Vietnam Veterans Memorial

Lonely Planet review

The memorial is comprised of two walls of polished Indian granite that meet in a 10ft apex. They are inscribed with the names of the 58,209 soldiers killed in the war, arranged chronologically by date of death. It's an eloquent inversion of the Mall's other monuments: rather than a pale, ornate structure reaching skyward, it's dark, austere and burrows into the earth, symbolizing the war's wound to the national psyche.

Paper indices at both ends help you locate individual names. The most moving remembrances are notes, medals and mementos left by survivors, family and friends; some of these are collected by park rangers and displayed at the National Museum of American History .

In 1984 opponents of Maya Lin's design insisted that a more traditional (and far less interesting) sculpture of soldiers be added nearby. Also nearby is the tree-ringed Women in Vietnam Memorial depicting female soldiers aiding a fallen man. Veterans dedicated to finding lost POWs have set up permanent camps around the monument, passing out pamphlets and Congressional petitions to search for soldiers still missing three decades after the war's end.