Interesting And Fun Facts About Vietnam War Memorial

• Jan C. Scruggs, a decorated Vietnam infantryman, is the main inspiration behind the establishment of this memorial. He set his own $ 2,800 aside and started raising funds for the construction of the memorial in May, 1972.

• Scruggs was successful in collecting $ 8.4 million for the designing and construction of the same.

• The first stone was laid on March 26, 1982 and in the same year, all the three parts of the memorial were completed.

• The Constitution Gardens where the memorial stands erect adjoining the National Mall, and close to the Lincoln Memorial, was a result of Scruggs requesting the Congress to set aside 3 acres of land for the memorial site.

• The Vietnam War Memorial was designed by a 21-year old Yale University architecture student, Maya Ying Lin from Athens, Ohio out of a total 1,421 entries received as part of the design competition.

• The memorial has been managed by the US National Park Service and governed by National Mall and Memorial Parks group.

• The Memorial Wall comprises of two black granite walls 246 feet 9 inches (75 m) long.

• At 10.1 feet (3 m) high, both the walls reach the highest tip where they meet, then narrowing down to a height of 8 inches (20 cm) at their extreme ends.

• Due to the best reflective quality, granite was intentionally imported from the Indian city of Bangalore in Karnataka.

• The bronze statue named ‘The Three Soldiers’, also known as The Three Servicemen, is located at a short distance from the Memorial Wall. The three statues represent the three different castes of soldiers, who were a part of the war. These three soldiers, identified as White American, African-American and Hispanic American, seem to interact with the wall.

• The Vietnam Women’s Memorial is another part of the memorial situated towards the south of the wall. Designed by Glenna Goodacre in 1993, the memorial honors the women who served in the war, most of them being nurses.

•In 2007, the American Institute of Architects awarded Vietnam Veterans Memorial as the 10th most favorite on the ‘List of America’s Favorite Architecture’.