Maya Lin’s Vietnam War Memorial on the National Mall is as much a part of the landscape of Washington,DC as the Lincoln Memorial or the Washington Monument.
Today, it continues to inspire strong emotions, even tears, from many who visit the simple but powerful remembrance of perhaps the first war that divided the nation since the Civil War.
“The important thing to know about the Vietnam Veterans Memorial is that it made memorials matter again,” says historian Kristin Haas to PRI
But the wall wasn’t also the subject of high praise. Vietnam veteran Tom Carhart called it a “black gash of shame.”
But today the site of controversy is now a moving tribute to all those who gave their lives fighting the war. People leave teddy bears, flowers and letters as a tribute to the fallen.
You can see a slide show from the memorial on PRI and hear an interview with Lin at Studio 360.