The VietNam War (known as the American War in VietNam) was one of the greatest “losses” known in American history and one of the most disruptive wars known around the world. The fight for power between communism and democracy resulted in great amounts of fatalities with 3-4 million Vietnamese from both sides, 1.5-2 million Laotians and Cambodians, and 58,159 U.S. soldiers. Jan Scruggs, a veteran himself, knew that it was unjust for the veterans to be just ghosts and casualties of war, thus proposing the idea of building a memorial in the mid-1970’s. This was the first round of battles that had to be overcome: political conflict concerning the proposal of the memorial. It took years before plans for the memorial were set in stone—granite, to say the least.

Issues after issues of controversies followed when it came time to chose a design. Paul Richard posted in the Washington Post that a design contest would be held. Maya Ying Lin, then a young student at Yale University, entered her design originally for a class project who promoted this contest. This posed as a very controversial issue because of the fact that she was a woman and, of course, she was Asian. Many veterans from the war had lingering anger towards Asians and ridiculed the design, calling it a “black gash of shame”. Maya intended to have the memorial represent a scar on the face of the Earth. She meant for it to feel safe, encompassing and as a strong reminder of all the people who died. Construction began in 1982 and finished in 1993, listing over 58,000 names. It took a bit of time for the wall to really be appreciated for what it was: an emotionally-captivating, well thought-out memorial. However, in order to have had it built, it was necessary to reach a compromise with the angry veterans: a bonze statue entitled “Three Soldiers” by Frederick Hart (who placed third in the competition) was unveiled in 1984. The issue of all the underappreciated women nurses who traveled to aid the soldiers also surfaced; designed by Glenna Goodacre was another statue that depicted three female nurses named Faith, Hope and Charity. It stands North of the Reflecting Pool and was dedicated in 1993.

"Each half of the wall is 246.75 feet long, combined length of 493.50 feet. Each segment is made of 70 panels. At their intersection, the highest point, they are 10.1 feet high; they taper to a width of 8 inches at their extremities. Granite for the wall came from southern India. The wall contains 58,175 names (as of October 1990). The largest panels have 137 lines of names; the smallest panels have but one line. There are five names on each line. The names (and other words) on the wall are 0.53 inches high and 0.015 inches deep."
Brent Ashabranner and Photographs by Jennifer Ashabranner. Always to Remember, the Story of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial., p. 93

Sources:

http://www.greatbuildings.com/buildings/Vietnam_War_Memorial.html

http://www.lehigh.edu/~ejg1/vietnam/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vietnam_Veterans_Memorial