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MEMORIAL: Wall still has powerful effect on visitors 'FROM .1Susanna Williams of Toronto,' who was in her teens during the war, is touching some of. the names, gliding her hands over the engraved letters, that signify stranger after stranger.“I. wanted to get a little closer somehow,” she says, “and that’s about as close as I’ll ever be able to get.”.For her husband, Robert, the memorial is simple but compelling, stark but eloquent, its black granite a mirror that reflects the faces of its. visitors, the American flag and the burnished colors of fall. “It really comes at you to see all those names,” he says.In the 10-year span of the wall’s life, 30 million people have come.Old and young, comrades in arms and generations born after war’s end,.sons and daughters, mothers and fathers, they come to somehow make peace with their losses and to leave thousands of mementos reflecting their sorrow.Those mementos, more than 30,000 of them, include letters, photos, medals, dog tags, cans of beer, clothing, teddy bears, Christmas trees, POW-MIA bracelets, and even a tiger cage made from bamboo similar to those used by the North Vietnamese as holding cells for American prisoners of war.That’s a statement of a feeling of loss,” says John Wheeler, a West Point graduate who was among the veterans who spearheaded the memorial. “It’s an act of trust. And it's trying to reach across the vale of death.”More than 500 of the items are on exhibit at the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of American History to commemorate the memorial’s 10th anniversary. The exhibit, Personal Legacy: The Healing of a Nation, will run through June 7.Most of these items were a part of someone’s life that say,1 ‘This was a very special life that was. lost,’ ” says Leah Miller, national., director of Beyond the WalllnCy 'a ■ non-profit organization that .raised^ funds for the exhibit. “The/memo^ rial touches everyone. It's a reflection of life as you look into the wall.” . :iThe wall was built by veterans, who raised $8.4 million. It was a way of acknowledging themselves' after, years of isolation, pain and loneliness; it,was dedicated nearly 10 years after the United-i.St^tes ended itk military interventioft; in Vietnam.' ’.V .It’s home,” says John Trues-dale, 45, a homeless veteran’ who sells T-shirts at the monument for The Real World Foundation, a nonprofit group that raises funds forHow to help. |Monetary contributions for the memoriar can be sent to the(Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund inc.,815 15th-St. NW. Suite 601, Washington, DC, 20005. !/Monetary contributions lor the support lt;and maintenance of the Smithsonian exhibit of memorabilia can be sent to Bbyond The Wall Inc/, PO Box 221616, Chantilly, VA 22022.' ‘homeless; Vietnam veterans and, their families. . • ;Truesdale points to a T-shirt he designed bearing the words, “Vietnam affected an entire generation.”, ;' \“For some, it's not over and cannot be forgotten,” he says. “People that come through here that are / veterans have all gone through some of the same stuff I have. It’s comforting.”'The memorial is a bqlated thank you and a salute for a job well done in a war where there were no heroes, no welcome homes, no parades, no brass bands, no bunting.“I think it’s given both Vietnam veterans and the nation a place to reflect on a very difficult era, says Jan Scruggs. “It has become a symbol of unity and reconciliation for the country:”Scruggs, now 42,.;conceived the idea for thememorial in 1977 while doing graduate research at American University in ^Washington on the psychological problems facing fellow Vietnam veterans.He recommended it in testimony before the US Senate that year, but the idea drew little enthusiasm. Two years -later, Congress still hadn’t done anything, so Scruggs decided to do it himself.He thought only $1 million would be needed, but there was little in-. terest among a public still in denial. Only $144.50 trickled in during . the first Si£ wqeks, but contribu-tion^elled after£the{ proposal re-'.Cceiv’ed-n'ational publicity-’.. V The conte^to flesigh-the monument drew moFdtha^l,400 entries and was won by ^al'e ^bhitecttire student Maya Yiog L^,'theh'22;.the daughter of two Chinese scholars.“ Some conservative elements opposed her non-tr^ditional’design of .. the inverted V/Mrguing it did not. do justice to the$oldierV ‘bravery' and was too reminiscent of-dhe .peace sign flashed by anti-war p^p-\ testers. Others called it h'b, in ejhori*. al a black gashof shathe.ahd eOT-row” and a tombstonedf To appease them, amore,traditional 7-foot bronze statue of three heroic servicemen and- a, flagpole was added to the memorial in 1984.
Newspaper Details
Santa Ana Orange County Register
Santa Ana, California, US
Sun, Nov 08, 1992
Page 8
Full Page
Clipped by
Robert T.
NY, USA 30 Aug 2017
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