Vietnam War Memorial

The Vietnam War Memorial is the US national memorial to US soldiers fought and died in the Vietnam War. "The Wall", formally known as the Vietnam Veteran's Memorial Wall is the most well known part of the memorial, but the memorial also includes the Three Soldier's Statue, as well as Vietnam Women's Memorial.

The wall was designed by (then) 21 year old Yale University architecture student Maya Lin. Lin won a $50,000 contest to design the monument. Her design, which was controversial at the time, was not a typical war memorial. It consists of two walls of black granite, connected at a 125 degree angle. One wing points toward the Washington Monument; the other to the Lincoln Memorial. The names of the more than 58,000 servicemen and women who died, or are classified as missing in the war, are etched into the wall, which is constructed of granite with a high reflective quality.

The use of this highly polished granite was a crucial part of the design--when standing at the wall, a visitor sees their own reflection, mixed in with the names. This symbolizes the mixing of the past with the present. The last name was added to the wall in May 2007.

An underground Vietnam Veteran's Memorial Center is also planned to be built in 2010 near the site of the current memorial.