Vietnam War Memorial

1. There are 58,209 names that are inscribed in chronological order of the dates of casualties.

The wall was designed by Maya Lin who won a contest for the memorial design at age 21.

It is known as a place of healing for those who were affected by the war

Many acts of vandalism have occurred on the wall such as drawings depicting swastikas

The Vietnam Veterans Memorial honors U.S. service members of the U.S. armed forces who fought in the Vietnam War, and service members who died in service in Vietnam/South East Asia.

In 2007, the American Institute of Architects awarded Vietnam Veterans Memorial as the 10th most favorite on the "List of America’s Favorite Architecture".

In 2010, 6 names were added to the Vietnam Memorial during a ceremony.

The Vietnam Memorial has a section of women on the war who devoted their lives to their county.

The black granite used to create the wall comes from Bangalore, India.

Names have still continuously been added to the list today.

The names were not carved by hand, but by a computerized imprintation of text.

The Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund, Inc. raised nearly $9,000,000 through private contributions from corporations, foundations, unions, veterans and civic organizations and more than 275,000 individual Americans to build the memorial.

One of the compromises for Maya Lin to create the Vietnam War Memorial was the commission of three bronze statues of soldiers. They're easily identifiable as White, Hispanic American, and African American, and portrayed in the usual war memorial manner.

In his blog “Edges of the Wall” Tom Trask notes that the date "1959" is engraved on the upper left hand corner of the first panel on the east side of The Wall. At the lower right corner of the first panel of the west side, we find the date "1975." When the memorial was finished, in 1982, some people expressed surprise at those dates. The Vietnam War, they thought, started in either 1964 or 1965 and ended in 1973. On line 1 of the first panel on the east side of The Wall, two of the names are those of soldiers killed in 1959. They are Chester N. Ovnard (MSGT, Army, from El Reno, Oklahoma) and Dale R. Buis (Major, Army, from Pender, Nebraska). Both of them were killed on July 8, 1959. But they weren't the first Americans killed in Vietnam. Harry G. Cramer was killed nearly two years before Ovnard and Buis, on October 21, 1957. His name doesn't appear on line 1 of the first panel, however; it appears on line 78. Cramer was a Captain in the Army from Johnstown, Pennsylvania.

By the Vietnam War Memorial is a life size bronze statue depicting three young servicemen is located near the Vietnam Memorial Wall and by the Vietnam Women’s Memorial, a sculpture of two women in uniform tending to the wounds of a male soldier while a third woman kneels nearby.

The Vietnam Veterans Memorial is made up of three separate parts: the Three Soldiers statue, the Vietnam Women's Memorial, and the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall. The Vietnam Memorial wall is the best known part.

REVISION: Many acts of vandalism have occurred on the wall such as drawings depicting swastikas.

If there is a diamond next to the name of the soldier, it means that the soldier is missing in action. If there is a cross over the diamond, it means the soldier was killed in action.

The unconventionality of the design was very controversial, especially among veterans. Many publicly voiced their disgust, calling the wall "a black gash of shame." Two prominent early supporters of the project, H. Ross Perot and James Webb, withdrew their support once they saw the design.

Dan Bullock, who was in the U.S. Marine Corps, is the youngest person who is on the memorial and was only fifteen years old.