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A look back at local, national and world events through Deseret News archives.
On Nov. 13, 1982, the Vietnam Veterans Memorial was dedicated on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. It has since become the most-visited memorial on the National Mall as millions of service members and their families go to reflect and heal.
Per the wall’s website, the most prominent feature of the memorial is a massive wall that lists the names of the more than 58,000 servicemen and women who lost their lives during the Vietnam War.
The memorial also features the Three Servicemen statue, the Vietnam Women’s Memorial, the In Memory plaque, and a flagpole with an etching of the insignia of what were then the country’s five military branches.
For many in the U.S., the Vietnam was is still a painful episode. Besides the lives lost, returning soldiers met with mixed responses. Physical, emotional and mental wounds have not fully healed
A man name Jan Scruggs felt there was a way to help the nation heal.
In 1979, Scruggs conceived the idea of building the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C., as a tribute to all who served during one of the longest wars in American history. A decorated veteran himself, he felt a memorial would serve as a healing device for a different kind of wound — that inflicted on our national psyche by the long and controversial Asian war.
Scruggs launched the effort with $2,800 of his own money. It took awhile, and eventually gained support from many groups and other Vietnam veterans.
It was dedicated on Nov. 13, 1982, during a weeklong national salute to Vietnam veterans in the nation’s capital.
In 2018, a permanent Vietnam Veterans Memorial wall was constructed in Layton.
In the last dozen years, Honor Flights have become popular in Utah, as veterans are flown to Washington, D.C., to see the various memorials and connect with their heroic service.
Here are several stories from Deseret News archives about the war, the memorial, Honor Flights and those who served:
“Vietnam Memorial turns 20″
“D.C. wall provides a way to say goodbye”
“The Wall is like war it represents”
“Designing a memorial these days makes war itself look simple”
“U.S. relations with Vietnam chronology”
“Memories from Vietnam simply won’t fade away”
“7 new names added to Vietnam Veterans Memorial”
“Plaque to supplement Vietnam Memorial”
“Photos: Volunteers put finishing touches on Vietnam Memorial Wall in Layton”
“Photos: Vietnam veterans remembered at Utah Capitol”
“48 Utah veterans fly to Washington, D.C. on Honor Flight to see memorials”
“‘Soldiers again’: Honor Flight connects Utah veterans with WWII memorial”
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