Vietnam Memorial

The Vietnam Memeorial was completed in 1982; its architect design was won by a competition by Maya LIn of Yale University
1. Wall is made of 2 black granite walls 246 feet 9 inches(75m) long; granite came from Bangalore, India; tone cutting from Barre, Vermont.
2. The Wall lists 58,159 names (completed in 1993); as of May 2007, there are 58,256 names including 8 women; approx. 1200 are listed as MIA, POW denoted with a CROSS; comfirmed dead listed with a DIAMOND.
3. A short distance from the Wall is another Vietnam memorial of The Three Soldiers because many objected to the lack of traditional depictions of soldiers (each soldier is identifialbe as an White, Black, and Hispanic soldier)
4, First official beginning of the Vietnam Wall is Nov. 1, 1955 when under Eisenhower we bacme more than advisors; fall of Saigon April 30, 1975 is the official end of the war
A poem by one who served and died:"If you are able, save for them a place inside of you and save one backward glance when you are leaving for the places they can no longer go. Be not ashamed to say you loved them, though you may or may not have laways. Take what they have taught you with their dying and keep it with your own. And in tthat time when men decide and feel safe to call the war insane, take one moment to embrace those gentle heroes you left behind.- Major Michael Davis O'Donnell, 1 January 1970, Dak to, Vietnam-LOOK FOR HIM ON THE WALL. Sharon