Vietnam Veterans Memorial

The monuments around Washington, D.C. are all designed with purpose, each capturing a person, a war, or an event worthy of being remembered in our nation’s capital. None is more captivating than the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.

The memorial was authorized by Congress in 1980 and signed into law by President Jimmy Carter on July 1 of that year. It was funded entirely through private donations.  

The central feature is the wall, designed by architect Maya Lin, who was only 21 years old when her design was selected in a national competition.  Her proposal was unconventional and initially controversial. Instead of a traditional statue. She envisioned a black granite wall set into the earth.

The memorial consists of two polished black granite walls with a mirror-like surface. More than 58,000 names are inscribed on the Wall, service members who were killed or remain missing in action during the Vietnam War. The names are arranged chronologically by date of casualty rather than alphabetically, allowing visitors to see the progression of the war and the clustering of losses during the most intense periods.  

Visitors often leave flowers, letters, photographs and personal mementos at the base of the Wall. The National Park Service collects and archives many of these items.  

Among the many monuments in Washington, D.C., this one stands apart because it centers not on victory, but on sacrifice. It invites you to find a name, trace it with your fingers, and feel the weight of individual loss within national history.

The Vietnam War Memorial is both a monument and a place of mourning.