Today in History is amazing. Just two Things... This and below it the First Mass murder tone made into a Myth. The Vietnam Veterans Memorial is a national memorial in Washington, D.C. 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 (Missing In Action) 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 Soldiers statue, the Vietnam Womens Memorial, and the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall, which is the best-known part of the memorial. The main part of the memorial, which was completed in 1982, is in Constitution Gardens adjacent to the National Mall, just northeast of the Lincoln Memorial. The memorial is maintained by the U.S. National Park Service, and receives around 3 million visitors each year. The Memorial Wall was designed by American architect Maya Lin. The typesetting of the original 58,195 names on the wall was performed by Datalantic in Atlanta, Georgia. In 2007, it was ranked tenth on the List of Americas Favorite Architecture by the American Institute of Architects. Contents [hide] 1 History 2 Structure 2.1 Memorial Wall 2.1.1 Timeline for those listed on the wall 2.2 The Three Soldiers 2.3 Womens Memorial 2.4 In Memory memorial plaque 3 Controversies 3.1 Maya Ying Lin 3.2 Opposition to design 3.3 Womens memorial 4 Traveling Replicas 4.1 The Moving Wall 4.2 The Wall That Heals 4.3 The Traveling Wall 4.4 The Vietnam Traveling Memorial Wall 4.5 Dignity Memorial Vietnam Wall 5 Fixed Replicas 5.1 Wildwoods 5.2 Winfield, Kansas 5.3 As a Memorial Genre 6 Vietnam Veterans Memorial Collection 7 Vandalism 8 See also 9 Notes 10 References 11 Further reading 12 External links History[edit] The Main Navy and Munitions Buildings site, with the Munitions building behind the Navy building April 30, 1975 – The Fall of Saigon. April 27, 1979 – The Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund, Inc. (VVMF), was incorporated as a non-profit organization to establish a memorial to veterans of the Vietnam War. Much of the impetus behind the formation of the fund came from a wounded Vietnam veteran, Jan Scruggs, who was inspired by the film The Deer Hunter. Eventually, $8.4 million was raised by private donations. July 1, 1980 – Congress authorizes 3 acres (12,000 m2) near the Lincoln Memorial for the site. The temporary Munitions Building, built for War Department offices during World War I and finally razed in 1970, ordered by President Richard Nixon, formerly occupied the site. The memorial is to be managed by the National Park Service under its National Mall and Memorial Parks group. A design competition is announced. December 29, 1980 – 2,573 register for design competition with a prize of $50,000. March 31, 1981 – 1,421 designs submitted. The designs are displayed at an airport hangar at Andrews Air Force Base for the selection committee, in rows covering more than 35,000 square feet (3,300 m2) of floor space. Each entry was identified by number only, to preserve the anonymity of their authors. All entries were examined by each juror; the entries were narrowed down to 232, then 39. Finally, the jury selected entry number 1026. May 6, 1981 – A jury of eight architects and sculptors (Harry Weese, Richard Hunt, Garret Eckbo, Costantino Nivola, James Rosati, Grady Clay, Hideo Sasaki, Pietro Belluschi, working with architectural advisor Paul Spreiregen)[2] unanimously selected a design by Maya Ying Lin, a 21-year-old Yale University architecture student from Athens, Ohio, as the winner from 1,421 entries. January 1982 – The Three Soldiers was added to the design as a result of controversy over Lins design. March 11, 1982 – The design is formally approved. March 26, 1982 – Ground is formally broken. October 13, 1982 – The U.S. Commission of Fine Arts approves erection of a flagpole to be grouped with sculptures. November 13, 1982 – Memorial dedication after a march to its site by thousands of Vietnam War veterans. As a National Memorial it was administratively listed on the National Register of Historic Places the same day. Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall with Christmas ornaments November 1984 – The Three Soldiers statue is dedicated. November 11, 1993 – Vietnam Womens Memorial is dedicated. 1994 – The Pentagon, instead of adding two unidentified bodies of Vietnam veterans to the Tomb of the Unknowns, recommended that a display of medals be added behind the tomb with a plaque reading: Let all know that the United States of America pays tribute to the members of the Armed Forces who answered their countrys call. A Veterans Affairs subcommittee later changed the statement to read: Let all know that the United States of America pays tribute to the members of the Armed Forces who served honorably in Southeast Asia during the Vietnam Era. Later, in 1998, Congress, prodded by the Vietnam-Era Caucus (composed of veteran Congressmen), discussed creating a Vietnam Veterans Week to honor the survivors of the war. November 10, 2004 – Dedication of memorial plaque honoring veterans who died after the war as a direct result of injuries suffered in Vietnam, but who fall outside Department of Defense guidelines. May 4, 2010 - Six names were added to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial during a ceremony. The new names are veterans who died after the war as a direct result of injuries suffered in the combat zone. October 12, 2012 - It was announced that a place of honor will be added by the Wall for post 9/11 service members.[3] Structure[edit] An aerial photograph of The Wall taken on April 26, 2002 by the United States Geological Survey. The dots visible along the length of the angled wall are visitors. For a satellite view of the Wall in relation to other monuments, see Constitution Gardens. Memorial Wall[edit] The Memorial Wall, designed by Maya Lin, is made up of two gabbro walls 246 feet 9 inches (75 m) long.[4][5] The walls are sunk into the ground, with the earth behind them. At the highest tip (the apex where they meet), they are 10.1 feet (3 m) high, and they taper to a height of eight inches (20 cm) at their extremities. Stone for the wall came from Bangalore, Karnataka, India, and was deliberately chosen because of its reflective quality. Stone cutting and fabrication was done in Barre, Vermont. Stones were then shipped to Memphis, Tennessee where the names were etched. The etching was completed using a photoemulsion and sandblasting process. The negatives used in the process are in storage at the Smithsonian Institution. When a visitor looks upon the wall, his or her reflection can be seen simultaneously with the engraved names, which is meant to symbolically bring the past and present together. One wall points toward the Washington Monument, the other in the direction of the Lincoln Memorial, meeting at an angle of 125° 12′. Each wall has 72 panels, 70 listing names (numbered 1E through 70E and 70W through 1W) and 2 very small blank panels at the extremities. There is a pathway along the base of the Wall, where visitors may walk. One panel of The Wall, displaying some of the names of fallen U.S. service members from the Vietnam War. Inscribed on the walls with the Optima typeface are the names of servicemen who were either confirmed to be KIA (Killed in Action) or remained classified as MIA (Missing in Action) when the walls were constructed in 1982. They are listed in chronological order, starting at the apex on panel 1E in 1959 (although it was later discovered that the first casualties were military advisers who were killed by artillery fire in 1957), moving day by day to the end of the eastern wall at panel 70E, which ends on May 25, 1968, starting again at panel 70W at the end of the western wall which completes the list for May 25, 1968, and returning to the apex at panel 1W in 1975. Symbolically, this is described as a wound that is closed and healing. Information about rank, unit, and decorations are not given. The wall listed 58,191 names when it was completed in 1983; as of May 2011, there are 58,272 names, including 8 women. Approximately 1,200 of these are listed as missing (MIAs, POWs, and others), denoted with a cross; the confirmed dead are marked with a diamond. If the missing return alive, the cross is circumscribed by a circle (although this has never occurred as of March 2009); if their death is confirmed, a diamond is superimposed over the cross. According to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund, there is no definitive answer to exactly how many, but there could be as many as 38 names of personnel who survived, but through clerical errors, were added to the list of fatalities provided by the Department of Defense.[6] Directories are located on nearby podiums so that visitors may locate specific names. Timeline for those listed on the wall[edit] A Marine at Vietnam Memorial on July 4, 2002 November 1, 1955 – Dwight D. Eisenhower deploys Military Assistance Advisory Group to train the South Vietnamese military units and secret police. However, the U.S. Department of Defense does not recognize such date since the men were supposedly only training the Vietnamese. The officially recognized date is the formation of the Military Assistance Command Viet-Nam, better known as MACV. This marks the official beginning of American involvement in the war as recognized by the memorial. June 8, 1956 – The first official death in Vietnam is U.S. Air Force Technical Sergeant Richard B. Fitzgibbon, Jr. of Stoneham, MA who was murdered by another U.S. airman. July 8, 1959 – Charles Ovnand and Dale R. Buis are killed by guerrillas at Bien Hoa while watching the film The Tattered Dress. They are listed 1 and 2 at the walls dedication. Ovnands name is spelled on the memorial as Ovnard, due to conflicting military records of his surname. April 30, 1975 – Fall of Saigon. The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs uses May 7, 1975 as the official end date for the Vietnam era as defined by 38 U.S.C. § 101. May 15, 1975 – 18 U.S. servicemen (14 Marines, two Navy corpsmen, and two Air Force crewmen) are killed on the last day of a rescue operation known as the Mayagüez incident with troops from the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia. They are the last servicemen listed on the timeline. The Three Soldiers[edit] The Three Soldiers by Frederick Hart Main article: The Three Soldiers A short distance away from the wall is another Vietnam memorial, a bronze statue named The Three Soldiers (sometimes called The Three Servicemen). Negative reactions to Lins design created a controversy; a compromise was reached by commissioning Frederick Hart (who had placed third in the original design competition) to produce a bronze figurative sculpture in the heroic tradition. Opponents of Lins design had hoped to place this sculpture of three soldiers at the apex of the walls two sides. Lin objected strenuously to this, arguing that this would make the soldiers the focal point of the memorial, and her wall a mere backdrop. A compromise was reached, and the sculpture was placed off to one side. The statue, which was unveiled in 1984, depicts three soldiers, purposefully identifiable as White American, African American, and Hispanic American. In their final arrangement, the statue and the Wall appear to interact with each other, with the soldiers looking on in solemn tribute at the names of their fallen comrades. The distance between the two allows them to interact while minimizing the impact of the addition on Lins design. Womens Memorial[edit] Main article: Vietnam Womens Memorial In Memory memorial plaque[edit] A memorial plaque, authorized by Pub.L. 106–214, was dedicated on November 10, 2004, at the northeast corner of the plaza surrounding the Three Soldiers statue to honor veterans who died after the war as a direct result of injuries suffered in Vietnam, but who fall outside Department of Defense guidelines. The plaque is a carved block of black granite, 3 feet (0.91 m) by 2 feet (0.61 m), inscribed In memory of the men and women who served in the Vietnam War and later died as a result of their service. We honor and remember their sacrifice. Ruth Coder Fitzgerald, founder of The Vietnam War In Memory Memorial Plaque Project, worked for years and struggled against opposition to have the In Memory Memorial Plaque completed. The organization was disbanded, but their web site is maintained by the Vietnam War Project at Texas Tech University. Controversies[edit] Original design submission by Maya Lin The Vietnam War was one of the longest and most controversial wars in United States history. A stated goal of the memorial fund was to avoid commentary on the war itself, serving solely as a memorial to those who served.[citation needed] Nevertheless, a number of controversies have surrounded the memorial. Maya Ying Lin[edit] The design for the memorial was chosen from entries submitted in a national contest. As depicted in a documentary about Maya Ying Lin (Maya Ying Lin: A Strong Clear Vision), reactions to the chosen memorial design were overwhelmingly positive. At the time of the contest, Lin was age 21 and a student of architecture at Yale University.[citation needed] Opposition to design[edit] The selected design was very controversial, in particular its unconventional design, its black color and its lack of ornamentation. Some public officials voiced their displeasure, calling the wall a black gash of shame.[7] Two prominent early supporters of the project, H. Ross Perot and James Webb, withdrew their support once they saw the design. Said Webb, “I never in my wildest dreams imagined such a nihilistic slab of stone.” James Watt, Secretary of the Interior under President Ronald Reagan, initially refused to issue a building permit for the memorial due to the public outcry about the design.[8] Since its early years, criticism of the Memorials design faded. In the words of Scruggs, It has become something of a shrine.[7] Womens memorial[edit] The original winning entry of the Womens Memorial design contest was deemed unsuitable.[citation needed] Glenna Goodacres entry received an honorable mention in the contest and she was asked to submit a modified maquette (design model). Goodacres original design for the Womens Memorial statue included a standing figure of a nurse holding a Vietnamese baby, which although not intended as such, was deemed a political statement, and it was asked that this be removed. She replaced them with a figure of a kneeling woman holding an empty helmet.[citation needed] Traveling Replicas[edit] The Moving Wall[edit] The Moving Wall at Mount Trashmore Park in Virginia Vietnam veteran John Devitt of Stockton, California, attended the 1982 dedication ceremonies of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. Recognizing what he saw as the healing nature of the Wall, he vowed to make a transportable version of the Wall, a Traveling Wall so those who were not able to travel to Washington, D.C. would be able to see and touch the names of friends or loved ones in their own home town. Using personal finances, Devitt founded Vietnam Combat Veterans, Ltd. With the help of friends, the half-size replica of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, named The Moving Wall,[9] was built and first put on display to the public in Tyler, Texas, in 1984. The Moving Wall visits hundreds of small towns and cities throughout the U.S., staying five or six days at each site. Local arrangements for each visit are made months in advance by veterans organizations and other civic groups. Thousands of people all over the US volunteered their time and money to help honor the fallen. Desire for a hometown visit of The Moving Wall was so high that the waiting list became very long. Vietnam Combat Veterans built a second structure of The Moving Wall. A third structure was added in 1989. In 2001, one of the structures was retired due to wear.[citation needed] By 2006, there had been more than 1000 hometown visits of The Moving Wall. The count of people who visited The Moving Wall at each display ranges from 5,000 to more than 50,000; the total estimate of visitors is in the tens of millions. As the wall moves from town to town on interstates, it is often escorted by state troopers and up to thousands of local citizens on motorcycles. Many of these are Patriot Guard Riders, who consider escorting The Moving Wall to be a special mission, which is coordinated on their website. As it passes towns, even when it is not planning a stop in those towns, local veterans organizations sometimes plan for local citizens to gather by the highway and across overpasses to wave flags and salute the Wall.[9] The Wall That Heals[edit] The Wall That Heals is a traveling three-fifths size replica of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial started in 1996 by the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund. A 53-foot tractor-trailer transports the 250-foot wall and converts to a museum at each stop, showing letters and other items left at the original wall, and more details about those whose names are shown. Lisa Gough of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund said that the exhibit goes to around 20 cities each year and traveled 33,534 miles in 2010. Organizations in each location pay $5,000 of the cost for the exhibit. The Traveling Wall[edit] Created by the American Veterans Traveling Tribute, this traveling wall is an 80% replica Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall and is 360 feet long and 8 feet tall at its apex. It claims to be the largest traveling replica. The Vietnam Traveling Memorial Wall[edit] Created by Vietnam and All Veterans of Brevard, Inc, this traveling replica is a 3/5 scale of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial and is almost 300 feet long and 6 feet tall at the center. Dignity Memorial Vietnam Wall[edit] Created by Dignity Memorial, this traveling replica is 3/4 scale of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. Fixed Replicas[edit] Wildwoods[edit] Located across Ocean Avenue from the Wildwoods Convention Center, New Jersey, the memorial was unveiled and dedicated on May 29, 2010. The memorial wall is a half-size granite replica of the Vietnam Memorial in Washington, D.C., and the only permanent memorial in the Northeast, other than the Memorial in the Nationals Capital. Winfield, Kansas[edit] Located 401 East Ninth Street in Winfield, Kansas. Plans for the Vietnam War Memorial in Winfield began in 1987 when friends who had gathered for a class reunion wanted to find a way to honor their fallen classmates. The project quickly grew from honoring only Cowley County servicemen to representing all 777 servicemen and nurses from Kansas who lost their lives or are missing in action from the Vietnam War. The memorial is a replica of the Vietnam War memorial in Washington D.C. It was also created as a tribute to servicemen and nurses who served in any world war.[10] As a Memorial Genre[edit] The first US memorial to an ongoing war, the Northwood Gratitude and Honor Memorial in Irvine, CA, is modelled on the Vietnam Veterans memorial in that it includes a chronological list of the dead engraved in dark granite. As the memorialized wars (in Iraq and Afghanistan) have not concluded, the Northwood Gratitude and Honor Memorial will be updated yearly. It has space for about 8000 names, of which 5,714 were engraved as of the Dedication of the Memorial on November 14, 2010.[11][12] Vietnam Veterans Memorial Collection[edit] Various items left at The Wall. Flags and flowers Visitors to the memorial began leaving sentimental items at the memorial at its opening. One story claims that this practice began during construction, when a Vietnam veteran threw the Purple Heart his brother received posthumously into the concrete of the memorials foundation.[13] Several thousand items are left at the memorial each year. Items left at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial are collected by National Park Service employees and transferred to the NPS Museum and Resource Center, which catalogs and stores all items except perishable organic matter (such as fresh flowers) and unaltered US flags. The flags are redistributed through various channels.[14] The largest item left at the memorial was a sliding glass storm door with a full-size replica tiger cage. The door was painted with a scene in Vietnam and the names of US POWs and MIAs from the conflict.[13] Other items in collection include a Harley-Davidson motorcycle with the license plate HERO, a plain brown teddy bear which was dressed by other unconnected visitors, a 6 abstract sculpture titled After the Holocaust, and an experimental W. R. Case jungle survival knife of which only 144 were made. It also contains the Medal of Honor of Charles Liteky, who renounced it in 1986 by placing the medal at the memorial in an envelope addressed to then-President Ronald Reagan. From 1992 to 2003, selected items from the collection were placed on exhibit, at the Smithsonian Institutions National Museum of American History as Personal Legacy: The Healing of a Nation. Vandalism[edit] There have been three known incidents of vandalism at the memorial wall. The first occurred in April 1988, when a swastika and various scratches were found etched in two of the panels.[15] The panels were replaced. In 1993, someone burned one of the directory stands at the entrance to the memorial.[16] On September 7, 2007, an oily substance was found by park rangers on the memorials wall panels and paving stones. It was spread over an area of 50 to 60 feet (18 m). Memorial Fund founder Jan Scruggs deplored the scene, calling it an act of vandalism on one of Americas sacred places. The removal process took a few weeks to complete.[16] Panorama of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial See also[edit] Vietnam War Memorial, Hanoi Vietnam Forces National Memorial, Canberra Vietnam Veterans Memorial (The Wall-USA), an online memorial Vietnam Veterans of America, chartered by Congress and campaigns on issues important to Vietnam veterans The Virtual Wall, an online memorial The Wall That Heals, a 1997 film s:Maya Lins original competition submission for the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Northwood Gratitude and Honor Memorial Notes[edit] Jump up ^ National Register Information System. National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. 2010-07-09. Jump up ^ Vietnam Veterans Memorial lessons for September 11 Jump up ^ Scruggs, Jan. By the Vietnam Wall, a Place to Honor Our Post-9/11 Service Members. The Daily Beast. Retrieved 10 October 2012. Jump up ^ Robbins, Eleanora I. (2001). BUILDING STONES AND GEOMORPHOLOGY OF WASHINGTON, D.C. THE JIM O’CONNOR MEMORIAL FIELD TRIP. Jump up ^ The Post could have better explained cracks in the Wall. Washington Post. October 16, 2010. Retrieved October 16, 2010. Jump up ^ Vietnam Memorial Fund – FAQs.[dead link] ^ Jump up to: a b Garber, Kent (November 3, 2007). A Milestone for a Memorial That Has Touched Millions. U.S. News and World Report (Washington, DC). Retrieved November 11, 2009. Jump up ^ Wills, Denise (November 1, 2007). The Vietnam Memorials History. Washingtonian (Washington, DC). Retrieved November 11, 2009. ^ Jump up to: a b Local AMVETS to Salute Wall. Greenville Advocate. July 17, 2007. Jump up ^ Winfield KS - Official Website - Kansas Vietnam War Memorial Jump up ^ northwoodmemorial Jump up ^ Letter from Sukhee Kang. 3.bp.blogspot. February 22, 2010. Retrieved June 21, 2010. ^ Jump up to: a b nps.gov/mrc/vvmc/faq2.htm< Jump up ^ MRCE:Frequently Asked Questions. Nps.gov. Retrieved June 21, 2010. Jump up ^ Vandals Scratch Swastika on Face of Viet Veterans Memorial. Los Angeles Times. May 3, 1988. ^ Jump up to: a b Substance on Vietnam Memorial is Vandalism. WTOP. Retrieved September 2, 2010. References[edit] Wreaths placed around the Three Soldiers Statue Names of fallen Vietnam Veterans Memorial, National Park Service leaflet, GPO:2004—304–377/00203 The National Parks: Index 2001–2003. Washington: U.S. Department of the Interior. Further reading[edit] Ashabranner, Brent K., Always to Remember: The Story of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, Putnam, New York 1989. Ashabranner, Brent K., Their Names to Live: What the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Means to America, Twenty-first Century Press, Brookfield CT, 1998. Berdahl, Daphne, Voices at the Wall: Discourses of Self, History and National Identity at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, History & Memory: Studies in Representation of the Past 6 (Fall/Winter 1994), 88–124. Blair, Carole, Jeppeson, Marsha S., and Pucci, Enrico Jr., Public Memorializing in Postmodernity: The Vietnam Veterans Memorial as Prototype, Quarterly Journal of Speech 77 (August 1991), 263–288. Capasso, Nicholas, The National Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Context: Commemorative Public Art in America, 1960–1997, PhD Thesis, Rutgers University, 1998. Carlson, A. Cheree, and Hocking, John E., Strategies of Redemption at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, Western Journal of Speech Communication 52 (September 1988), 203–215. Carney, Lora S., Not Telling Us What to Think: The Vietnam Veterans Memorial, Metaphor and Symbolic Activity Volume 8 Issue 3 (1993), 211–219. Danto, Arthur, The Vietnam Veterans Memorial, The Nation, August 31, 1985, 152–155. Ellis, Caron S., So Old Soldiers Dont Fade Away: The Vietnam Veterans Memorial, Journal of American Culture 15 (Summer 1992), 25–28. Ehrenhaus, Peter, Silence and Symbolic Expression, Communication Monographs 55 (March 1988), 41–57. Foss, Sonja K, Ambiguity as Persuasion: The Vietnam Veterans Memorial, Communication Quarterly 34 (Summer 1986), 326–340. Friedman, Daniel S., Public Things in the Modern City: Belated Notes on Tilted Arc and the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, JAE: Journal of Architectural Education 49 (November 1995), 62–78. Griswold, Charles L., The Vietnam Veterans Memorial and the Washington Mall: Philosophical Thoughts on Political Iconography, Critical Inquiry 12 (Summer 1986), 688–719. Haines, Harry, What Kind of War?: An Analysis of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, Critical Studies in Mass Communucation 3 (1986), 1–20. Hass, Kristin Ann. Carried to the Wall: American memory and the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1998. Hess, Elizabeth, Vietnam: Memorials of Misfortune, in Unwinding the Vietnam War: From War into Peace (Reese Williams, ed.), Real Comet Press, Seattle 1987, 261–270. Hubbard, William, A Meaning for Monuments, The Public Interest 74 (Winter 1984), 17–30. Katakis, Michael, The Vietnam Veterans Memorial, Crown, New York 1988. Lopes, Sal, The Wall: Images and Offerings from the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Collins, New York 1987. McLeod, Mary, The Battle for the Monument: The Vietnam Veterans Memorial, in The Experimental Tradition (Helene Lipstadt, ed.), Rizzoli, New York 1989, 115–137. Morrissey, Thomas F., Between the Lines: Photographs from the National Vietnam Veterans Memorial, Syracuse University Press, Syracuse 2000. Ochsner, Jeffrey Karl, “A Space of Loss: The Vietnam Veterans Memorial.” JAE: Journal of Architectural Education 50 (February 1997), 156–171. Palmer, Laura, Shrapnel in the Heart: Letters and Remembrances from the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, Random House, New York 1987. Resnicoff, Arnold E., Dedication Prayer for the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, in The Treasury of American Prayer, James P. Moore, Jr., editor, Doubleday, 2009, pg. 317. Scott, Grant F., Meditations in Black: The Vietnam Veterans Memorial, Journal of American Culture 13 (Fall 1990), 37–40. Scruggs, Jan C., and Swerdlow, Joel L., To Heal a Nation: The Vietnam Veterans Memorial, Harper & Row, New York 1985. Sturken, Marita, The Wall, the Screen, and the Image: The Vietnam Veterans Memorial, Representations 35 (Summer 1991), 118–142. Wagner-Pacific, Robin, & Schwartz, Barry, The Vietnam Veterans Memorial: Commemorating a Difficult Past. The American Journal of Sociology, 97 (1991), 376–420. External links[edit] Wikimedia Commons has media related to Vietnam Veterans Memorial. Wikisource has original text related to this article: Maya Lins original competition submission for the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Official NPS website: Vietnam Veterans Memorial [hide] v t e Landmarks of Washington, D.C. Memorials Adams Memorial African American Civil War Memorial Albert Einstein Memorial Boy Scout Memorial Daniel Webster Memorial District of Columbia War Memorial First Division Monument Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial George Mason Memorial James A. 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President Lincolns Cottage at the Soldiers Home Smithsonian Institution United States Capitol United States Supreme Court Building Washington National Cathedral White House Zero Milestone Categories: IUCN Category VBuildings and structures completed in 1982Landscape design history of the United StatesMonuments and memorials in Washington, D.C.National Mall and Memorial ParksNational Memorials of the United StatesOutdoor sculptures in Washington, D.C.National Register of Historic Places in Washington, D.C.Monuments and memorials on the National Register of Historic Places in Washington, D.C.Military monuments and memorials in the United StatesVietnam War memorialsArtworks in the collection of the United States National Park Service Ronald Joseph Butch DeFeo, Jr. (born September 26, 1951) is an American mass murderer. He was tried and convicted for the 1974 killings of his father, mother, two brothers and two sisters. The case is notable for being the real life inspiration behind the book and film versions of The Amityville Horror. Contents [hide] 1 The murder of the DeFeo family 2 Trial and conviction 3 Controversies surrounding the case 4 In popular culture 5 References 6 External links The murder of the DeFeo family[edit] At around 6:30 PM on Wednesday, November 13, 1974, 23-year-old Ronald DeFeo, Jr entered Henrys Bar in Amityville, Long Island, New York and declared: You got to help me! I think my mother and father are shot![1] DeFeo and a small group of people went to 112 Ocean Avenue, which was located near the bar, and found that DeFeos parents were indeed dead. One of the group, Joe Yeswit, made an emergency call to the Suffolk County Police, who searched the house and found that six members of the same family were dead in their beds.[2] The victims were Ronald DeFeo, Sr. (43), Louise DeFeo (42), and four of their children: Dawn (18); Allison (13); Marc (12); and John Matthew (9). All of the victims had been shot with a .35 caliber lever action Marlin 336C rifle[3] at around three oclock in the morning of that day. DeFeos parents had both been shot twice, while the children had all been killed with single shots. Louise DeFeo and her daughter Allison were reportedly the only victims who were awakened by the gunfire at the time of their deaths,[4] and according to Suffolk County Police the victims were all found lying on their stomachs in bed. The DeFeo family had occupied 112 Ocean Avenue since purchasing it in 1965. The murdered members of the DeFeo family are buried in nearby Saint Charles Cemetery in Farmingdale.[5] Ronald DeFeo, Jr. was the eldest son of the family, and was also known as Butch. He was taken to the local police station for his own protection after suggesting to police officers at the scene of the crime that the killings had been carried out by a mob hit man named Tony Mazzeo. However, an interview with DeFeo at the station soon exposed serious inconsistencies in his version of events. The following day he confessed to carrying out the killings himself and Mazzeo had an airtight alibi proving he was out of state at the time of the killings. DeFeo told detectives: Once I started, I just couldn’t stop. It went so fast.[1] He admitted that he had taken a bath, redressed, and discarded crucial evidence like blood-stained clothes, the Marlin rifle and cartridges on his way to work as usual.[6] Trial and conviction[edit] DeFeos trial began on October 14, 1975. He and his defense lawyer William Weber mounted an affirmative defense of insanity, with DeFeo claiming that he killed his family in self-defense because he heard their voices plotting against him. The insanity plea was supported by the psychiatrist for the defense, Dr. Daniel Schwartz. The psychiatrist for the prosecution, Dr. Harold Zolan, maintained that although DeFeo was an abuser of heroin and LSD, he had antisocial personality disorder and was aware of his actions at the time of the crime. On November 21, 1975, DeFeo was found guilty on six counts of second-degree murder. On December 4, 1975, Judge Thomas Stark sentenced Ronald DeFeo, Jr. to six concurrent sentences of 25 years to life.[7] DeFeo is currently held in Green Haven Correctional Facility, Beekman, New York, and all of his appeals to the parole board to date have been denied. Controversies surrounding the case[edit] Ric Osunas book The Night the DeFeos Died offers an alternative explanation of the murders All six of the victims were found lying face down in their beds with no signs of a struggle or sedatives having been administered, leading to speculation that someone in the house should have been awakened by the noise of the gunshots. Neighbors did not report hearing any gunshots being fired. The police investigation concluded that most of the victims had been asleep at the time of the murders,[citation needed] and that the rifle had not been fitted with a suppressor. Police officers and the medical examiner who attended the scene were initially puzzled by the rapidity and scale of the killings and considered the possibility that more than one person had been responsible for the crime. During his time in jail, Ronald DeFeo has given several varying accounts of how the killings were carried out. In a 1986 interview for Newsday, Ronald DeFeo, Jr., claimed that his sister killed their father, then their distraught mother killed all of Ronalds siblings before DeFeo, Jr., killed his mother. He stated that he took the blame because he was afraid to say anything negative about his mother to her father, Michael Brigante, Sr., and his fathers uncle, out of fear that they would kill him. His fathers uncle was Pete DeFeo, a caporegime in the Genovese crime family.[8] On November 30, 2000, Ronald DeFeo met with Ric Osuna, the author of The Night the DeFeos Died, which was published in 2002. According to Osuna, DeFeo claimed that he had committed the murders with his sister Dawn and two friends, Augie Degenero and Bobby Kelske, out of desperation, because his parents had plotted to kill him. Allegedly, Ronald claimed that, after a furious row with his father, he and his sister planned to kill their parents, and that Dawn murdered the children in order to eliminate them as witnesses. He said that he was enraged on discovering his sisters actions, knocked her unconscious on to her bed and shot her in the head. Police found traces of unburned gunpowder on Dawns nightgown, which DeFeo proponents allege proves she discharged a firearm.[9] However, at trial the ballistics expert, Alfred Della Penna, testified that unburned gunpowder is discharged through the muzzle of a weapon, indicating that she was in proximity to the muzzle of the weapon when it was discharged and not that she fired the weapon. He reiterated this on an A&E Amityville documentary that is extensively discussed in Will Savines Mentally Ill In Amityville. Savine had an expert evaluate Della Pennas assessment, and the expert confirmed that he was correct. Moreover, the medical examiner found nothing to indicate that Dawn had been in a struggle; the bullet wound was the only fresh mark on her body. Ronald DeFeo, Jr., had a volatile relationship with his father, but a motive for the killings remains unclear. He asked police what he had to do in order to collect on his fathers life insurance, which prompted the prosecution to suggest at trial that his motive was to collect on the life insurance policies of his parents.[1][10][11] Joe Nickell notes that, given the frequency with which Ronald DeFeo has changed his story over the years, any new claims from him regarding the events that took place on the night of the murders should be approached with caution.[12] In a letter to the radio show host Lou Gentile, DeFeo denied giving Ric Osuna information that could be used in his book, claiming that he immediately left the interview and did not speak to Osuna about anything substantive.[13] Ric Osunas book was adapted into a docudrama entitled Shattered Hopes: The True Story of the Amityville Murders. The film, released on December 16 2011, was written, directed and produced by Ryan Katzenbach and featuring narration by veteran actor Ed Asner, examines all aspects of the Amityville case, with a strong focus on the DeFeo family and the events surrounding their murders.[14] In popular culture[edit] Main article: The Amityville Horror Jay Ansons novel The Amityville Horror was published in September 1977. The book is based on the 28-day period during December 1975 and January 1976 when George and Kathy Lutz and their three children lived at 112 Ocean Avenue. The Lutz family left the house, claiming that they had been terrorized by paranormal phenomena while living there.[6] The 1982 film Amityville II: The Possession is based on the book Murder in Amityville by parapsychologist Hans Holzer. It is set at 112 Ocean Avenue, featuring the fictional Montelli family, who are said to be based on the DeFeo family. The story introduces speculative and controversial themes, including an incestuous relationship between Sonny Montelli and his teenaged sister, based loosely on a rumor of an incestuous relationship between Ronald DeFeo, Jr., and his sister Dawn.[15] The film versions of the DeFeo murders contain several inaccuracies. The 2005 remake of The Amityville Horror contains a fictional child character called Jodie DeFeo. The claim that Ronald DeFeo, Jr., was influenced to commit the murders by spirits from a Native American burial ground on the site of 112 Ocean Avenue has been rejected by local historians and Native American leaders, who argue that there is insufficient evidence to support the claim that the burial ground existed.[16] References[edit] ^ Jump up to: a b c Lynott, Douglas B. The Real Life Amityville Horror. truTV Crime Library. Trutv. Retrieved 2008-12-10. Jump up ^ DJ - The Amityville Horror Jump up ^ (Slideshow: Gunbox). The Amityville Murders™. Jump up ^ Lynott, Douglas B. The Real Life Amityville Horror; Shots in the Night. truTV Crime Library. Trutv. Jump up ^ Amityville Horror Murder Victims accessed May 22, 2010 ^ Jump up to: a b Ramsland, Katherine: Inside the minds of mass-murderers: why they kill. Greenwood Publishing Group, 2005, p. 80. ISBN 0-275-98475-3 Jump up ^ New Evidence Raises Questions In Decades-Old Amityville Horror Murders. CBS. February 27, 2012. Retrieved 2012-05-19. Jump up ^ Keeler, Bob. DeFeos New Story, Newsday, March 19, 1986. Jump up ^ Amityville - the Cultural Impact of Homicide. Castleofspirits. Retrieved 2008-12-08.[dead link] Jump up ^ Ramsland, Katherine. Haunted Crime Scenes; Amityville Controversy. truTV Crime Library. Trutv. Retrieved 2008-12-08. Jump up ^ The Amityville Murders. Amityvillemurders. Retrieved 2008-12-08. Jump up ^ Nickell, Joe (January 2003). Amityville Horror Investigative Files (January 2003). Skeptical Inquirer. Retrieved 2008-12-08. Jump up ^ Ronnie DeFeo Jr.. Amityvillehorrortruth. Archived from the original on 2008-07-01. Retrieved 2008-12-08. Jump up ^ Shattered Hopes: The True Story of the Amityville Murders - IMDb Jump up ^ Amityville II: The Possession (1982) at the Internet Movie Database Jump up ^ The Amityville Murders. Amityvillemurders. Retrieved 2008-12-08. External links[edit] Portal icon 1970s portal Portal icon Criminal justice portal Portal icon New York portal The Amityville Files - The largest archive of Amityville-related research on the web. The case at Court TVs Crime Library The Amityville Murders website - Ric Osunas website Transcript of 911 emergency call to Suffolk County Police reporting the shootings. [hide] v t e The Amityville Horror People Ronald DeFeo, Jr. Jay Anson Hans Holzer Stephen Kaplan Films The Amityville Horror (1979) Amityville II: The Possession (1982) Amityville 3-D: The Demon (1983) Amityville 4: The Evil Escapes (1989) The Amityville Curse (1990) Amityville 1992: Its About Time (1992) Amityville: A New Generation (1993) Amityville Dollhouse (1996) The Amityville Horror (2005) The Amityville Haunting (2011) The Amityville Asylum (2013) The Amityville Horror: The Lost Tapes (2014) Books The Amityville Horror Murder in Amityville The Amityville Horror Part II Amityville: The Final Chapter Amityville: The Evil Escapes The Amityville Curse Amityville: The Horror Returns Amityville: The Nightmare Continues High Hopes: The Amityville Murders Categories: 1951 birthsLiving people1974 murders in the United StatesAmerican mass murderersAmerican murderers of childrenAmerican people convicted of murderAmerican people of Italian descentAmerican prisoners sentenced to life imprisonmentFamilicidesMass murder in 1974MatricidesPatricidesPrisoners sentenced to life imprisonment by New YorkPeople convicted of murder by New YorkPeople from Long IslandPeople with antisocial personality disorder
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