Making the Memorial (Thoughts)

The Vietnam Memorial construction began on March 16, 1982 and ended on November 13, 1982. But who designed the Memorial in the first place? How did the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund (VVMF) chose from thousands of designs, to simply just one? Not many people know who designed the Vietnam Memorial.

Maya Lin's essay discusses her journey from a mere contest for a design to actually designing the memorial. She was an undergraduate student at Yale University when she entered for a contest. While planning her design, she went to Washington DC to research the area where the memorial was supposed to stand. She had no intention of winning.

This essay was truly an eye opener. Who would have thought that a mere undergraduate college student would be designing an overall touching memorial for the Vietnam War? Lin had made a decision to not do any specific research on the Vietnam War. She says “I wanted to create a memorial that everyone would be able to respond to, regardless of weather one thought our country should or should not have participated in the war.” I felt that she was truly thinking outside the box, by trying to make this design something that all people would be able to relate to on a personal level. Of course, like any other good deed that tries to be done, there were the news articles shunning Lin for being an Asian, designing an Asian Memorial. It was simply ironic that she was Chinese when she was chosen anonymously. She received many criticism and harassment because of her ethnicity but she still stood strong.

Maya Lin had many people to convince from changing her design, because everything had a meaning behind it. Her design was first controversial because it was a non-traditional design for a war memorial. One contradicting issue I found was keeping the granite black. I have personally visited the Vietnam Memorial, and the granite does leave behind a feeling of sadness and loss from all the lives taken during bravery. It is a huge difference in the atmosphere when you visit the Lincoln Memorial and right when you step into the Vietnam Memorial surroundings. Silence breaks amongst and sadness begins to fill your heart. Lin spoke the truth on how a memorial should really be about the reality of war, loss of life in war, and remembering those who served and especially those who died. Designing the memorial to where all the men who served were listed on the wall brought out the memorial even more. Knowing the history behind the Vietnam Memorial development makes me want to go back and visit the Vietnam Memorial again.