Public Memory

Understanding Public Memory in Context

The Vietnam Veterans Memorial is a place of public memory where deceased U.S. service members who served in the Vietnam War are recognized on a black granite wall located on the mall in Washington, D.C. Each of these elements of the memorial reflects a process of selection: a choice to remember U.S. service members; a choice to contain that memory in a low, black granite wall; and a choice to locate that memory site in a site where the nation’s ideals and heroes are honored. Scholars of public memory have pointed out the many ramifications of those choices. To begin, the presence of the names of the service members means that other parts of the war’s history are forgotten within the site. For example, the wall does not acknowledge surviving veterans (including prisoners of war and those still listed as missing in action), point to heroic actions of veterans or U.S. forces, or note the countless civilians in Southeast Asia who were killed by U.S. weapons. The second choice, to contain the public memory of the war in a black granite wall embedded in an embankment, means that the wall is a somber rather than celebratory reminder of U.S. involvement in the war. Typically, places of public memory seek to remember people,[Page 1355] places, and events where the collective’s best efforts are acknowledged—and the designs of these places are chosen accordingly. Think of the nearby Lincoln Memorial, Washington Monument, and World War II Memorial, for example—each of these immense containers of public memory consists of white marble. The third choice, to locate the memorial on the mall near these celebratory memorials, and not in Arlington National Cemetery, means that it is more than a place to remember those lost in the war; it is also part of the national fabric.

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