Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, DC . . . the "Wall"

Like a magnificent black tombstone bearing a sea of names, the "Wall" seems to go on forever. Officially named the Vietnam Veterans Memorial and located in Washington, DC, the monument honors service members who died in the Vietnam War and those who were declared Missing in Action during the conflict.

The "Wall", completed in 1982, is just one of three parts of the memorial. In 1984, the Three Servicemen Statue was added and the more recent Vietnam Women's Memorial was dedicated in 1993.

A wounded Vietnam veteran, Corporal Jan Scruggs, founded the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund and raised 8.4 million dollars from private donations to establish a memorial fitting to honor the thousands of men and women who lost their lives in the conflict. No federal funds were used to construct the monument.

A competition was held to select a design with over 1,400 entries submitted to win a prize of $50,000. The submissions were numbered to keep the designers' identities unknown from the jury. Entry number 1026 by Maya Ying Lin, a 21 year old Yale University student from Athens, Ohio was the winning design.

Made of black granite from India, the monument is 493 feet long and 10 feet high at its highest point. The stone is very highly polished to create a detailed reflection of the visitor looking at the over 58,000 names engraved on the wall. This is meant to symbolize bringing the past and present together.

The names were carved into the granite by a computerized typesetting process called photo stencil gritblasting. The names are arranged in chronological order according to the date of casualty or the date they were reported missing and then in alphabetical order for that day.

The first name listed is US Army Major Dale Richard Buis from Pender, Nebraska who was killed by Vietcong guerillas at Bien Hoa on July 8, 1959.

Symbols next to each name denote the status of the service member. A diamond shape next to a name indicates the person is confirmed dead; A plus sign means the person is missing in action. If the missing service person returns alive, a circle will be placed around the plus sign. Sadly, there currently are 1200 names with plus signs and there are no circles..

Just as the Vietnam War itself was the center of a great national controversy, the memorial also became shrouded in negativity.

The design was thought to be too unconventional with many veterans calling it "a black gash of shame". Philanthropist H. Ross Perot withdrew his financial support when he saw the winning design. The Secretary of the Interior refused to issue a building permit for the memorial because of the public outcry.

The monument architect, Maya Lin, defended her plan to Congress. To appease critics and add a more traditional component, the Three Servicemen Statue was added. Made out of bronze, It includes three servicemen, a Caucasian, an African American and a Hispanic. The soldiers look off at the "Wall" in the distance with the names of their fallen comrades.

Lin was so outraged at the addition to her original plan, she refused to attend the dedication of the Three Servicemen Statue. She attributed the negative public attitude to her ethnicity saying she would not have won the design contest if her name was known by the judges. Lin, a native born American, is the child of parents that fled from China to the US in 1949.

Many visitors leave tributes at the memorial including flowers, American flags and teddy bears. Someone even left a Harley-Davidson motorcycle with the license plate "HERO" parked against the wall. All items, unless perishable (such as flowers), are kept in storage at the National Park Service Museum.

Angelo Liteky, an Army Chaplain who was a Medal of Honor recipient, placed his medal in an envelope addressed to then-President Reagan and left it at the wall. His letter to the President explained he was returning it in display of his anti-war sentiments. Liteky had received the medal for carrying 20 of his fellow soldiers to safety during an attack. Incidentally, he is the only Medal of Honor recipient in history to renounce his medal. It is now on display in the National Museum of American HIstory.

In the years since the monument was constructed, three acts of vandalism have been reported. In 1988, a swastika (symbol of the Nazi party) was scratched into two of the panels which were replaced.

Today, the majority of the monument's critics have changed their opinions or have become less vocal. Over 3 million people visit the national monument each year and marvel at its simplistic beauty. Whether you personally served in the Vietnam War or knew someone who did, the Vietnam Veterans Memorial is a place for personal reflection and solemn tribute. Seeing the 58,272 names in the polished black granite will bring tears to your eyes and an aching in your heart.