Vietnam Veterans Memorial

“Public Commemoration is a form of history making, yet it can also be a contested form of remembrance in which cultural memories slide through and into each other, merging and the disengaging in a tangle of narratives” (Sturken 118). The Vietnam Veterans memorial is a place of public commemoration in which people young and old can remember the loss and devastation that occurred during the Vietnam War. Located on the grassy slopes of the Constitution Gardens , the Vietnam Veterans Memorial strikes onlookers as a prominent aspect of the historical monuments that fill the Constitution Gardens .

The Vietnam Veterans Memorial has become known as one of the leading war memorials in the country. The memorial was built in 1982 as a way to observe and remember the men and women who fought in the Vietnam War. The memorial is made up of two walls of black granite set into the earth at an angle of 125 degrees. “Together, the walls form an extended V almost 500 feet in length, tapering in both directions from a height of approximately ten feet at the central hinge. These walls are currently inscribed with 58,132 names of men and women who died in the war, as well as with opening and closing inscriptions” (119). These walls are immense yet when viewed they don't seem overwhelming. As a viewer you are meant to become part of the memorial. The designer Maya Ying Lin a 21 year Yale student was put under a great deal of pressure when her design was chosen because of controversy surrounding the memorials design. Yet even though the design of the memorial was controversial, today the Memorial stands as a symbol of healing and remembrance for Americans throughout this country. The impact that this memorial has had on people has been overwhelming hence, proving how such a simple design can speak to anyone. Perhaps it is the spirituality of the lost veterans that speaks to the public or perhaps it is the simplicity of design that allows the viewers to become part of the memorial.

The Vietnam Veterans memorial was established by the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund, a nonprofit charitable organization started on April 27, 1979 , by a group of Vietnam veterans. These men wanted Vietnam veterans to have a concrete symbol of appreciation and recognition from the American people. In creating this memorial the men hoped to begin the process of healing within the hearts of other veterans along with the American public. Initial support for creation of the memorial came from U.S. Senators Charles McC Mathias Jr. and John W. Warner. Senator Mathias introduced the authorization of the memorial to legislation while, Senator Warner worked to raise money. “More than $8,000,000 was raised, all of which came from private sources. Corporations, foundations, unions, veterans groups and civic organizations contributed, but most importantly, more than 275,000 individual Americans donated the majority of the money needed to build the Memorial” (www.vvmf.org).

On July 1, 1980 Congress sanctioned a site of three acres in the Constitution Gardens for the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. This was a great feat for the Vietnam Veterans Memorial fund, however, they were now left with the challenge of finding a design that they would use for the memorial. The Memorial Fund announced a national design competition in October of 1980. This competition was open to any U.S. citizen over the age of eighteen. “The Vietnam veterans who organized the construction of the memorial stipulated only two things for its design – that it contain the names of those who died or are missing in action and that it be apolitical and harmonious with the site. Implicit within these guidelines was also a desire that the memorial offer some kind of closure to the debates on the war” (Sturken 122). These stipulations were made because the veterans wanted something that really represented healing and remembrance of the war. This competition became the largest of its kind ever held in the United States, there were 2,573 registrants by December 1981. However, by March 31, 1981 the deadline for entries, only half of these original registrants had been submitted. On the deadline for submission all of the designs were displayed at the Andrews Air Force base for the selection committee. The designs covered more that 35,000 square feet of floor space and were each identified by numbers. By May 6, 1981 the jury of architects and sculptors had unanimously selected a design by Maya Ying Lin, a 21 year old architecture student from Yale University. The memorial was to be made up of two walls of black granite set into the earth at an angle of 125 degrees. She wanted the walls to create a sharp V in the ground and span approximately 500 feet. On the black granite walls Maya Lin wanted to inscribe the names in chronological order of the men and women who died. Many of the veterans that made up the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund did not believe that this memorial would speak to the people. One veteran believed that it looked like a bat or even a boomerang that would always come back, hence never allowing the veterans to heal. This design would prove to be a large controversy throughout the veteran's community and also much of the American public.

In August of 1981, Lin, an architectural firm, and building company began to develop plans to build Lin's design. Maya Lin was treated very poorly during the period in which the memorial waited to get federal approval. The ill treatment she received was because most importantly many veterans did not like her design and secondly because of her ethnicity which was, Chinese American. However, many people thought of her as a hero because she did not act out against any of this ill treatment, rather she stood by her design and hoped to retain its integrity. “Perhaps it was Maya Lin's otherness that enabled her to create such a moving work. Perhaps only an outsider could have designed an environment so successful in answering the need for recognition by a group of people – the Vietnam vets – who are plagued by a sense of otherness forced on them by a country that has spent ten years pretending not so see them” (124). The plans and design did not receive final Federal approval until March 11, 1982. The approval of the plan required that a flag pole and also sculpture of Vietnam veterans be erected near the memorial in order to appease all the controversy that remained around the current design. Once all aspects of the design had been approved work began on March 16, 1982, the construction of the memorial did not take very long and the memorial was completed by late October 1982. The memorial was dedicated on November 13, 1982. Unfortunately during the dedication ceremony Maya Lin was not thanked or mentioned due to the controversy surrounding the memorial and secondly because of her ethnic background.

Maya Lin's design was initially based on a design for a funerary monument that she made for a class while at Yale. The design was very simplistic and it strayed from the other war memorials and monuments that this country had seen in the past. “Virtually all of the national memorials and monuments in Washington are made of white stone and are constructed to be seen from a distance. In contrast, the Vietnam Veterans Memorial cuts into the sloping earth: it is not visible until one is almost upon it, and if approached from behind, it seems to disappear into the landscape” (120). Even though the black polished granite was unlike the other memorials in Constitution Gardens Maya Lin used this material for a reason. She wanted the wall to reflect the images that stood in front of it. In doing this Lin created a mirror that when no one was standing in front of reflected the other important monuments in Constitution Gardens, however, when someone stood in front of the memorial they would be presented with their own reflection. “The black stone gives the memorial a reflective surface (one that echoes the reflecting pool of the Lincoln Memorial) that allows viewers to participate in the memorial; seeing their own images in the names, they are thus implicated in the listing of the dead” (120). The interactive aspect of this memorial makes it stand out from other memorials and also helps greatly in the grieving process of the veterans.

Another aspect of the wall that the veterans did not like was that Lin wanted the names on the wall to be placed in chronological order. Much of the memorials power and spirituality lies behind the names on the wall and both the veterans and Lin wanted the names done their own way. The veterans wanted the names to be put in alphabetical order because it would make it easier for people to find the names of friends or family. The veterans “conceived the memorial specifically in terms of the needs of the veterans and family members who would visit it, they were worried that people would be unable to locate a name and simply leave in frustration” (127). Putting the names in alphabetical order would have created a sea of names and rather than presenting the names of individuals, the wall would have presented cultural entities. However Lin stayed firm to her belief that the names should stay in chronological in order to keep the memorial as a moving composition. “As one walks along the wall, one can conceivably walk through the history of the war; Lin and others have referred to it as a “journey.” The chronological listing thus provides veterans with a spatial reference for their experience of the war, a kind of memory map” (128).

“A Black Scar” and other names were given to the memorial by veterans that disapproved of Maya Lin's design for the memorial. “The memorial was condemned by some veterans and others as a highly political statement about the shame of an unvictorious war. Termed the “black gash of shame,” a "degrading ditch,” a “black spot in American history”, the memorial was seen as a monument of defeat, one that spoke more directly to a nations guilt than to the honor of the war dead and the veterans” (122). However, Maya Lin had a purpose for everything that she placed in the memorial and the black granite, the size, and the placement in the earth represented her beliefs on healing and also remembering. Lin stated “I wanted to work with the land and not dominate it. I had an impulse to cut open the earth…an initial violence that in time would heal. The grass would grow back , but the cut would remain, a pure flat surface” (124). She believed that it was important to remember the individuals who died and most importantly one must accept death to overcome it. The memorial is about feeling the pain and being honest with ones self. These controversial issues that were presented about the memorial, although devastating for Maya Lin, only made her stronger and in the end the memorial more meaningful.

Today the Vietnam Veterans memorial stands as one of the most meaningful war memorials in the country. “The most commonly noted response of visitors at the memorial has been to think of the widening circle of pain emanating from each name – to imagine for each name the grieving parents, sisters, brothers, girlfriends, wives and children; to imagine, in effect, the multitude of people who were directly affected by the war” (126). The importance that this memorial has on the American people is that it embodies grief, loss, and also closure for deaths that were great and tragic. This memorial represents a spiritual place where men, women, and families come to see history and also the strength of the men and women that represented our country. What makes this memorial so important is that it is a memorial and not a monument; rather than commemorating a defeat, the defeated and dead are remembered in this memorial. “Memorials embody grief, loss, and tribute or obligation; in so doing, they serve to frame particular historical narratives. They are according to Charles Griswold, 'a species of pedagogy [that] seeks to instruct posterity about the past and, in so doing, necessarily reaches a decision about what is worth recovering'” (120). Maya Lin made every aspect of this memorial meaningful and full of purpose. From the hinge of the black granite to the way the memorial rises out of the ground they are all representations of healing and of wounds that this memorial hopes to mend. Perhaps it is these closely designed aspects of the memorial that make it so important or maybe it is the personal interaction and history that each individual person finds in the memorial. Today men, women, and children visit this memorial and often leave behind objects or letters for the names on the wall. Maya Lin's ability to create such a simplistic yet moving memorial is present today in all different forms of remembrance that it is used for. Perhaps it is these aspects either large or small that create the spirituality that can be felt at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.

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