Vietnam Veterans Memorial
By Bowen Xiang and Ryan Van Meter
Description of Place
The Vietnam Veterans Memorial is a memorial built to honor those who served in the Vietnam War. The memorial is divided into three parts: The Three Soldiers statue, the Vietnam Women's Memorial, and the Wall listing the names of the veterans who died. The memorial is located in Washington D.C just north of the Lincoln Memorial. On opening day in 1982, there were 57,939 names printed on the wall. The wall itself is mad out of black granite mined from India and the sculptures around the are mad out of bronze.
A Nighttime view of the memorial with the Washington Monument in the background
History of the place
The Vietnam memorial was founded by Jan Scruggs who served in the Vietnam war from 1969-1970. The Memorial wall was designed by an undergraduate at Yale university named Maya Ying Lin, her design was to create a park within a park. Also, the statues were designed and built by Fredric Hart who was selected by the VVMF, he built the well known statue The Three Service men. The VVMF (Vietnam Veterans Memorial fund) raised over 9,000,000 dollars just on donations to create the Vietnam Memorial. On march 16,1982 the construction for the Vietnam Memorial began and it finally finished on November 11, 1984.
The Three Soldiers Statue designed and built by Fredric Hart
Importance of Place
Every single name on the wall is a person who died while fighting in the Vietnam war, and names are still being added to this day of the people who died their. Many of the names that are on the wall are veterans who choose to serve their country again even after being in many other wars such as WW2, Korean and now the Vietnam war. These brave men and women gave the greatest sacrifice to their country, protecting and fighting for our country's safety. They will forever be remembered for their bravery and their sacrifice for our country.