40 Years of Remembrance

Sunday will mark the 40th anniversary of the dedication of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. More than 58,000 names of every US service member who died or went missing in the Vietnam War have been read this week leading up to a Veterans Day Observance at the memorial today.

The wall, consisting of two 200-foot-long sections of black granite listing the names in chronological order, was designed by then-21-year-old Yale student Maya Lin and cost $8.4M to construct. More than 5 million people each year visit the wall, making it one of the most visited memorials on the National Mall. See some of the items that have been left at the wall.

Today, the country honors those who served and are serving in military. Veterans Day became an official federal holiday in 1938, marking the recognized end of World War I on the eleventh hour of the 11th day of the 11th month.

Watch Veterans Day ceremonies at Arlington National Cemetery here.