Talk:Vietnam Veterans Memorial

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Contents 1 Size of Names 2 Mistaken names? 3 TouchWall photograph 4 Cost vs. donations 5 Conceptual name 6 Maya Lin's Asian heritage was part of controversy 7 Pictures 8 revert 9 Vandalism 10 Map at top of page

[edit] Size of Names

Does anyone know the height of the letters/font of the inscribed names? Tfleming 00:31, 27 June 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Mistaken names?

..are the allegations true that some names are mistakenly on the wall?

Yes, when the Wall was built in 1982 there were medical records that showed a number of men had been seriously injured but whether they lived or died was not recorded. Their exact state could not be verified in time, so the decision was made to err on the side of adding their names. The names of those who were still alive were then removed from the database used to make the directories, so their names are on the Wall but can not be found by looking them up in the printed directories.

-- Jim, founder of The Virtual Wall (TM)

[edit] TouchWall photograph

Jim, I used your wonderful site to find the name this visitor is touching. For obvious reasons, I haven't mentioned what that name is. It was a chance shot. I wanted to capture the spirit of the place, the extraordinary feeling that you are being watched by the shades of those whose names are listed here, and I took a photograph of the geometry of the situation, the young man in the foreground just looking up at the Wall. I thought my hand might have shaken a little and blurred the photograph in the fading January twilight, so I took another, and as I did so he reached up to touch a name. And my heart. Pete 01:19, 9 August 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Cost vs. donations

Investigative journalist Carlton Sherwood questioned the spending of the donations. He said 2.6 million dollars went to the memorial. That would leave around 5 to 6 million unaccounted for.

Does anyone have details on this? It's important for those trying to establish Sherwood's trustworthiness as a journalist - or trying to discredit him. Uncle Ed 21:58, 11 November 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Conceptual name

My art professor told us in lecture yesterday that the conceptual name of the Memorial Wall is Split Earth. I've tried researching online, but to no avail. Does anybody else know any information about this?? --Cumbiagermen 23:30, 8 February 2006 (UTC)

Most veterans call the Vietnam Veterans Memorial The Wall. I have never heard the phrase Spilt Earth in reference to The Wall. I've been a US National Park Service volunteer at The Wall since 1995. -- Jim from The Virtual Wall

[edit] Maya Lin's Asian heritage was part of controversy

Added this sentence to the "History" section: Lin's Asian heritage was also a sensitive issue, and she was not even named in the memorial's 1982 dedication ceremony. Also provided an external link to a Seattle Weekly article as a source of this information. Hong Qi Gong 05:45, 26 February 2006 (UTC)

The wall? I cannot believe there was so much contreversy over building the wall. The soldiers who lost there lives can only give their names. They gave their lives. And now, their names, are all they had left.

[edit] Pictures

None of the pictures of the wall are really all that great for seing what it is. Either they are too close up or from above. Anyone care to add a better one?

71.102.186.234 04:01, 13 November 2006 (UTC)

The main article also should not blithely state that "racism" stemming from prior wars had something to do with the controversary about the design of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. That nonsense about "racism" is merely an opinion which cannot be supported by anything. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 70.44.153.46 (talk) 14:48, August 20, 2007 (UTC)

[edit] revert

an anon (ip address) editor removed two paragraphs from the moving wall section with no discussion and only the automatic comment in the edit summary. I just reverted, as I see no reason to silently anonymously dump content that seems legit. -- Akb4 04:07, 23 February 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Vandalism

Not to the article, to the memorial itself. Apparently last night the memorial was defaced, potentially permanently. Link here.

I haven't seen a mainstream news source about it yet, so I haven't added anything to the article and in any case it's not my area of expertise. Still, it probably merits a mention. If you have any further information (or especially if you live in the area and can take a free picture), please feel free to edit! Vonspringer 20:50, 11 September 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Map at top of page

The "IUCN Category V (Protected Landscape/Seascape)" map at the top is unattractive and hardly informative. Wouldn't it be nicer to put the third picture, Image:TouchWall.JPG at the top of the page and the "IUCN Category V" template lower, or at the bottom? --Knulclunk (talk) 03:25, 2 February 2008 (UTC)