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Facts about The Vietnam Veterans Memorial for Kids

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  • The Vietnam Veterans Memorial is a national memorial in Washington, D.C. It honors U.S. service members of the U.S. armed forces who fought in the Vietnam War, service members who died in service in Vietnam/South East Asia, and those service members who were unaccounted for during the War.
  • The memorial currently consists of three separate parts: the Three Soldiers statue, the Vietnam Women’s Memorial, and the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall, which is the best-known part of the memorial.
  • The memorial is maintained by the U.S. National Park Service, and receives around 3 million visitors each year.
  • April 27, 1979 – The Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund, Inc. (VVMF), was incorporated as a non-profit organization to establish a memorial to veterans of the Vietnam War.
  • A Veterans Affairs subcommittee later changed the statement to read: “Let all know that the United States of America pays tribute to the members of the Armed Forces who served honorably in Southeast Asia during the Vietnam Era.

  • Later, in 1998, Congress, prodded by the Vietnam-Era Caucus, discussed creating a “Vietnam Veterans Week” to honor the survivors of the war.
  • One wall points toward the Washington Monument, the other in the direction of the Lincoln Memorial, meeting at an angle of 125° 12′.
  • Negative reactions to Lin’s design created a controversy; a compromise was reached by commissioning Frederick Hart to produce a bronze figurative sculpture in the heroic tradition.
  • Ruth Coder Fitzgerald, 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.
  • With the help of friends, the half-size replica of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, named The Moving Wall, was built and first put on display to the public in Tyler, Texas, in 1984.
  • As it passes towns, even when it is not planning a stop in those towns, local veterans organizations sometimes plan for local citizens to gather by the highway and across overpasses to wave flags and salute the Wall.

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