Designed by Maya Lin (a student at the time)
Completed 1982

Lin's memorial answered a brief that stated that the memorial should not make a political statement about the war, and include all the names of the American soldiers missing or killed in Vietnam. The strikingly simple solution is a retaining wall that has the names of the soldiers etched in black granite, in chronological war from the beginning of the war to the end. Panels are numbered, at each end of the wall is a book with the names in alphabetical order.

3 things are striking about this project: the first is the way people trace names from the wall, using blank pieces of paper to take rubbings.

all photographs taken with Canon A80

The second striking thing is how clear reflections are in the black granite:

The third thing about this project is the way people leave things at the base of the wall- playing cards, dog tags, teddy bears, cards etc. which are collected an occasionally displayed at on of the nearby Smithsonian Museums.

The Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vietnam_Veterans_Memorial) article is, as always, a good starter for information.

The Google Earth (http://earth.google.com) KMZ file is here too-

Yes this is a special place indeed. The structure follows the less is more formula. Its real detail is up close and personal . I remember from a distance the wall looked featureless then the true enormity of its hits . I took these shots on my american odyssey back in the 80's.

Pentax P30 ilford B&W film.

A detail of rubbing . I did some rubbings back in my uni years , there is a physical connection with a place only a rubbing can give . Back in the day temple rubbings from holidays were popular .

Just to add to this thread. My trip to DC a few months ago I went out and did a little night shooting. exposure on bulb for about 60 seconds. All kinds of interesting things happen when you leave the exposure open :) Notice the hand pointing...

Her work is stunning; thank you all for the shots

many layers of meaning to this memorial - eg
not the usual staute glorifying war
it's personal
the relections - seeing one'sself in the names of others etc
it's sunk - a personal space not a monument in the usual sense

a good piece of work

and I forgot to add... my friend and I were at the monument at around 10 at night. There was still a ton of people walking around and through the memorial. what amazed me was that of all the monuments I went to that weekend, this was the only one that people became very quiet on. you just got a complete sense of reverence and calm and, I guess, reflectiveness about the place. Really an incredible and powerful monument.