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Vietnam War Memorial Term Paper
popular painting of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial features a lone man in a business suit, his head bowed, placing his hand on the dark, black granite wall of the memorial on which are written the names of the dead and missing. Reflected in the monument are the images of the men he remembers that were stationed with him. Such powerful emotional images are not uncommon to veterans who share the usually painful memory of having served in the military action that lasted from 1959 until 1973 and claimed 58,226 American lives.
According to the National Park Service, the Memorial is not a war Memorial but rather a Memorial to those who served in the war, both living and dead. This follows a popular theme of creating holidays such as Veterans Day and Memorial Day that attempted to recognize the contributions of servicemen rather than to glorify war. This idea is in many ways unique, for instance in Russia a day is dedicated to all men who serve in wars and roughly translates as The Day for the Defenders of the Fatherland.
The critical requirements for the design of the memorial were that it: be reflective and contemplative in character; harmonize with its surroundings; contain the names of those who had died in the conflict or who were still missing; and make no political statement about the war. This was important at the time of construction because the war was largely seen by many as unnecessary; the action of a military-industrial complex that sent young men to die lest they be imprisoned or forced to leave the United States. President Jimmy Carter in 1977 had officially pardoned all draft dodgers, retroactively legitimizing some of the claims of the war's opponents. The purpose of the monument would be to separate the political notions associated with the war from the grief felt by families and friends at the loss of their loved ones. Many at the time thought that the men who did give their lives had been morally abandoned by the government, and were left without a feeling of closure.
The fund that had been privately established by veterans for the creation of the monument solicited entries for the design of the Memorial in October of 1980 through a national competition. By the deadline of March 31, 1981, 1,421 design entries had been submitted for review and were judged by eight jury members. The Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund, Inc. was the principal fund raiser and the impetus behind the creation of the Wall. This Fund raised nearly nine million dollars through private contributions. These came from corporations, foundations, unions, veterans and civic organizations, as well as more than 275,000 individuals.
On May 1, Maya Ying, a first-generation Chinese-American whose parents had fled…
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The design and plans received final Federal approval in March of 1982, and work at the site was begun on March 16, 1982. The architectural firm of Cooper-Lecky Partnership supervised construction. Maya Ying Lin was quoted as saying that "...this memorial is for those who have died, and for us to remember them."
The wall begins with the inscription "In honor of the men and women of the armed forces of the United States who served in the Vietnam War. The names of those who gave their lives and of those who remain missing are inscribed in the order they were taken from us." It ends by saying, "Our nation honors the courage, sacrifice and devotion to duty and country of its Vietnam veterans. This Memorial was built with private contributions from the American People. November 11, 1982.
The memorial, which underwent some criticism when it was erected, now enjoys the solemn respect of almost everyone in the country. Loved ones regularly drop off flowers, but it is the other things left that are the most haunting; things such as six-packs of beer, favorite shirts, and pictures of smiling friends. These are collected by the nearby Smithsonian Museum and examples are regularly displayed.
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