Vietnam Veteran Memmorial

Vietnam Veterans Memorial The Vietnam Veterans Memorial wall was built in 1984, after it got approved by congress in 1980. Describing this beautiful piece of art is a great joy for anyone who has seen it or not. The memorial wall was designed by an undergraduate student at Yale University, Maya Ying Lin. She was only 21 at that time and about to win the national design competition. The wall is a two black triangular granite that is sunk into the ground. Each wall is 250ft and both walls are 10 ft high. The wall contains the inscribed names of more than 58,000 men and women who were killed in the Vietnam War and of those still missing. The way they have the indications for each of the names, is by symbols. A diamond next to the name means the person was killed, a cross means the person is missing. If the person’s body is identified, the cross is circled. The massive monument is shaped like two long triangles, it’s ironic how there were two triangles and there was also two sides of the story for the shape of the wall. It is also like a V-shape and each end of the wall points somewhere. The East side is pointing to the Washington Monument and the West points out the Lincoln Memorial. The shape of the wall is simple at the same time, but extraordinary to those who see the beauty of art. The shape also rose some controversy according to the Maya Lin’s documentary. The movie explained how the group of opposing veterans hated the shape of the wall, to them it was like a big black scar on the earth, plus it was black, the color of shame and sadness. They were also in dismay that Maya was only 21, a female and was a Asian. Through time, after the wall was completed the people got a better understanding of the powerful image of the wall.
The black-granite wall is located in the Constitution Gardens, in the great capital of the USA, Washington, DC. Like I said earlier one of the walls points the Lincoln Memorial while the other one point the Washington Monument.