Editing Vietnam Veterans Memorial (section)

==History==
[[File: Main Navy Building and Munitions Building on the Washington National Mall, 1918.jpg|thumb|The [[Main Navy and Munitions Buildings|Main Navy and Munitions Building]] site, with the Munitions buildings behind the Navy building]]

On April 27, 1979, four years after the [[fall of Saigon]], the [[Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund]], Inc. (VVMF) was incorporated as a non-profit organization to establish a memorial to honor the veterans of the Vietnam War. The impetus for the founding of VVMF fund came from a wounded Vietnam War veteran, [[Jan Scruggs]], who was inspired by the film ''[[The Deer Hunter]]''. VVMF was joined by a volunteer cadre of Vietnam veterans, primarily former junior officers and enlisted men, among whom two emerged as principal leaders with Scruggs: [[West Point]] graduate [[John P. Wheeler III]]<ref name="dupre"/> and Robert W. Doubek, a former Air Force intelligence officer. In recognition of their leadership, Scruggs, Wheeler, and Doubek were nominated for the Congressional Gold Medal in 1986. Eventually, $8.4&nbsp;million was raised through private donations.<ref name="vvmf.org" /><ref>{{Cite book|last=Doubek|first=Robert W.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WKgbCgAAQBAJ&dq=vietnam+veterans+memorial+in+washington%2C+dc+tom+mullings&pg=PA10|title=Creating the Vietnam Veterans Memorial: The Inside Story|date=2015-07-04|publisher=McFarland|isbn=978-1-4766-1988-0|language=en}}</ref> 

On July 1, 1980, a site consisting of two acres next to the [[Lincoln Memorial]] was chosen and authorized by [[United States Congress|Congress]].<ref name="dupre"/> The  [[World War I]] [[Munitions Building]] previously occupied that area. VVMF decided to choose a design for the Memorial through a national [[design competition]], with a first prize of $20,000. The competition was open to any American over 18 years of age, and by the end of the year 1980, 2,573 individuals and teams had registered for the competition, and by the deadline of March 30, 1981, 1,421 designs were submitted. The designs were displayed at an airport hangar at [[Andrews Air Force Base]] for the selection jury, in rows covering more than {{convert|35000|sqft|m2}} of floor space. Each entry was identified by number only. All entries were examined by each juror; the entries were narrowed down to 232, then to 39. Finally, the jury selected entry number 1026, which had been designed by [[Maya Lin]].<ref name="vvmf.org" />

===Opposition to design and compromise===
{{See also|Maya Lin#Vietnam Veterans Memorial}}
The selected design was controversial, in particular due to its black color, its lack of ornamentation, and its configuration below ground level.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.npr.org/2015/04/30/403034599/vietnam-veterans-memorial-founder-monument-almost-never-got-built|title=Vietnam Veterans' Memorial Founder: Monument Almost Never Got Built|website=NPR.org}}</ref> Among other attacks, it was called "a black gash of shame and sorrow."<ref name=Garber>{{cite news |last= Garber |first= Kent |title= A Milestone for a Memorial that Has Touched Millions |newspaper= U.S. News & World Report |date= November 3, 2007|url= https://www.usnews.com/articles/news/2007/11/03/milestone-for-a-memorial-that-has-touched.html |access-date= November 11, 2009}}</ref>  Two prominent early supporters of the project, [[Ross Perot]] and [[Jim Webb|James Webb]], withdrew their support once they saw the design. Webb said, "I never in my wildest dreams imagined such a [[nihilism|nihilistic]] slab of stone."<ref name="politico">{{cite web |url= https://www.politico.com/story/2015/11/vietnam-war-memorial-dedicated-nov-13-1982-215643 |title= Vietnam War Memorial dedicated, Nov. 13, 1982 |last= Glass| first=Andrew |date= 13 November 2015 |website= Politico |access-date=7 March 2020}}</ref>  [[James G. Watt|James Watt]], [[United States Secretary of the Interior|secretary of the interior]] under President [[Ronald Reagan]], delayed issuing a building permit for the Memorial due to the political opposition.<ref name=Wills>{{cite news |last= Wills |first= Denise |title= The Vietnam Memorial's History |work= The Washingtonian |date= November 1, 2007 |url= http://www.washingtonian.com/articles/people/5595.html |access-date= November 11, 2009}}</ref>
Since its early years, criticism of the Memorial's design faded. In the words of Scruggs, "It has become something of a shrine."<ref name=Garber />

Negative reactions to [[Maya Lin]]'s design created a controversy; a compromise was reached by VVMF's agreement to add a flagstaff and a realist statue at the site. Consequently [[Frederick Hart (sculptor)|Frederick Hart]] (who designed the sculpture that was part of the third-place winner in the original design competition) was commissioned to produce a bronze figurative sculpture. Opponents of Lin's design wanted to place this sculpture of three soldiers at the apex of the two walls, to make the soldiers the focal point of the memorial and the Wall a mere backdrop. In the end, the sculpture was placed in an entry plaza. On October 13, 1982, the U.S. Commission of Fine Arts approved the addition of the flagstaff and the Hart sculptures. The statue ''[[Three Soldiers (statue)|Three Soldiers]]'' was dedicated in 1984.

===Building the memorial===
On March 11, 1982, the revised design was formally approved, and on March 26, 1982, ground was formally broken. Stone from [[Bangalore]], India, was chosen because of its reflective quality;<ref name="dupre"/> {{citation needed|date=November 2020}} Cutting and fabrication of the panels were done in [[Barre (town), Vermont|Barre, Vermont]].<ref name=usgs /> The panels were then shipped to [[Memphis, Tennessee]], where the names were inscribed. The inscriptions were done with a [[photoemulsion]] and [[sandblasting]] process. Typesetting of the original 57,939 names on the wall was performed by Datalantic in [[Atlanta]], Georgia. The negatives used in the process are in storage at the [[Smithsonian Institution]].

The memorial was dedicated on November 13, 1982, as part of a five-day ceremony that began on November 10, 1982, called the "National Salute to Vietnam Veterans," which included a reading of names at the National Cathedral, unit reunions, an entertainers' show, a parade, the Memorial's dedication, and a service at the Cathedral.<ref name="dupre"/>
[[File: US flag reflexion on Vietnam Veterans Memorial 12 2011 000124.JPG|thumb|Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall with Christmas ornaments]]

====Timeline for those listed on the wall====
[[File:Vietnam-memorial-soldier.jpg|thumb|A [[U.S. Marine]] at Vietnam Veterans Memorial on July 4, 2002]]
{{Confusing section|date=November 2020|reason=this list has no description and the criterion for inclusion is ambiguous}}
* November 1, 1955&nbsp;– [[Dwight D. Eisenhower]] deployed the [[Military Assistance Advisory Group]], referred to now as MAAG, to train the South Vietnamese military units and secret police. However, the [[U.S. Department of Defense]] does not recognize this date since the men were supposedly training only the Vietnamese, so the officially recognized date is the formation of the Military Assistance Command Viet Nam, better known as MACV. This marked the official beginning of American involvement in the war as recognized by the memorial.
* June 8, 1956&nbsp;– The first official death in Vietnam was Technical Sergeant [[Richard B. Fitzgibbon Jr.|Richard Bernard Fitzgibbon Jr.]], United States Air Force, of [[Stoneham, Massachusetts]], who was murdered by another U.S.A.F. airman.
* October 21, 1957&nbsp; – Capt. Harry Griffith Cramer, Jr., a graduate of the United States Military Academy at West Point, was killed near Nha Trang, Vietnam.  He served in Korea, where he was injured and awarded the Purple Heart, as well as in Vietnam. He was the first US Army soldier to be killed in the line of duty in the Vietnam War. A street at Fort Lewis, Washington, is named in his honor. He is buried at the United States Military Academy, West Point, New York.
* July 8, 1959&nbsp;– [[Chester M. Ovnand]] and [[Dale R. Buis]] were killed by guerrillas at [[Bien Hoa]] while watching the film ''[[The Tattered Dress]]''. They are listed Nos. 1 and 2 at the wall's dedication. Ovnand's name is spelled on the memorial as "Ovnard," due to conflicting military records of his surname.
* April 30, 1975&nbsp;– [[Fall of Saigon]]. The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs uses May 7, 1975, as the official end date for the Vietnam War era as defined by {{USC|38|101}}.
* May 15, 1975&nbsp;– 18 U.S. servicemen (14 Marines, two Navy corpsmen, and two Air Force crewmen) are killed on the last day of a rescue operation known as the [[Mayaguez incident|''Mayaguez'' incident]] with troops from the [[Khmer Rouge]] in Cambodia. They are the last servicemen listed on the timeline.

Since 1982, over 400 names have been added to the memorial, but not necessarily in chronological order. Some were men who died in Vietnam but were left off the list due to clerical errors. Others died after 1982, and their deaths were determined by the Department of Defense to be the direct result of their Vietnam War service.  For those who died during the war, their name is placed in a position that relates to their date of death. For those who died after the war, their name is placed in a position that relates to the date of their injury. Because space is usually not available in the exact right place, names are placed as close to their correct chronological position as possible, but usually not in the exact spot. The order could be corrected as panels are replaced.<ref>{{cite web|title=Names Added|url=http://www.virtualwall.org/ipanels/NamesAdded.htm|website=The Virtual Wall|access-date=November 29, 2017}}</ref>

Furthermore, over 100 names have been identified as misspelled. In some cases, the correction could be done in place. In others, the name had to be chiseled again elsewhere, moving them out of chronological order. Others have remained in place, with the misspelling, at the request of their family.<ref>{{cite news|title=Vietnam Memorial Has Spelling Errors Set In Stone|url=https://www.npr.org/2012/02/24/147367962/correcting-a-national-record-literally-set-in-stone|access-date=November 29, 2017|date=February 24, 2014}}</ref>

===Addition of the Women's Memorial===
The Women's Memorial was designed by [[Glenna Goodacre]] for the women of the United States who served in the Vietnam War. Before Goodacre's design was selected, two design entries had been awarded as co-finalists – one a statue and the other a setting – however, the two designs were unable to be reconciled.<ref name="auto"/><ref name="auto1"/> Glenna Goodacre's entry received an honorable mention in the contest and she was asked to submit a modified [[maquette]] (design model). Goodacre's original design for the Women's Memorial statue included a standing figure of a nurse holding a Vietnamese baby, which although not intended as such, was deemed a political statement, and it was asked that this be removed. She replaced them with a figure of a kneeling woman holding an empty helmet.{{citation needed|date = November 2013}} On November 11, 1993, the [[Vietnam Women's Memorial]] was dedicated. There is a smaller replica of that memorial at [[Vietnam Veterans Memorial State Park]] in [[Angel Fire, New Mexico]].

===Memorial plaque===
On November 10, 2000, a memorial plaque, authorized by {{USPL|106|214}}, honoring veterans who died after the war as a direct result of injuries suffered in Vietnam, but who fall outside [[United States Department of Defense|Department of Defense]] guidelines was dedicated. Ruth Coder Fitzgerald, the founder of The Vietnam War In Memory Memorial Plaque Project, worked for years and struggled against opposition to have the In Memory Memorial Plaque completed. The organization was disbanded, but their website<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.vietnamproject.ttu.edu/inmemory/vietwarmem/plaque2.htm|title=Vietnam War In Memory Memorial Plaque Project|website=www.vietnamproject.ttu.edu}}</ref> is maintained by the Vietnam War Project at Texas Tech University.<ref name="Dutill"/>

===Education center===
In 2003, after some years of lobbying, the National Park Service and the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund won [[Commemorative Works Act#2003 amendments|permission from Congress]] to build [[The Education Center at The Wall]]. A {{convert|37000|sqft|m2|adj=on}} two-story museum, located below ground just west of the Maya Lin-designed memorial, was proposed to display the history of the Vietnam War and the multiple design competitions and artworks which make up the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, Vietnam Women's Memorial, and the Memorial Plaque.<ref name=neibaueredctr>{{cite news|last=Neibauer|first=Michael|title=Decade-long saga over $115M underground National Mall construction project nears resolution|work=Washington Business Journal|date=June 24, 2015|access-date=March 26, 2017|url=http://www.bizjournals.com/washington/breaking_ground/2015/06/decade-long-saga-over-115m-underground-national.html}}</ref> The center would have also provided biographical details on and photographs of many of the 58,000 names listed on the Wall as well as the more than 6,600 servicemembers killed since 2001 fighting the [[War on Terror]].<ref name=lincj>{{cite news|last=Lin|first=C.j.|title=Ground is broken for education center at Vietnam Veterans Memorial|work=Stars and Stripes|date=November 28, 2012|access-date=March 26, 2017|url=https://www.stripes.com/news/us/ground-is-broken-for-education-center-at-vietnam-veterans-memorial-1.198691#.WNfkMWe1uUk}}</ref> The $115-million museum would be jointly operated by the Park Service and the Fund.<ref name=neibaueredctr /> A ceremonial groundbreaking for the project occurred in November 2012,<ref name=lincj /> but insufficient fundraising led the Fund to cancel construction of the center in September 2018 and instead focus on digital education and outreach.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.vvmf.org/news/article=Vietnam-Veterans-Memorial-Fund-changes-direction-of-Education-Center-campaign|title=Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund changes direction of Education Center campaign|website=www.vvmf.org|access-date=2019-04-08}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.stripes.com/news/veterans/plan-to-build-vietnam-war-education-center-on-the-national-mall-is-abandoned-1.548656|title=Plan to build Vietnam War education center on the National Mall is abandoned|website=Stars and Stripes|access-date=2019-04-08}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.military.com/daily-news/2018/09/21/after-23m-spent-plans-vietnam-wall-education-center-have-been-scrapped.html|title=After $23M Spent, Plans for Vietnam Wall Education Center Have Been Scrapped|last=Sisk|first=Richard|date=2018-09-21|website=Military.com|language=en|access-date=2019-04-08}}</ref>