The memorial situated between the Lincoln Memorial and the Washington Monument has two walls filled with names that points in both directions. It memorializes those who died in the only war the U. S. ever lost. The war itself was a military, political and social disaster, however the men and women who lost their lives needed to be remembered. Because the war itself caused such turmoil among our citizens and among family members, the monument itself was to be a symbol of healing. The wall itself caused tremendous controversy because it did not capture the preconcieved image that many veterans had regarding how soldiers should be remembered. The World War II memorial is probably more in line with the traditional idea of a memorial to the fallen soldier. Most people do not quibble with the images of eagles and laurel wreaths along with bronze and granite mixed with neoclassical architecture. The simplicity and starkness of the wall along with the use of black granite was shocking to many.
As a person who lived through the time period I see the wall with all those names of mainly young men who really never had an opportunity to experience so many of life's joys as a wall of witness. It is a painful reminder of a government gone wrong and young who may have been.
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Enjoyed Your Heart Felt Reflection on the Vietnam Memorial and the Value that Derives From the Activity of Healing Through Remembering, - by Way of Constructing an Appropriate Memorial With the MUCH NEEDED Human Exercise of (HOPEFULLY) Learning From the Past. I the Meantime, be Wary of the Politicians and Military Planners.
ReplyDeleteOut of all the sites visited, I felt the Vietnam Memorial really captured the scale and personal sacrifice of the men who fought and died in Vietnam. What struck me most was when Carol was rubbing the name of a deceased soldier. As the name came to life on a previously blank piece of paper that individual was made tangible. It was perhaps the most personal and heart wrenching memorial. The wall itself both fractured and harmonized with its natural environment. It reflected both a fracture in our national identity during the war, and a coming back together again.
ReplyDeleteI felt as if I was walking through a once shallow, then deepening black sea of saddness and death. I found myself relived as each step past the middle corner got increasingly shallower and shallower and then I could let out a deep breath as it ended. It truly fely like I was drowning in sorrow. My mother knew someone who was killed in Vietnam, her first love, Mike Dean. But I did not feel it my place to look for his name just then, as I give way to people who were ore personally affected by it.
ReplyDeleteI felt the Vietnam Memorial is mysteriously eerie at night. The lights shining on names at small intervals. Despite this somber tone, the Wall I think is appropriate to show the current generation the scope of the American mistake that we made. Unlike WWII where we had a clear purpose and mission, Vietnam was a quagmire. Therefore, honoring each and every individual who gave their life was both inspirational - by giving proper honor to each man and woman - and necessary.
ReplyDeleteThe Wall to me also had a very circular feel to it, in that despite being a wall, starting and ending the wall at it's highest point gave me the feel that the loss was never ending. It was very powerful to have the beginning and then end lumped together.
The memory of those lost will live on in the trinkets left by visitors, by the sight of someone leaning against the Wall in the darkness, and by the names etched in the stone, permanent reminders of the tragedy that can never be undone
I think Michael really captured the solemnity and beauty of this memorial. By inscribing each and every soldier's name on the wall one can really began to grasp the magnitude of how many soldiers were lost during this conflict. The act of being able to rub one's name off the wall also makes it a more significant experience by allowing the visitor to take away something tangible from their time at this site.
ReplyDeleteI found it extremely moving and personal. I saw it as a nation coming to terms with their mistakes and apologizing to their citizens for their mad escalation. The statues were quite moving as well. It captured the desperation of young men that just wanted the war to be over and come home. But perhaps what made the experience the most moving to me was just being there with people that experienced that time and being able to silently mourn with them and feel their loss.
ReplyDeleteI too found the Vietnam Wall to be the most somber and emotional of all of the sites we visited. Interestingly, it is the only place in Washington, DC that I remember visiting as a child, so it made an impression on me at a young age as well, in a way that more "majestic" monuments did not.
ReplyDeleteWhile recognizing it as solemn and emotional, I felt somewhat detached from the Wall. I have little personal connection to the Vietnam War -- I know only one person close to me who fought, my family did not lose friends or relatives -- so I felt somewhat out of place at a memorial to which so many people have such an intense and personal connection.
At the same time, the Wall is a powerful symbol for me of the loss of life and the humanity involved in war, which (at least for me) is so easily viewed in abstract terms. Reading the names on panel after panel of the Vietnam Wall makes real the effects of war in a way that simply reporting the statistics of casualties cannot.