''''i- "" the Hart;s goal was to creI i1l-ffiW' emblemsofthefive t r$ifl ll I ateam-ovingevocation The services. scutpture and ot ttre exper'ience 3d ffi*ffi$ffi li )*" i.,t'w:.)reuem*mr Sculptor Frederick r1 from a 60-loot The base contains service bl the Vietnam and flag form an entrance plaza. veteran. He has described it as follows: "They wear the uniform The completed memorial has achieved all and carry the equipment ol war;they are that Lin and Hart hoped young. The contrast be- that it would and more. tween the innocence Rubbings are taken of the names by loved ol their youth and the weapons of war under- ones. Every day family scores the poignancy members and friends of their sacrifice. There leave mementos and is about them the phys- tokens of remembrance ical contact and sense at the memorial making of unity that bespeaks them as much ol a legacy of the Vietnam the bonds of love and sacrifice that is the na- years as the memorial ture of men at war. . . . itself. Their strength and their vulnerability are both evident." The flag flies Establishing the Memorial On July 1, 1980, Congress authorized a site in Constitution Gardens near the Lincoln Memorial for the Vietnam Veterans Memorial thereby providing the prominent, large parklike setting that the organizers had and figurative sculpture depicting fighting men in Vietnam would be added to the memorial site. Washington sculptor Frederick Hart was selected to design the sculpture of the servicemen. lected through a national competition open to any U.S. citizen 18 years of age or older. The 1,421 design entries submitted were judged anonymously by a jury of eight internationally recognized artists and designers. On May 1, 1981, the jury presented its unanimous selection for first prize. The winning design was the work ol Maya Ying Lin of Athens, Ohio, who at the time was a 21-yearold st.udent at Yale University. The following January it was determined that a flagstaff more than 275,000 individual Americans. Administration The Vietnam Veterans Memorial is adminis- tered by the National Park Service, U.S. hoped to find. That fa!! it was announced that the memorial's design would be se- unions, veterans, civic organizations, and On March 11, 1982, the memorial's design and plans received final approval, and ground was formally broken on March 26. Construction of the walls was completed in Iate October and the memorial was dedi- Department of the lnterior. Address inquiries to the Superintendent, National Capita! Parks-Central,900 Ohio Drive, SW, Washington, DC20242. cated November 13, 1982. The life-size sculp- ture was installed in the fall of 1984. On November 11 that year, the President accepted the completed memorialon behalf of the Nation. The $7,000,000 cost of establishing the memorialwas raised entirely through contributions lrom corporations, foundations, Vietnam Veterans Memorial Washington, D.C. National Park Service U.S. Department of the lnterior