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Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall
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Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall in Washington, DC, was built in
1982. Designed by the American sculptor and architect Maya Ying Lin,
it is a sloping, V-shaped, 493-ft (150-m) wall of highly polished
black granite that descends 10 feet (3.05 meters) below grade level
at its vertex.
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On March
26, 1982, 100 Vietnam veterans in unison turned the earth on the
National Mall breaking ground for the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in
Washington, D.C. The black granite Memorial, inscribed with the
names of those who were killed or remain missing in action, was
dedicated on November 13, 1982.
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Often called simply "The Wall," it is inscribed
with the names of the more than 58,000 killed or missing during the Vietnam
War. The austere, abstract nature of Lin's design, which was
selected after a nationwide competition, at first made it a
controversial way of memorializing the war's casualties.
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In the
years since its construction, however, the simple, evocative, and
starkly dramatic wall has become a national shrine, drawing
4.4
million visitors each year, more than the Washington Monument
or the Lincoln Memorial.

Vietnam Veteran Paying His Respect
"50,000
Names" Website Sent in by Ken Poitras
25th Anniversary
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More than 20,000 Vietnam veterans, their families and the
general public, attended the 25th anniversary of the Annual Veterans Day Observance at The
Wall on November 11, 2007 in Washington, DC.
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For just the third time since The Wall's
dedication in 1982, the more than 58,000 names of those men and
women inscribed on the black granite memorial have beeen read aloud in Washington, D.C.
on November 07-10, 2007.
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