The FReeper Foxhole Profiles the Vietnam Veterans Memorial "The Wall" - January 30th, 2004

http://www.vietnamwall.org/ ^

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Lord,

Keep our Troops forever in Your care

Give them victory over the enemy...

Grant them a safe and swift return...

Bless those who mourn the lost.
.

FReepers from the Foxhole join in prayer
for all those serving their country at this time.


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The Vietnam Veterans Memorial




The Healing Wall



"IN HONOR OF THE MEN AND WOMEN OF THE ARMED FORCES OF THE UNITED STATES WHO SERVED IN THE VIETNAM WAR. THE NAMES OF THOSE WHO GAVE THEIR LIVES AND OF THOSE WHO REMAIN MISSING ARE INSCRIBED..."
The preamble on The Wall



Jan C. Scruggs is the founder and president of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund. He conceived the idea of building a memorial dedicated to all who served in the U.S. Armed Forces in Vietnam.

Scruggs was a wounded and decorated Vietnam War veteran, having served in the 199th Light Infantry Brigade of the U.S. Army. He felt a memorial would serve as a healing device for a different kind of wound – that inflicted on our national psyche by the long and controversial war.


Jan Scruggs

In May 1979, Scruggs took $2,800 of his own money and launched the effort. Gradually, he gained the support of other Vietnam veterans in persuading Congress to provide a prominent location on federal property somewhere in Washington, D.C.. After a difficult struggle, Congress responded and the site chosen was on the Mall near the Lincoln Memorial.

Serving as president of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund, Inc., the non-profit organization set up to build the Memorial, Scruggs headed up the effort that raised $8.4 million and saw the Memorial completed in two years. It was dedicated on November 13, 1982, during a week-long national "salute" to Vietnam veterans in the nation's capital.

He is the author of To Heal a Nation: The Vietnam Veterans Memorial (Harper & Row, 1985).

In the forward to another book, (Reflections On The Wall: The Vietnam Veterans Memorial, copyright 1987 by the Smithsonian Institution, published by Stackpole Books of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania (ISBN 0-8117-1846-8). he wrote. “America has other great and inspiring national memorials. But the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, with nearly 60,000 names engraved on its black granite wall, is unlike any other. No other memorial so occupies a place in the heart and soul of the nation as does this simple, reflective wall.”



“No one remembered the names of the people killed in the war. I wanted a memorial engraved with all the names. The nation would see the names and would remember the men and women who went to Vietnam, and who died there.”

“The creation, development, and construction of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial ultimately involved two U.S. presidents, the U.S. Congress, hundreds of volunteers, a dedicated full-time staff, and hundreds of thousands of Americans who donated the nearly $9 million needed to build it.”

Many advocates came to the front to preserve this unusual concept. Larry Century perfected a technique using photo stencils, which, with some developmental work, could do the job of inscribing the names.



Architect Maya Lin, the designer, wanted the Wall to tell the day-by-day story of the tragedy of deaths. She also specified that the end of the list of names be near the beginning, to show a closed circle, like a wound that is closed and healing.



Optima was chosen for the type, a classic face from the house of Hermann Zapf. Names are approximately half an inch high and are photoetched to a depth of .015 inches.



The two walls extend almost 500 ft and are slightly higher than 10 ft in the middle.



On the web, interested individuals can search the actual Wall in virtual reality and find any name on the Wall.


There are 140 black granite panels, numbered 70W to 1W from the left and from 1E to 70E on the right. Ground was broken in March of 1982 and the Wall was dedicated in November of 1982. The unique tradition of leaving gifts at the base of the wall began before the Wall was even completed.



UNIQUELY PERSONAL REMEMBERANCES



Visitors began leaving tokens of remembrance at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in 1982, while it was still under construction. Flags and flowers historically have decorated veterans' monuments, but the presence of many other mementos is unique to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. The first, a Purple Heart, was thrown by a Vietnam veteran into the wet cement of the Memorial's foundation.

Since then, visitors from at home and abroad have left more than 25,000 keepsakes at the Memorial, collected daily by National Park Service rangers. Each has its own story, often known only to the donor.



This collection of messages and gifts from the heart was created by relatives, former comrades-in-arms, friends, neighbors, and members of civic and fraternal organizations.



They express the love, grief, and pain associated with the 58,220 names on the Memorial's 140 black granite panels. Objects left at The Wall can be seen in the Smithsonian exhibition

This outpouring occurs year round, particularly at Christmas, Memorial Day, July 4th, and Veterans Day. The gifts also commemorate birthdays of dead and missing veterans and other days of personal importance.



This selection of remembrances provides us an opportunity to ponder the continuing impact of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial on the generation that lived through that conflict.

Offerings at the Wall

Near the base of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, comrades and loved ones leave their poignant tokens of remembrance.

"In the fall of 1982, a U.S. Navy officer walked up to the trench where the concrete for the foundation of The Wall was being poured. He stood over the trench for a moment, then tossed something into it and saluted. A workman asked him what he was doing. He said he was giving his dead brother's Purple Heart to The Wall. That was the first offering."

The story is told in a book about the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, Offerings at The Wall, released Turner Publishing Inc. The photographs in the book record some of the 30,000 objects and letters that have been placed at The Wall, as if at a shrine, by relatives and comrades of the men and women there memorialized.



These gifts of remembrance are collected each day by volunteers and preserved by the National Park Service in the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Collection, housed in a climate-controlled repository where the mementos lie near such historic artifacts as the life mask of Abraham Lincoln.


U.S. Military Entrenching Tool and Framed Letter - The "donor" mentions the names Timothy, Christopher, Frank and John. He also says, "...I was not successful in healing your injured bodies as they lay in my arms..."

Some of the offerings were left with poems or letters (letters that were sealed will always remain so), but others bear meanings known only to those who offered them: a Bible, a fishing float, service ribbons, a sock for an amputee's stump, a popsicle stick, four mortarboard tassels, a foil wrapper from a Hershey's Kiss. In his eloquent introduction to the book, Thomas B. Allen writes that The Wall "became a place for wishes, for futures that could not be.


Black Beret with the 101st Airborn Division, Reconnaissance Unit Insignia - According to "donor" information, it was left by the sole surviving member of a 12-man recon team, ambushed in November, 1967.

Tucked into a wreath are the things of an imagined life: new baby shoes for a baby who never would be, the pencils and crayons for a first day of kindergarten that never would be, champagne glasses to toast a wedding anniversary that never would be, ornaments for a Christmas tree that never would be." Someone left five cards, a royal flush for a poker game that never would be played. And a soldier left a photograph of a North Vietnamese man with a young girl, along with a note: "Dear Sir: For twenty-two years I have carried your picture in my wallet. I was only eighteen years old that day that we faced one another on that trail in Chu Lai, Vietnam. Why you did not take my life I'll never know. You stared at me for so long. . . . Forgive me for taking your life."



And the boots. So intimately shaped by those who wore them, yet so universal-the familiar black leather and tough green fabric, the lugged soles bearing the memory of the earth of the Delta or Con Thien-that they seem a symbol for the whole process of conflict and healing.

"OUR NATION HONORS THE COURAGE, SACRIFICE, AND DEVOTION TO DUTY AND COUNTRY OF ITS VIETNAM VETERANS."
The postamble on The Wall


The Three Servicemen Statue



The Three Servicemen Statue and flagpole, born in a political compromise that followed an announcement of the Wall’s powerful and unique design, is a 18 foot bronze statue designed by Frederick Hart. It was dedicated in November, 1984. Comprised of three men carrying infantry weapons, the statue grouping has been called both The Three Soldiers and The Three Servicemen.



The men are wearing Vietnam War era uniforms and could be from any branch of the U.S. military at that time. Interpretations of the work vary widely. Some say the troops have the "thousand yard stare" of combat soldiers. Others say the troops are on patrol and begin looking for their own names as they come upon the Memorial. The bronze sculpture was placed in a grove of trees near the west entrance to The Wall. Despite the earlier controversy, the statue today fittingly complements The Wall.



Nearby, a flag is flown 24 hours a day. At the base of the flag staff are the seals of the five branches of military service, with the following inscription:

THIS FLAG REPRESENTS THE SERVICE RENDERED TO OUR COUNTRY BY THE VETERANS OF THE VIETNAM WAR. THE FLAG AFFIRMS THE PRINCIPLES OF FREEDOM FOR WHICH THEY FOUGHT AND THEIR PRIDE IN HAVING SERVED UNDER DIFFICULT CIRCUMSTANCES.


The Vietnam Women's Memorial



Diane Carlson Evans, RN, is the founder of Vietnam Women’s Memorial project. She served in the Army Nurse Corps from 1966 to 1972 and was in Vietnam from 1968-69. The sculptor is Glenna Goodacre, whose bronze concept was eventually chosen over 317 other entries. Eight yellowwood trees representing the eight women nurses killed in Vietnam surround the 8 foot tall statue. The Vietnam Women's Memorial was dedicated over Veterans Day weekend of November 10-12, 1993.

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Artist - Maya Lin



Born in 1959 in Athens, Ohio, Maya Lin catapulted into the public eye when, as a senior at Yale University, she submitted the winning design in a national competition for a Vietnam Veterans Memorial to be built in Washington, D.C. Her design was chosen from among more than 1400 submissions, some by world renown architects. The choice was immediately controversial, not only because of the non-traditional design but because the designer was both a woman and an Asian-American.

She was trained as an artist and architect, and her sculptures, parks, monuments, and architectural projects are linked by her ideal of making a place for individuals within the landscape. Lin, a Chinese-American, came from a cultivated and artistic home. Her father was the dean of fine arts at Ohio University; her mother is a professor of literature at Ohio University. “As the child of immigrants you have that sense of, Where are you? Where’s home? And trying to make a home,” remarks Lin. Her most recognizable work, the "Vietnam Veterans Memorial," allows the names of those lost in combat to speak for themselves, connecting a tragedy that happened on foreign soil with the soil of America’s capital city, where it stands.

"I would identify myself as Chinese American. If I had to choose one thing over the other, I would choose American. I was not born in China, I was not raised there, and the China my parents knew no longer exists…. I don’t have an allegiance to any country but this one, it is my home."

The design was called a "black gash of shame" and a "giant tombstone." Lin withstood the bitter attacks about her unconventional design and prevailed with her original design. The Memorial's dedication in 1982 was a profound, cathartic moment - not just for those who fought in Vietnam, but for the entire United States. Since its completion, Americans have flocked to the site to grieve, to contemplate the consequences of war and to heal. In one of the film's most moving segments, veterans and surviving family members search for the names of their loved ones, arranged chronologically by date of death.



"If you can't accept death, you'll never get over it," says Lin. "So what the Memorial's about is honesty. ... You have to accept, and admit that this pain has occurred, in order for it to be healed, in order for it to be cathartic. ... All I was saying in this piece was the cost of war is these individuals. And we have to remember them first."



The memorial is "a rift in the earth" (Lin) made of two black granite walls, each 246 feet long, angled at 125 degrees. One wall points to the Washington Monument, the other to the Lincoln Memorial. Each of the walls is comprised of 70 separate panels with the inscribed names of the 58,000+ killed during the war. The names are listed in chronological order from 1959 to 1975.



A corner submerged into the earth, the work is welcoming in its open-ended, book-like form, and yet disconcerting to those who realize that to read the names is to stand below the horizon - six feet under - conversing in the space of the dead. The work is outspoken and angry in the way in which it functions as a visual scar on the American landscape, cutting aggressively into the Washington Mall, and yet is dignified for the way in which it carves out a space for a public display of grief and pain.



These emotions, necessary to the healing process, have a place in Lin's work and are as natural as the cycles of the earth. Attentive to the individual life of every man and woman who died in the war, the memorial is also responsive to the individual experience of the visitor. There is no wrong way to approach the "Vietnam Veterans Memorial" as it makes no grand statements about politics or American ideals. Its sole proposition is that the cost of war is human life.



Spread out horizontally (in contrast to the verticality of the Washington Monument to the east and the Lincoln memorial to the west), every inch and every name of the memorial is within grasp. The two 247-foot walls of the monument expand laterally, hugging close to the earth, depending on the landscape for support as much as they mark it as a site for human suffering and reconciliation.

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Today's Educational Sources and suggestions for further reading:

May 1995 Smithsonian Magazine
www.vietnamwall.org
National Archives

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Original Source: Combat Area Casualty File of 11/93, National Archives
Reprinted from 69th Armour Home Page
All US Forces KIA in Vietnam - 58,169
US Army Soldiers KIA in Vietnam - 38,190
US Army Infantrymen KIA in Vietnam - 20,460
US Army Helicopter Crewmen KIA in Vietnam - 3,007
US Army Scouts KIA in Vietnam - 1,127
US Army Tankers KIA in Vietnam - 725
US Marines Killed In Action in Vietnam - 14,836
The highest loss-rate for any MOS - 11E (Armor Crewman) 27% KIA

CASUALTIES BY STATE
There are number of data bases that can provide information concerning
Vietnam casualties by state. They include:
http://www.vietnamwall.org
http://www.viethero.com/Search/Searchlink.html#State
http://grunt.space.swri.edu/statewall.htm

CASUALTY PROFILES
Note: NVA casualty data was provided by North Vietnam in a press release to Agence France Presse (AFP) on April 3, 1995, on the 20th anniversary of the end of the Vietnam War. The entire press release is reproduced below. US casualty information was derived from the Combat Area Casualty File of 11/93, and The Adjutant General's Center (TAGCEN) file of 1981, available from the National Archives. Additional information was derived from the sources listed at the end of this document.

Entire War

Force	KIA	WIA	MIA	CIA
US Forces	47,378 1	304,704 2	2,338 3	766 4
ARVN	223,748	1,169,763	unknown	unknown
NVA/VC	1,100,000	600,000	unknown	26,000 5

	Note 1: there were an additional 10,824 non-hostile deaths for a total of 58,202
	Note 2: of the 304,704 WIA, 153,329 required hospitalization
	Note 3: this number decreases as remains are recovered and identified
	Note 4: 114 died in captivity
	Note 5: Does not include 101,511 Hoi Chanh
	Legend: KIA = Killed In Action WIA = Wounded In Action MIA = Missing In Action CIA = Captured In Action

1968 Tet Offensive

Force	KIA	WIA	MIA	CIA
US Forces	1,536	7,764	11	unknown
ARVN	2,788	8,299	587	unknown
NVA/VC	45,000	unknown	unknown	6,991

Casualties By Year 1961-1965

Force	KIA	WIA	MIA	CIA
US Forces	1,864	7,337	18	unknown
ARVN	unknown	unknown	unknown	unknown
NVA/VC	unknown	unknown	unknown	unknown

1966

Force	KIA	WIA	MIA	CIA
US Forces	5,008 1	29,992	61	unknown
ARVN	11,953	71,584	unknown	unknown
NVA/VC	71,473	unknown	unknown	3,247

Note 1: there were an additional 1,045 non-hostile deaths for a total of 6,053


1967

Force	KIA	WIA	MIA	CIA
US Forces	9,378 1	56,013	113	unknown
ARVN	12,716	76,299	529	unknown
NVA/VC	133,484	unknown	unknown	6,065

Note 1: there were an additional 1,680 non-hostile deaths for a total of 11,058

1968

Force	KIA	WIA	MIA	CIA
US Forces	14,594 1	87,388	176	unknown
ARVN	28,800	172,512	587	unknown
NVA/VC	208,254	unknown	unknown	9,462

Note 1: there were an additional 1,919 non-hostile deaths for a total of 16,511

1969

Force	KIA	WIA	MIA	CIA
US Forces	9,414 1	55,390	112	unknown
ARVN	22,000	131,780	683	unknown
NVA/VC	132,051	unknown	unknown	5,905

Note 1: there were an additional 2,113 non-hostile deaths for a total of 11,527

1970

Force	KIA	WIA	MIA	CIA
US Forces	4,221 1	24,835	101	unknown
ARVN	23,000	137,770	727	unknown
NVA/VC	86,591	unknown	unknown	3,934

Note 1: there were an additional 1,844 non-hostile deaths for a total of 6,065

1971

Force	KIA	WIA	MIA	CIA
US Forces	1,380 1	18,109	16	unknown
ARVN	19,901	123,545	727	unknown
NVA/VC	19,320	unknown	unknown	2,304

Note 1: there were an additional 968 non-hostile deaths for a total of 2,348

1972

Force	KIA	WIA	MIA	CIA
US Forces	300 1	3,936	11	unknown
ARVN	25,787	139,731	727	unknown
NVA/VC	4,261	unknown	unknown	1,349

Legend: KIA = Killed In Action WIA = Wounded In Action MIA = Missing In Action CIA = Captured In Action
Note 1: there were an additional 261 non-hostile deaths for a total of 561

Troop Levels As of 1 January 1968

Force	Total Strength	Support	Combat Arms
US Forces	409,111	346,260	62,850
ARVN	Not Avail	Not Avail	Not Avail
NVA/VC	420,000	unknown	unknown

As of 1 January 1969

Force	Total Strength	Support	Combat Arms
US Forces	440,029	372,429	67,600
ARVN	Not Avail	Not Avail	Not Avail
NVA/VC	332,000	unknown	unknown

The figures for relative strengths assume the following: On January 1, 1969 there were 110 battalions in Vietnam (98 Infantry, 3 tank, and 9 artillery). An Infantry battalion had 656 infantrymen (4 companies per battalion with 164 men per company). An armor battalion had 204 tankers (3 companies per battalion with 68 tankers per company). An artillery battalion had approximayely 300 men. Therefore, the number of actual "trigger pullers" added up to 67,600. Note that this was "authorized strength". Most battalions were not even close to their TO&E strength during the war, with many infantry companies operating with 80 men. This was true despite the fact that the parent divisions reported being at, or slightly over, authorized strength. There were a large number of REMFs in Vietnam.

U.S. Army KIA by Unit Source: National Archives and Records Administration

Unit	Nickname	KIA	Comment
1st Cavalry Division	First Team	5,464	-
25th Infantry Division	Tropic Lighting	4,561	-
101st Airborne Division	Screaming Eagles	4,022	-
1st Infantry Division	Big Red One	3,151	-
Various Individual Units	-	2,872	See Note 1 below
9th Infantry Division	Old Reliables	2,629	-
4th Infantry Division	Ivy Division	2,541	-
173rd Airborne Brigade (Separate)	Sky Soldier	1,758	-
1st Aviation Brigade	-	1,706	-
196th Light Infantry Brigade	-	1,188	-
11th Light Infantry Brigade	-	1,109	-
Military Assistance Command Vietnam	MACV	1,017	Advisors to ARVN
198th Light Infantry Brigade	-	987	-
United States Army Vietnam	USARV	847	Headquarters - includes advisors
5th Special Forces Group (Airborne)	Green Berets	834	-
23rd Infantry Division	Americal	809	non-brigade units
199th Light Infantry Brigade	Redcatchers	757	-
11th Armored Cavalry Regiment	Blackhorse	729	-
1st Logistical Command	-	598	-
5th Infantry Division (Mechanized)	Red Diamond	530	1st Brigade only
I Field Force Vietnam	IFFV	353	-
82d Airborne Division	All American	228	3rd Brigade only
1st Signal Brigade	-	193	-
II Field Force Vietnam	IIFFV	80	-
Engineer Command	-	64	-
Unit unknown	-	6	-

Note 1: This group is comprised of the following individual units with no further breakdown

17th Field Hospital (An Khe)
22nd Surgical Hospital (Phu Bai)
71st Evacuation Hospital (Pleiku)
91st Evacuation Hospital (Tuy Hoa)
95th Field Hospital (Qui Nhon)
3rd Field Hospital (III Corps)
7th Surgical Hospital (III Corps)
45th Surgical Hospital (III Corps)
93rd Evacuation Hospital (III Corps)
80th Engineer Group
121st Assault Helicopter Company
18th Military Police Brigade
89th Military Police Brigade
8th Transportation Group
48th Transportation Group
11th Aviation Group
12th Aviation Group
23rd Artillery Group
108th Artillery Group
35th Engineer Group
45th Engineer Group
34th General Support Group
506th Field Depot

Additional Casualty Statistics Source:
Combat Area Casualty File of 11/93, National Archives
All US Forces KIA in Vietnam = 58,169 US Army Soldiers KIA in Vietnam = 38,190 US Army Infantrymen (MOS 11B, 11C, etc.) KIA in Vietnam = 20,460 US Army Helicopter Crewmen KIA in Vietnam = 3,007 US Army Scouts KIA in Vietnam = 1,127 US Army Tankers KIA in Vietnam = 725 (equals 27% of all tankers ever assigned to Vietnam) US Marines Killed In Action in Vietnam = 14,836 More US Army Infantrymen died than Marines of all MOSes The highest loss-rate for any MOS was 11E (Armor Crewman) 27% KIA

U.S. Army KIA by Province Source: Combat Area Casualty File of 11/93, National Archives

Code	Province	KIA	Comment
99	Province unknown	6,276	Military Region unknown
02	Thua Thien	2,893	I Corps - Hue, etc.
23	Binh Duong	2,742	III Corps
22	Tay Ninh	2,648	III Corps
05	Quang Ngai	2,342	I Corps - Border w/II Corps
07	Binh Dinh	2,211	II Corps - Bong Son, An Loa Valley, etc.
04	Quang Tin	2,068	I Corps - Tam Ky, etc.
01	Quang Tri	1,683	I Corps - south of DMZ
06	Kontum	1,641	II Corps - Dak To, Ben Het, etc.
42	Hua Nghia	1,424	III Corps - Khiem Cuong, etc.
25	Bien Hoa	1,147	III Corps
24	Gia Dinh	1,064	Capital Special Zone - Saigon
08	Pleiku	1,015	II Corps - Hwy 14, Ia Drang, etc.
27	Long An	1,002	III Corps
03	Quang Nam	971	I Corps - Da Nang, etc.
21	Binh Long	909	III Corps
30	Dinh Tuong	794	IV Corps - My Tho, etc.
14	Phuoc Long	679	III Corps - Phuoc Binh, etc.
19	Long Khanh	558	III Corps - Xuan Loc, etc.
**	Unknown Code	467	NARA error
33	Kien Hoa	416	IV Corps - Truc Giang, etc.
17	Binh Thuan	300	II Corps - Phan Thiet, etc.
09	Phu Yen	282	II Corps - Tuy Hoa, etc.
11	Khanh Hoa	275	II Corps - Nha Trang, etc.
26	Phuoc Tuy	204	III Corps - Vung Tau, Phuoc Le, etc.
18	Binh Thuy	176	III Corps - Ham Tan, etc.
13	Quang Duc	171	II Corps - Gia Nghia, etc.
10	Darlac	163	II Corps - Ban Me Thout, etc.
35	Phong Dinh	146	IV Corps - Can Tho, etc.
15	Lam Dong	143	II Corps - Bao Loc, etc.
32	Vinh Long	142	IV Corps
28	Kien Tuong	140	IV Corps - Moc Hoa, etc.
16	Ninh Thuan	97	II Corps - Phan Rang, etc.
36	Kien Giang	77	IV Corps - Rach Gia, etc.
12	Tuyen Duc	76	II Corps - Da Lat, etc.
29	Kien Phong	65	IV Corps - Cao Lanh, etc.
47	Unknown code	60	Possibly Saigon Area
38	Ba Xuyen	56	IV Corps - Khanh Hung, etc.
34	Vinh Binh	49	IV Corps - Phu Vinh, etc.
43	Go Cong	40	IV Corps - Go Cong, etc.
93	Province unknown	34	Military region 3 - III Corps
39	An Xuyen	33	IV Corps - Quon Long, etc.
37	Chuong Thien	30	IV Corps - Vi Thanh, etc.
92	Province unknown	25	Military region 2 - II Corps
46	Sa Dec	25	IV Corps - Sa Dec, etc.
41	Phu Bon	24	II Corps - Hau Bon, Song Ba River, etc.
99	Province unknown	22	Military region 1 - I Corps
31	An Giang	17	IV Corps - Long Xuyen, etc.
81	Offshore	19	Military Region 1 - I Corps
89	Offshore unknown	19	Province & Military Region unknown
44	Bac Lieu	14	IV Corps - Bac Lieu, etc.
82	Offshore	11	Military Region 2 - II Corps
NZ	Unknown Code	10	NARA error
94	Province unknown	9	Military region 4 - IV Corps
83	Offshore	2	Military Region 3 -III Corps
84	Offshore	2	Military Region 4 - IV Corps
20	No code provided	1	NARA error, possibly Cam Ranh Bay
40	Con Son Island	1	IV Corps
45	Chua Doc	1	IV Corps - Shau Phu, etc.
48	Unknown code	1	NARA error
49	Phu Quoc Island	1	IV Corps
50	DMZ	0	Demilitarized Zone

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Maya Ying Lin's Design Submission to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Competition:

Walking through this park-like area, the memorial appears as a rift in the earth - a long, polished black stone wall, emerging from and receding into the earth. Approaching the memorial, the ground slopes gently downward, and the low walls emerging on either side, growing out of the earth, extend and converge at a point below and ahead. Walking into the grassy site contained by the walls of the memorial we can barely make out the carved names upon the memorial's walls. These names, seemingly infinite in number, convey the sense of overwhelming numbers, while unifying those individuals into a whole.For this memorial is meant not as a monument to the individual but rather, as a memorial to the men and women who died during this war, as a whole.

The memorial is composed not as an unchanging monument, but as a moving composition, to be understood as we move into and out of it; the passage itself is gradual, the descent to the origin slow, but it is at the origin that the meaning of the memorial is to be fully understood. At the intersection of these walls, on the right side, at the wall's top, is carved the date of the first death. It is followed by the names of those who have died in the war, in chronological order. These names continue on this wall, appearing to recede into the earth at the wall's end. The names resume on the left wall, as the wall emerges from the earth, continuing back to the origin, where the date of the last death is carved, at the bottom of this wall. Thus the war's beginning and end meet; the war is "complete," coming full circle, yet broken by the earth that bounds the angle's open side, and contained within the earth itself. As we turn to leave, we see these walls stretching into the distance, directing us to the Washington Monument, to the left, and the Lincoln Memorial, to the right, thus bringing the Vietnam Memorial into an historical context. We the living are brought to a concrete realization of these deaths.

Brought to a sharp awareness of such a loss, it is up to each individual to resolve or come to terms with this loss. For death, is in the end a personal and private matter, and the area contained with this memorial is a quiet place, meant for personal reflection and private reckoning. The black granite walls, each two hundred feet long, and ten feet below ground at their lowest point (gradually ascending toward ground level) effectively act as a sound barrier, yet are of such a height and length so as not to appear threatening or enclosing. The actual area is wide and shallow, allowing for a sense of privacy, and the sunlight from the memorial's southern exposure along with the grassy park surrounding and within its walls, contribute to the serenity of the area. Thus this memorial is for those who have died, and for us to remember them.

The memorial's origin is located approximately at the center of the site; its legs each extending two hundred feet towards the Washington Monument and the Lincoln Memorial. The walls, contained on one side by the earth, are ten feet below ground at their point of origin, gradually lessening in height, until they finally recede totally into the earth, at their ends. The walls are to be made of hard, polished black granite, with the names to be carved in simple Trajan letter. The memorial's construction involves recontouring the area within the wall's boundaries, so as to provide for an easily accessible descent, but as much of the site as possible should be left untouched. The area should remain as a park, for all to enjoy.

[snippy_about_it]

Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund

Jan Scruggs survived the Vietnam War, many of his comrades did not. In 1969, he served a tour of duty (one year) in Vietnam where he was wounded and decorated for bravery. In 1979, he and his wife saw a movie about the Vietnam War called the "Deer Hunter." This conjured up memories of perilous days in Vietnam. He once said of his service in Vietnam, "The bitterness I feel when I remember carrying the lifeless bodies of close friends through the mire of Vietnam will probably never subside. I still wonder if anything can be found to bring any purpose to all the suffering and death." Scruggs struggled for a year in Vietnam to escape the clutches of death. He now found himself committed to a different struggle, to enshrine the memory of those who fought and died in Vietnam.

In late 1979, Scruggs met with a group of Vietnam veterans in Washington, D.C. He expressed his belief that ordinary American citizens would donate money to build a memorial to those who fought and died in Vietnam. Some veterans thought it foolish or naïve of Jan to hold such a belief. He would persevere.

Jan Scruggs and a group of fellow veterans formed the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund (VVMF). The objective of the group was to create a tangible tribute to those Americans who served in the Vietnam War. The tribute would take the form of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.

When word got out that a group of Vietnam veterans were intent on building a memorial to veterans of the Vietnam War through public donations, the newly formed VVMF found themselves scrutinized and the butt of jokes. On the CBS Evening News, Roger Mudd reported that the veterans organization, whose only concern had been about raising too much money, had gathered the grand sum of $144.50. A comedian on a network program made fun of Scruggs. The audience got a good laugh out of it.

Scruggs wrote "Our memorial had to be paid for by private contributions in a largely volunteer effort organized by people whose principal reward would be knowing they had honored those whom the nation managed to ignore." The VVMF discovered that many people, for many different reasons, would take a personal stake in the success of this cause by sending five, ten, or fifteen dollars. Senator John Warner of Virginia donated $5,000.00 of his own money and helped raise another $50,000.00. Donations exceeded $8.4 million. Private donations were received by more than 275,000 individuals.

The site at the base of the Lincoln Memorial seemed perfect. The VVMF had to appeal to Congress to procure that site on the National Mall since it was Congress and Congress alone that could give it directly to them. The wheels for site selection were set in motion when Jan Scruggs appeared before a Senate subcommittee with a briefcase full of documents justifying the site on the Mall. The bill which granted the VVMF two acres at the foot of the Lincoln Memorial, passed the Senate in just seven minutes on April 30, 1980. On July 1, 1980, President Jimmy Carter signed the bill into law. The VVMF would then complete the remaining tasks of selecting a design for the memorial, which they did by use of a design competition, and setting contractural agreements and overseeing construction of the memorial.

The dedication to the memory of those who served was rewarded when on November 13, 1982, the Vietnam Veterans Memorial was dedicated.

Today, the VVMF collaborates with the National Park Service to conduct ceremonies at the memorial on Memorial Day and Veterans Day, to add those names of military personnel who are determined to have died as a result of their service in southeast Asia during the Vietnam War, to keep records of those listed on the Wall, and to maintain residual funds for the maintenance and repair of the memorial.

[snippy_about_it]

NEVER FORGET

[snippy_about_it]

FALL IN to the FReeper Foxhole!



It's Friday! Good Morning Everyone

If you would like added to our ping list let us know.

[E.G.C.]

Good morning, Snippy and everyoen at the Foxhole. We're forecast to receive snow, sleet and freezinf rain over parts of oklahoma on Sunday.

Folks, be sure to watch out for the mydoom worm. Some cities have already had to block this worm from their computers.

[AnAmericanMother]

Good morning!

I remember well all the controversy about the Wall. Lots of suspicion, doubt, worry from those who had not been treated fairly in the past.

It is one of the strangest memorials ever - but also one of the most powerful and affecting. I think what mainly has made it so is the continuing relationship between the Wall and the people who come to it.

[Aeronaut]

Good morning Snippy.

Grumman "Duck"

[snippy_about_it]

Good morning EGC.

We have a windchill advisory until noon today. Thanks for the reminder of the latest computer virus.

[snippy_about_it]

Good morning AAM, I think it has proven to be just what was needed. The uniqueness of it helps us to "Never Forget".

[snippy_about_it]

Good morning Aeronaut. Good name, it looks like a duck. :-)

[GailA]

Good Morning. Just posted an article about the Patriot Act..and the hooey from the left Patriot Act Good counter points in it.

[ladtx]

A couple of pictures from my tour in RVN 1969-70.

2d platoon, 336th AHC hot refueling at Rach Soi in IV Corps.

Short final to Soc Trang AAF to re-arm and re-fuel and maybe grab a quick bite to eat before heading out on the next CA.

[Samwise]

You can never quite prepare yourself for the emotional impact of the Viet Nam Memorial. I know I wasn't ready for it.

Perhaps part of it was because Viet Nam was something I grew up with on the evening news. Viet Nam wasn't just something from a history book. Perhaps it was the seemingly endless list of names. Perhaps it was the personal tokens placed at the base, putting a broken heart next to a faceless name. Or perhaps it was the cultural guilt and national shame for the way some Americans treated the surviving Viet Nam vets.

[snippy_about_it]

Thank you Gail, I'll check it out.

[snippy_about_it]

Good morning ladtx. I am thrilled you posted your pictures here today.

I have some random photos from threads we've posted or pics found on the web from Vietnam that I wanted to post throughout the day but this is so much more personal and very special.

Thanks for sharing with us today. Thank you for serving.

[The Mayor]

When the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law.

When we choose to follow Jesus, our whole life changes direction.

[Valin]

On This Day In History


Birthdates which occurred on January 30:
1616 William Sancroft Archbishop (Canterbury)
1797 Edwin Vose Sumner Major General (Union volunteers), died in 1863
1816 Nathaniel Prentiss Banks Major General (Union volunteers), died in 1894
1822 John Basil Turchin [Ivan Turchinoff], Brigadier General (Union volunteers)
1829 Alfred Cummings Georgia, Brigadier General (Confederate Army), died in 1910
1841 Alfred Townsend George Civil War journalist, died in 1914
1882 Franklin Delano Roosevelt New Hyde Park NY, 32nd President (D) (1933-1945)
1885 John Henry Towers aviator/naval hero
1892 Charles Trowbridge Haubiel composer
1894 Boris III tsar of Bulgaria (1918-43)
1902 Sir Nikolaus Pevsner England, art historian (The Buildings of England)
1909 Saul David Alinsky Chicago IL, radical writer (John L Lewis)
1911 Hugh Marlowe Philadelphia PA, actor (Ellery Queen)
1912 Barbara Tuchman US, historian/author (Pulitzer, Guns of August)
1914 David Wayne Traverse City MI, actor (Andromeda Strain, Adams Rib)
1914 John Ireland Vancouver BC, actor (Rawhide, Gunfight at OK Corral)
1915 John D Profumo England, politician (C)
1920 George Skibine Russian/US dancer/choreographer (Tragedy in Verona)
1922 Dick Martin Detroit MI, actor/comedian (Laugh-In, Carbon Copy)
1925 Dorothy Malone Chicago IL, actress (At Gunpoint, Night & Day, Peyton Place)
1927 Olof Palme Stockholm, PM of Sweden (1969-76, 1982-86) assassinated
1931 Gene Hackman California, actor (Bonnie & Clyde, Under Fire, Superman)
1933 Louis Rukeyser financial whiz (Wall Street Week, Channel 13)
1935 Richard Brautigan Tacoma WA, novelist/poet (Trout Fishing...)
1937 Boris Spassky USSR, world chess champion (1969-72)
1937 Vanessa Redgrave London, actress (Blow-Up, Julia, Orient Express)
1939 Eleanor Smeal femanazi/president (NOW)
1941 Dick Cheney (Representative-R-WY/George Bush's secretary of defense 1989-93/Vice President 2001- )
1942 Marty Balin Cincinnati OH, singer (Jefferson Starship-Miracles)
1951 Phil Collins England, singer/drummer (Genesis-Against All Odds)
1955 Judith Tarr US, sci-fi author (Isle of Glass, Ars Magica)
1973 Holly Noelle Roehl Miss Indiana-USA (1996)

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Deaths which occurred on January 30:
1649 Charles I King of Great Britain (1625-49), beheaded for treason
1730 Peter II Alekseyevitch emperor of Russia (1727-30), dies at 14
1838 Osceola chief of Seminole Indians, dies in jail
1890 Karl Merz composer, dies at 53
1948 Mahatma Gandhi India spiritual and political leader, assassinated by Hindu extremists in New Delhi, at age 78
1948 Orville Wright US aviation pioneer, dies at 76
1951 Ferdinand Porsche German car inventor (Porsche), dies at 75
1958 Earnest H Heinkel German airplane builder (WWII), dies at 70
1969 Allan Welsh Dulles US diplomat/director (CIA 1953-61), dies at 75
1976 Jesse "Lone Cat" Fuller San Francisco Blues Great, dies at 80
1980 Professor Longhair king of New Orleans music, dies at 61
1982 Stanley Holloway comedian (My Fair Lady, Our Man Higgins), dies at 91
1991 John McIntire actor (Virginian, Psycho), dies of emphysema at 83
1998 Ricky Sanderson stabbed 16-year old girl in NC, executed at 38

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Reported: MISSING in ACTION

1973 DUENSING JAMES ALLYN---LOS ALTOS CA.
1973 HAVILAND ROY ELBERT---NEW YORK NY.

POW / MIA Data & Bios supplied by
the P.O.W. NETWORK. Skidmore, MO. USA.

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On this day...
435 Rome recognized the Vandal territories in Northwest Africa as "federati," in an effort to stave off their invasion of Italy. (The invasion was successfully postponed for 20 years.)
1077 Pope Gregory VII pardons German emperor Henry IV
1349 Jews of Freilsburg Germany are massacred
1487 Bell chimes invented
1592 Ippolito Aldobrandini elected Pope Clement VIII
1647 Scots agree to sell King Charles I to English Parliament for £400,
1713 England & Netherlands sign 2nd anti-French boundary treaty
1774 Captain Cook reaches 71º 10' S, 1820 km from S pole (record)
1781 Articles of Confederation ratified by 13th state, Maryland
1790 Lifeboat 1st tested at sea, by Mr Greathead, the inventor
1797 Congress refuses to accept 1st petitions from American blacks
1798 Representative Matthew Lyon (Vermont) spits in face of Representative Roger Griswold (Connecticut) in US House of Representatives, after an argument
1800 US population 5,308,483; Black population 1,002,037 (18.9%)
1804 Mungo Park leaves England seeking source of Niger River
1815 Burned Library of Congress reestablished with Jefferson's 6500 volumes
1818 Keats composes his sonnet, "When I Have Fears"
1835 Richard Lawrence misfires at President Andrew Jackson in Washington DC
1854 1st election in Washington Territory; 1,682 votes cast
1862 US Navy's 1st ironclad warship (Monitor) launched
1894 Pneumatic hammer patented by Charles King of Detroit
1895 Tasmania beat Victoria for 1st F-C victory in 41 years
1911 1st rescue of an air passenger by a ship, near Havana, Cuba
1917 1st jazz record recorded (Dark Town Strutters Ball)
1921 French rapist-murderer Henri-Désiré Landru sentenced to death
1922 World Law Day, 1st celebrated
1931 Charlie Chaplin's "City Lights" premieres at Los Angeles Theater
1933 "The Lone Ranger" premieres on ABC radio
1933 German President von Hindenburg appoints Hitler chancellor, Hitler forms government with Von Papen
1934 Hitler proclamation on German unified states
1935 Ezra Pound meets Mussolini, reads from a draft of "Cantos"
1936 Fans asked to pick a new name for Boston Braves; they choose "The Bees" it doesn't catch on & is scrapped by 1940 season
1937 2nd of Stalin's purge trials; Pyatakov & 16 others sentenced to death
1939 Hitler calls for the extermination of Jews
1943 6 British Mosquito's daylight bomb Berlin
1943 German assault on French in Tunisia
1943 German under officers shot down in Haarlem Netherlands
1943 Hitler promotes Friedrich von Paul to General - field marshal
1943 USS Chicago sinks in Pacific Ocean
1944 US invades Majuro, Marshall Islands
1945 German ship "Wilhelm Gustloff" torpedoed off Danzig by Soviet sub-c 7,700 die
1946 1st issue of Franklin Roosevelt dime
1951 Belgium refuses to allow communists to make speeches on radio
1954 Italy's Fanfani government resigns
1956 Martin Luther King Jr's home bombed
1956 Elvis Presley records his version of "Blue Suede Shoes"
1958 House of Lords passes bill allowing women in
1958 Baseball announces players & coaches rather than fans pick all stars
1960 CIA oks Lockheed to produce a new U-2 aircraft (Oxcart)
1961 Bobby Darin is youngest performer to headline a TV special on NBC
1961 JFK asks for an Alliance for Progress & Peace Corps
1962 UN General Assembly censures Portugal (because of Angola)
1962 2 members of Flying Wallendas' high-wire act killed when their 7-person pyramid collapsed during a performance in Detroit
1964 Military coup of General Nguyen Khanh in South Vietnam
1965 "The Name Game" by Shirley Ellis hits #3
1965 State funeral of Winston Churchill
1966 -19ºF (-28ºC), Corinth MS (state record)
1966 -27ºF (-33ºC), New Market AL (state record)
1968 Vietcong launch Tet-offensive on US embassy in Saigon
1969 Beatles perform their last gig together, a 42-minute free concert on the roof of Apple HQs
1972 Bloody Sunday British soldiers shoot on catholics in Londonderry, 13 die
1973 Jury finds Watergate defendants Liddy & McCord guilty on all counts
1976 George Bush becomes 11th director of CIA (until 1977)
1976 William E Colby, ends term as 10th director of CIA
1978 Mutual Broadcasting Network begins airing Larry King Show on radio
1979 Rhodesia agrees to new constitution
1989 Joel Steinberg found guilty of 1st degree manslaughter of daughter
1989 5 pharoah sculptures from 1470 BC found at temple of Luxor
1995 Car bomb explodes in Algiers, 42 killed/296 injured

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Holidays
Note: Some Holidays are only applicable on a given "day of the week"

England : Women Peerage Day (1958)
Kentucky, Virgin Islands : Franklin D Roosevelt Day
US : Backwards Day(yad sdrawkcab : SU)

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Religious Observances
Christian : Feast of St Charles
Eastern Orthodox : Holiday of 3 Hierachs (Basil, Gregory & Chrysostom)
Roman Catholic : Feast of St Bathilde
Roman Catholic : Commemoration of St Martina, virgin/martyr
Roman Catholic : Feast of St Hippolytus of Rome (Orthodox)
Roman Catholic : Feast of St Felix IV, Roman Catholic pope (526-30)
Moslem : 'Id al-Fitr; end of Ramadan fast (Shawwal 1, 1418 AH)

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Religious History

1750 In Colonial America, Rev. Jonathan Mayhew of Boston delivered a sermon entitled, "Discourse Concerning Unlimited Submission." The sermon attacked both the divine right of kings and ecclesiastical absolutism.
1788 Pioneer American Methodist bishop Francis Asbury wrote in his journal: 'Alas for the rich! They are so soon offended.'
1839 Scottish clergyman Robert Murray McCheyne wrote in a letter: 'God feeds the wild flowers on the lonely mountain side without the help of man.... So God can feed his own planted ones without the help of man, by the sweetly falling dew of his Spirit.'
1867 The American branch of the Evangelical Alliance was organized at the Bible House in New York City, with William E. Dodge elected president.

Source: William D. Blake. ALMANAC OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. Minneapolis: Bethany House, 1987.

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Thought for the day :
"Well," said Pooh, "what I like best," and then he had to stop and think. Because although Eating Honey was a very good thing to do, there was a moment just before you began to eat it which was better than when you were, but he didn't know what it was called."

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Question of the day...
Why are they called "stands" when they’re made for sitting?

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Murphys Law of the day...(Knoll's Law of Media Accuracy)
Everything you read in the newspapers is absolutely true except for that rare story of which you happen to have firsthand knowledge.

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Astounding fact #7,834,921,771.5...
At Jack Russell Stadium in Clearwater, Florida, on June 26, 1985, organist Wilbur Snapp played "Three Blind Mice" following a call by umpire Keith O'Connor. The umpire was not amused, and saw to it that Mr. Snapp was ejected from the game.

[Professional Engineer]

"The Wall" is an amazing place. I've been there once. I've seen the mobile version before also. There are 18 guys with my name listed. I don't have a close connection to any of them, except the name, which is unique. They are all uncles or cousins, if traced back far enough.