The Vietnam Veterans Memorial is a national memorial located in Washington, D.C. that pays a  tribute to the men and women who served in the Vietnam War during 1955 to 1975. The memorial was designed in a V-shape with reflecting granite walls to create "a quiet place, meant for personal reflection and private reckoning" according to Maya Lin.The memorial is also unique in the sense that it honors all those who have fought, as other monuments only honor those who have only died. This can imply that the veterans were not sufficiently honored by the people of America.  The memorial is dedicated to honor the courage and sacrifice of 58,000 men and women who served in one of the most significant wars in U.S. history. The event remembered from this memorial is the Vietnam war. It was a long and costly war that was pitted against North Vietnam, or “Viet cong.” It was fought by Southern Vietnam and the U.S. The Vietnam war lasted roughly 20 years. It ended with the withdrawal of U.S. troops in 1973 and the unification of Vietnam under communism. The total amount of casualties is over 3 million, including over 58,000 Americans. It was an extremely divisive war in the U.S. and many other countries because of how the U.S. failed to achieve military victory and was ultimately lost to North Vietnam. Today it is known as “the only war America has lost,” and remains to be a very controversial and influential topic amongst political and military decisions today. This memorial was very unique compared to other memorials and monuments. It had little to none patriotic signs and symbols, besides the many offerings left behind for the men and women who had passed in the war. One thing that stood out to me most is how the wall is made of a reflective type of granite allowing us to connect past and present in some sense.

 The wall was made without government funding. Jan C. Scruggs, a wounded Vietnam war veteran studied what is now called post-traumatic stress disorder upon his arrival back in the States. Within a couple years, Scruggs requested for a memorial to help with the healing process of the 3 million Americans that had served in the war. Scruggs began donating his own money ($2,800) to form the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund in 1979. By 1981, Americans had donated $8.4 million to build the wall. 	The wall was designed by a college student, Maya Lin. At first the memorial proved quite controversial. Jim Webb, a future U.S. senator referred to it as “a nihilistic slab of stone,” and political commentator Pat Buchanan accused one of the design judges of being a communist. People even began to attack Lin in this matter. Critics began to racially attack Lin, who is a daughter of Chinese immigrants. Controversy began to die down as a U.S. flag and statue of three servicemen were were dedicated near the wall in 1984. Nine years later, a statue of three women caring for an injured soldier. Since then, the Vietnam veterans memorial has attracted many tourists and became a popular visit in DC. The Vietnam veterans memorial is a stunning, yet subtle memorial and I encourage everyone to visit it at least once in their lifetime.