Vietnam Veterans Memorial
Vietnam Veterans Memorial | ||
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National Register of Historic Places | ||
National Historic Landmark | ||
The Memorial Wall |
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location | Washington , District of Columbia , United States | |
Coordinates | 38 ° 53 '26 " N , 77 ° 2' 45" W | |
surface | 0.81 ha | |
Built | November 13, 1982 | |
architect | Maya Ying Lin | |
Number of visitors | 3,799,968 (2005) | |
NRHP number | [1] 01000285 | |
The NRHP added | November 13, 1982 |
The Vietnam Veterans Memorial is a United States national memorial located in Washington, DC , in honor of members of the United States Armed Forces who died in the Vietnam War or who are missing as a result of the war. The memorial consists of three parts, the Memorial Wall , the Three Servicemen and the Women's Memorial . It was funded entirely by donations from the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund , set up at the suggestion of John P. Wheeler , at the initiative of Vietnam War veterans , and was intended to contribute to the reconciliation of the divided American population.
Memorial Wall
location
The memorial is located in Washington, DC Central Park, north of the Great Reflecting Pool, about 300 meters east of the Lincoln Memorial.
The original
The Memorial Wall is the oldest part of the memorial. The foundation stone for the wall made of black, polished granite was laid on March 26, 1982, and it was consecrated on November 13, 1982. It is built into the site and consists of two 75-meter-long arms that meet at a 125 ° angle - one arm points towards the Washington Monument , the other towards the Lincoln Memorial . A footpath leads down the gentle slope to the intersection of the two walls. The walls rise from about 20 cm on the outside to 3.12 meters.
The names of the 58,261 (as of May 2009) killed and missing in the Vietnam War are carved into the wall - they are arranged chronologically, but starting in the middle of the granite tablets, so that the first soldier killed in 1959 immediately follows the last soldier killed in 1975 follows. They have only one addition: a rhombus for killed soldiers and a cross for missing soldiers. If the mortal remains of missing persons are identified, the diamond is carved over the cross, whereby the cross still protrudes over the corners. If it turns out that a missing person has survived, a circle is inserted around the cross - but there is no circle on the walls.
Moving Wall - scaled down replicas
Since 1984 there has been a variant of the Memorial Wall reduced to half the size, which was set up as a mobile “traveling wall” in various locations.
Number of victims by nationality
Today the Vietnam Veterans Memorial lists the following numbers of victims, divided by US state and nationality:
United States
US state | Number of victims |
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Alabama | 1207 |
Alaska | 60 |
Arizona | 621 |
Arkansas | 590 |
Colorado | 621 |
Connecticut | 612 |
Delaware | 123 |
Florida | 1954 |
Georgia | 1581 |
Hawaii | 276 |
Idaho | 216 |
Illinois | 2934 |
Indiana | 1540 |
Iowa | 855 |
California | 5573 |
Kansas | 627 |
Kentucky | 1056 |
Louisiana | 884 |
Maine | 342 |
Maryland | 1014 |
Massachusetts | 1330 |
Michigan | 2655 |
Minnesota | 1074 |
Mississippi | 637 |
Missouri | 1417 |
Montana | 268 |
Nebraska | 395 |
Nevada | 150 |
New Hampshire | 227 |
New Jersey | 1487 |
New Mexico | 397 |
new York | 4123 |
North Carolina | 1612 |
North Dakota | 198 |
Ohio | 3095 |
Oklahoma | 987 |
Oregon | 709 |
Pennsylvania | 3147 |
Rhode Island | 208 |
South carolina | 897 |
South Dakota | 192 |
Tennessee | 1293 |
Texas | 3418 |
Utah | 366 |
Vermont | 100 |
Virginia | 1304 |
Washington | 1050 |
West Virginia | 731 |
Wisconsin | 1160 |
Wyoming | 120 |
Washington, DC | 241 |
total | 57,674 |
U.S. foreign territories
Outdoor area | Number of victims |
---|---|
American Samoa | 4th |
American Virgin Islands | 15th |
Guam | 70 |
Puerto Rico | 345 |
total | 434 |
Rest of nations
country | Number of victims |
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Australia | 1 |
Bahamas | 1 |
Bolivia | 1 |
Brazil | 1 |
Costa Rica | 1 |
Germany | 7th |
France | 2 |
Ireland | 1 |
Italy | 1 |
Jamaica | 2 |
Japan | 2 |
Canada | 57 |
Colombia | 1 |
Mexico | 5 |
New Zealand | 2 |
Panama | 5 |
Peru | 1 |
Philippines | 27 |
Switzerland | 1 |
United Kingdom | 2 |
total | 121 |
additions
Flagpole
As a first concession to the wall's critics, an 18-meter-high flagpole was added in mid-1983. The emblems of the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines and Coast Guard are affixed around the bronze base.
The three soldiers
On November 11, 1984, the 2.13 meter high bronze statue of the Three Servicemen , sometimes also called the Three Soldiers , was unveiled as a further compromise solution . The statue, which was designed by Frederick Hart and adds a traditional element to the memorial, depicts three young soldiers in typical Vietnam uniforms.
Women's Memorial
The Women's Memorial is a bronze statue designed by Glenna Goodacre and unveiled on November 11, 1993. The statue is surrounded by eight trees ( yellow cladrastis ) that symbolize the eight women of the US armed forces killed in Vietnam.
The memorial shows three women in battle uniforms who care for a wounded soldier. The first woman takes care of the soldier, another kneels in thought or prayer, and the third looks up to the sky: perhaps she is waiting for a helicopter or for help from a higher power - Glenna Goodacre has never said anything about her motivation.
The names of the eight women are on the memorial wall itself:
- Capt. Eleanor Grace Alexander (born September 18, 1940 - November 30, 1967) from Riverdale ( New Jersey )
- 2nd Lt. Pamela Dorothy Donovan (born March 25, 1942 - † July 8, 1968) from Brighton ( Massachusetts )
- 2nd Lt. Carol Ann Elizabeth Drazba (December 11, 1943 - February 18, 1966) from Dunmore ( Pennsylvania )
- Lt. Col. Annie Ruth Graham (7 November 1916 - 14 August 1968) from Efland ( North Carolina )
- 2nd Lt. Elizabeth Ann Jones (September 12, 1943 - February 18, 1966) from Allendale ( South Carolina )
- Capt. Mary Therese Klinker (born October 3, 1947 - April 4, 1975) from Lafayette ( Indiana )
- 1st Lt. Sharon Ann Lane (7 July 1943 - 8 June 1969) from Canton ( Ohio )
- 1st Lt. Hedwig Diane Orlowski (born April 13, 1944 - November 30, 1967) from Detroit ( Michigan )
History of origin
In the course of the Vietnam War , the resistance in the American population grew stronger, so that after the end of the war a deeply divided nation remained. In 1979, some Vietnam veterans established the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund (VVMF) to create a fully donated memorial. John P. Wheeler, appointed by President Ronald Reagan , who was chairman of the fund from 1979 to 1989, played a key role. Although this initiative was initially ridiculed, more than 275,000 people have raised over $ 8.4 million in just a few months. On April 30, 1980, presented the US Senate after a debate of just seven minutes the VVMF an area northeast of the Lincoln Memorial with a size of about 8,100 square meters (2 acres) and signed on 1 July 1980. President Jimmy Carter , the corresponding Law.
In October 1980, the VVMF launched an America-wide competition for the memorial, giving participants four guidelines:
- it should have a contemplative and thoughtful character
- it should fit in harmoniously with the surroundings and the neighboring memorials
- it should contain the names of the dead and missing
- it is not intended to make a political statement about the war.
By the end of the competition on March 31, 1981, 1421 designs had been submitted, which were examined by a jury consisting of architects and sculptors. On May 1, 1981, the unanimously chosen design was presented to the public - the design by Maya Ying Lin , a then 21-year-old architecture student. After the foundation stone was laid on March 26, 1982, the memorial was consecrated on November 13, 1982.
The split in American society was even carried into the ranks of the Vietnam veterans by Maya Lin's draft: for many, the mood of the memorial was too gloomy and the character was not reminiscent of traditional war memorials - the comments were from a black gash of shame (“a black gash der Shame ”) to“ dishonorable ”and“ death-oriented ”. As a result, the proposal was even made to demolish the memorial again.
After heated debates, it was agreed to add two more traditional elements to the Memorial Wall - a flagpole and a traditional statue, the Three Servicemen .
But even after the establishment of the Three Servicemen , there were still many critical voices: Many of them missed the contribution and suffering of the more than 265,000 women who primarily served as nurses - more than 11,000 of them in Vietnam. In 1984 the Vietnam Women's Memorial Foundation was established with the aim of creating a Vietnam Women's Memorial on the grounds of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.
After Congress approved the project in 1988, a call for tenders was launched - Glenna Goodacre's design was selected from the 317 entries and the Vietnam Women's Memorial was unveiled on November 11, 1993.
Together with the flagpole, the Three Servicemen and the Vietnam Women's Memorial , the Memorial Wall became the Healing Wall , the “healing wall” that contributed a lot to the reconciliation of American society and to the processing of the national trauma.
The Memorial received the 2007 Twenty-five Year Award from the American Institute of Architects .
Web links
- The Wall. - official website (including the names of the victims)
- National Park Service: Vietnam Veterans Memorial (official site; English)
- Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund
- Vietnam Women's Memorial Foundation
Individual evidence
- ^ National Register Information System . In: National Register of Historic Places . National Park Service . Retrieved July 9, 2010.
- ↑ American Institute of Architects : list of winners