Vietnam Veterans Memorial, Washington, D.C., United States

The Vietnam Veterans Memorial is a 2-acre (8,000 m²) national memorial in Washington, DC. 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.

Its construction and related issues have been the source of controversies, some of which have resulted in additions to the memorial complex. The memorial currently consists of three separate parts: the Three Servicemen Memorial, the Vietnam Women's Memorial, and the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall, which is the best-known part of the memorial.

The main part of the memorial was completed in 1982. The memorial is maintained by the U.S. National Park Service, and receives around 3 million visitors each year.

References:

Wikipedia

User Reviews

Ron Amaya (16 months ago)
Awesome experience! Great place to see. I thank God for the Freedom that we have because of the names of the person's on the wall gave everything they had, including their life.

Michael Brown (16 months ago)
Being someone that served in the Army and grew up reading about the Vietnam War, I had to go visit the Wall and pay my respects. Beautifully done and it really is a sight to see. There are helpful volunteers there should you have any questions or help. If you are in DC, do stop by and give it a look

Russell Walker (17 months ago)
Creative, reflective and powerful; yet simple in design. The history of how the memorial came about is fascinating too; blind selection of the winning design. Greatly reduces bias.

Thicc Daddy (18 months ago)
This is a nice memorial. I went here while I was in DC and was satisfied with my experience. I walked up to this memorial and looked at it. The memorial commemorates veterans who fought and died in the Vietnam War. After I walked around and looked at this memorial for a while, I left, satisfied with my experience. I gave this memorial five stars because it’s a very solemn memorial that does a good job of memorializing those who died fighting in Vietnam. The memorial is a large, black polished block with the names of people who died in Vietnam.

Perks Advisor (2 years ago)
There is something profound about this memorial. It seems understated, but as you walk in the wall keeps going and going. Name after name after name. If you are visiting the Mall this is one memorial you cannot miss. It is within easy walking distance from the Lincoln Memorial.

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Broch of Gurness

The Broch of Gurness is an Iron Age broch village. Settlement here began sometime between 500 and 200 BC. At the centre of the settlement is a stone tower or broch, which once probably reached a height of around 10 metres. Its interior is divided into sections by upright slabs. The tower features two skins of drystone walls, with stone-floored galleries in between. These are accessed by steps. Stone ledges suggest that there was once an upper storey with a timber floor. The roof would have been thatched, surrounded by a wall walk linked by stairs to the ground floor. The broch features two hearths and a subterranean stone cistern with steps leading down into it. It is thought to have some religious significance, relating to an Iron Age cult of the underground.

The remains of the central tower are up to 3.6 metres high, and the stone walls are up to 4.1 metres thick. The tower was likely inhabited by the principal family or clan of the area but also served as a last resort for the village in case of an attack.

The broch continued to be inhabited while it began to collapse and the original structures were altered. The cistern was filled in and the interior was repartitioned. The ruin visible today reflects this secondary phase of the broch's use.

The site is surrounded by three ditches cut out of the rock with stone ramparts, encircling an area of around 45 metres diameter. The remains of numerous small stone dwellings with small yards and sheds can be found between the inner ditch and the tower. These were built after the tower, but were a part of the settlement's initial conception. A 'main street' connects the outer entrance to the broch. The settlement is the best-preserved of all broch villages.

Pieces of a Roman amphora dating to before 60 AD were found here, lending weight to the record that a 'King of Orkney' submitted to Emperor Claudius at Colchester in 43 AD.

At some point after 100 AD the broch was abandoned and the ditches filled in. It is thought that settlement at the broch continued into the 5th century AD, the period known as Pictish times. By that time the broch was not used anymore and some of its stones were reused to build smaller dwellings on top of the earlier buildings. Until about the 8th century, the site was just a single farmstead.

In the 9th century, a Norse woman was buried at the site in a stone-lined grave with two bronze brooches and a sickle and knife made from iron. Other finds suggest that Norse men were buried here too.

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