National memorial dominated by a black granite wall engraved with the names of those service members who died as a result of their service in Vietnam and South East Asia

How to Get There

Head southeast on Scott Cir NW toward Rhode Island Ave NW. Exit the traffic circle onto Rhode Island Ave NW. Use the left lane to turn slightly right onto M St NW. Turn left at the 2nd cross street onto 19th St NW. Turn right onto Constitution Ave. NW. Use the left 2 lanes to turn left onto Henry Bacon Dr NW.

Overview

The Vietnam Veterans Memorial is a national memorial in Washington, D.C., honoring service members of the U.S. armed forces who fought in the Vietnam War. The 2-acre (8,100 m2) site is dominated by a black granite wall engraved with the names of those service members who died as a result of their service in Vietnam and South East Asia during the war. The wall, completed in 1982, has since been supplemented with the statue The Three Soldiers and the Vietnam Women's Memorial.

The memorial is in Constitution Gardens, adjacent to the National Mall and just northeast of the Lincoln Memorial. The memorial is maintained by the National Park Service, and receives around 3 million visitors each year. The Memorial Wall was designed by American architect Maya Lin. In 2007, it was ranked tenth on the "List of America's Favorite Architecture" by the American Institute of Architects. As a National Memorial, it is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Memorial Wall

The Memorial Wall is made up of two 246-foot-9-inch (75.21 m) long black granite walls, polished to a high finish, and etched with the names of the servicemen being honored in 140 panels of horizontal rows with regular typeface and spacing. The walls are sunken into the ground, with the earth behind them. At the highest tip (the apex where they meet), they are 10.1 feet (3.1 m) high, and they taper to a height of 8 inches (200 mm) at their extremities. Symbolically, this is described as a "wound that is closed and healing" and exemplifies the Land art movement of the 1960s which produced sculptures that sought to reconnect with the natural environment. The stone for the 144 panels was quarried in Bangalore, India.

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 two very small blank panels at the extremities. There is a pathway along the base of the Wall where visitors may walk.

The Three Servicemen

A short distance away from the wall is another Vietnam veterans memorial, a bronze statue named The Three Servicemen (sometimes called The Three Soldiers). The statue depicts three soldiers, purposefully identifiable as European American, African American, and Hispanic American. In their final arrangement, the statue and the Wall appear to interact with each other, with the soldiers looking on in solemn tribute at the names of their fallen comrades. The distance between the two allows them to interact while minimizing the effect of the addition on Lin's design.

Women's Memorial

The Vietnam Women's Memorial is a memorial dedicated to the women of the United States who served in the Vietnam War, most of whom were nurses. It serves as a reminder of the importance of women in the conflict. It depicts three uniformed women with a wounded soldier. It is part of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial and is located on National Mall in Washington, D.C., a short distance south of The Wall, north of the Reflecting Pool.

In Memory memorial plaque

A memorial plaque, authorized by an Act of Congress (Pub.L. 106-214 (text) (pdf)), was dedicated on November 10, 2004, at the northeast corner of the 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 by 2 feet (0.91 by 0.61 m), 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, the founder of The Vietnam War In Memory Memorial Plaque Project, worked for years to have the In Memory Memorial Plaque completed. The organization has been disbanded, but their web site is maintained by the Vietnam War Project at Texas Tech University.

This article uses material from the Wikipedia article "Vietnam Veterans Memorial" which is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share-Alike License 3.0