Vietnam Veterans Memorial Turns 25 - VOA Story

Like most capital cities, Washington, D.C., has its share of monuments and memorials. November 13, one of those monuments, the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, marks its 25th anniversary. The once controversial memorial has become a powerful symbol and a place of healing for many Americans.

For the fourth time in 25 years, the names of more than 58,000 Americans who were killed during the Vietnam War were read aloud. Long after the events surrounding the 25th anniversary of the Vietnam Memorial are over, the names will remain; etched in stone, on two 75-meter long, black granite walls along with the year the war began, 1959, and the year it ended, 1975.




Vietnam veteran Jan Scruggs describes the era as "very divisive." "There were major protests in Washington and other cities," he recalls. Scruggs founded the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund, and seeded the project with $2,800.00 of his own money.

Many Americans visit the wall not only to honor loved ones, but the memorial itself. Today, many visitors are too young to remember the Vietnam War, but the current war in Iraq has raised their interest.

Surprisingly, this Memorial that has moved more than one generation was not well received when 21-year-old Maya Lin's design was chosen in a competition among 1400 other entries. Described by the architect herself as resembling "a wound in the earth that is slowly healing," it was, to say the least, unconventional.

"There were some people who actually stopped the entire project, people in the U.S. Congress. So we needed a compromise," says Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund President Jan Scruggs."

The compromise was to add a statue depicting three soldiers, who overlook the Wall below. But it is the Wall that attracts more than four million visitors every year. Jan Scruggs says it will continue to long after the last veteran of the Vietnam War is gone. "The visitation will continue, because it is a great work of architecture."

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• Veterans
• Memorial
• war

[blair227]

To all my fellow Vietnam vets and all you other great vets out there God Bless You.