Vietnam Veterans Memorial

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Vietnam Veterans Memorial
National Register of Historic Places
National Historic Landmark
The Memorial Wall

The Memorial Wall

Vietnam Veterans Memorial (District of Columbia)
Paris plan pointer b jms.svg
location Washington , District of Columbia , United States
Coordinates 38 ° 53 '26 "  N , 77 ° 2' 45"  W 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
Central bend of the wall where the first meets the last dead
"Back"
A diamond for killed soldiers, a cross for missing soldiers
Engravings and reflections: the present and the past are linked
Victims index, available on site

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
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
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, right behind it "The Three Soldiers" statue, in the background the Memorial Wall

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:

  1. it should have a contemplative and thoughtful character
  2. it should fit in harmoniously with the surroundings and the neighboring memorials
  3. it should contain the names of the dead and missing
  4. 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

Commons : Vietnam Veterans Memorial  - Collection of pictures, videos, and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ National Register Information System . In: National Register of Historic Places . National Park Service . Retrieved July 9, 2010.
  2. ↑ American Institute of Architects : list of winners
This version was added to the list of articles worth reading on August 26, 2005 .