Maya Lin is a Yale graduate. Her design chosen when she was a student at Yale. She beat 1,441 other people in the design competition for the memorial. Her design is in a "V" shape with the end points lining up with the Lincoln Memorial and the Monument. The memorial has more than 58,260 names of soldiers who never came home from the Vietnam war. The names are in chronological order of when the soldier died or were declared missing. The soldiers who were declared missing have a cross next to their name rather than a diamond like all of the other names of those who died.
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| Maya Lin |
"I remember one of the veterans asking me before the memorial was built what I thought people's reaction would be to it. I was too afraid to tell him what I was thinking, that I knew a returning veteran would cry." - Maya Lin. In Lin's design it was a intended that you see yourself while looking at the thousands of names chisled into the black granite wall. The black is to represent the death of all the soldiers and the grief from their deaths. Your reflection is shown so that you can bond with the peoples names on the wall and their spirits.
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| Vertex of the memorial, People are reflected in the granite |
There were many reasons that authorized the composition of
the memorial. The design was intended to be intent and thoughtful in scenery.
The composition of the memorial is supposed to arrange in a way of harmony with
its essential surroundings, the Lincoln memorial and the monument being a
couple of those surrounding. The missing and dead men and women should have
their names in the wall as a part of the design. Also, the composition should
have nothing to do with politics about the Vietnam War.
Although there were politics about Maya Lin and her design. She claims that her design would not have been chosen if they knew about her chinese ethinicity. She had to overcome racial discrimination because she was being seen as a communist. She had to defend her and her design in front of the United States Congress, the design came close to not being built at all, but she made a deal to add the bronze statue of the three soldiers. This controversy will never be spoken at the memorial, nor will any politics of the war, the memorial is strictly for remembering and honoring men and women from the Vietnam war. Everyday, items are left for honoring soldiers, the items are taken up by the Park rangers and kept.
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| A night view of the memorial looking at the Monument. |
Although there were politics about Maya Lin and her design. She claims that her design would not have been chosen if they knew about her chinese ethinicity. She had to overcome racial discrimination because she was being seen as a communist. She had to defend her and her design in front of the United States Congress, the design came close to not being built at all, but she made a deal to add the bronze statue of the three soldiers. This controversy will never be spoken at the memorial, nor will any politics of the war, the memorial is strictly for remembering and honoring men and women from the Vietnam war. Everyday, items are left for honoring soldiers, the items are taken up by the Park rangers and kept.
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| Items left at the memorial in honor of those who died and are still missing. |
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| Soldiers at the vietnam memorial |
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