On Saturday, December 16, 2017 the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Volunteers hosted the annual Christmas Tree Ceremony at The Wall.
Volunteers spoke and shared memories of the holidays in Vietnam, and families were encouraged to share stories of their loved ones.

The public was encouraged to bring and speak about a special ornament or decoration they may have for the Christmas tree. A bugler is also set to play 'Taps.'

After the ceremony, the volunteers will decorate a Christmas tree that will stand at the apex of The Wall throughout the holiday season. Wreaths Across America also lay wreaths at the panels of The Wall.

The interested public were asked to provide ornaments to be hung from the tree, it is requested that letters or cards be preferably 4” x 6” in size (about the size of a large holiday greeting card) and that it be laminated to withstand three weeks outdoors.

“The Wall is a sacred place, and one of so few where visitors are so directly exposed to the most noble American values of duty, honor, courage and sacrifice,” says Jan Scruggs.

After the ceremony, the tree and many boxes of cards and ornaments will be left at The Wall, so that visitors can read the messages and add decorations when they visit throughout the holidays.

This tree is adorned with cards and messages from school children around the country, placed there by visitors who read and appreciate these messages before affixing them to its branches.

The Christmas Tree Ceremony remains a beautiful tradition led by the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Volunteers and remembers all who served this holiday season.

The Vietnam Veterans Memorial stands as a symbol of America's honor and recognition of the men and women who served and sacrificed their lives in the Vietnam War.

Inscribed on the black granite walls are the names of more than 58,000 men and women who gave their lives or remain missing.

The names are inscribed in the chronological order of their dates of casualty, showing the war as a series of individual human sacrifices and giving each name a special place in history.

Walking through this park-like area, the memorial appears as a rift in the earth, a long, polished, black stone wall, emerging from and receding into the earth. Approaching the memorial, the ground slopes gently downward and the low walls emerging on either side, growing out of the earth, extend and converge at a point below and ahead. Walking into this grassy site contained by the walls of the memorial we can barely make out the carved names upon the memorial's walls. These names, seemingly infinite in number, convey the sense of overwhelming numbers, while unifying these individuals into a whole.

The design of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial was the work of Maya Ying Lin of Athens, Ohio, at that time a 21-year-old senior at Yale University. In August of 1981, the Memorial Fund selected a building company and architecture firm to develop the plans and build Lin's design. Lin became a design consultant to the architect of record.

Maya Lin conceived her design as creating a park within a park — a quiet protected place unto itself, yet harmonious with the overall plan of Constitution Gardens. To achieve this effect she chose polished black granite for the walls. Its mirror-like surface reflects the images of the surrounding trees, lawns, and monuments.

The memorial's walls point to the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial, thus bringing the memorial into the historical context of our country.

There are Twenty Three Medal Of Honor Recipients names on 'The Wall'

Dedicated on Veterans Day, November 11, 1993.

Diane Carlson Evans, a former Army nurse who served in Vietnam, is the founder and chair of the Vietnam Women's Memorial Foundation. She became the first woman in American history to spearhead a campaign to place a national monument in Washington, DC which recognizes the contributions of military women to their country, as well as civilian women's patriotic service.

‘Only Eight’. There are over 58,000 names on ‘The Wall’. Of women there are ‘Only Eight’. You need to understand though that these ladies were Great. Thousands of women served in Vietnam. We owe a large debt to them all, but thank God it was ‘Only Eight’, that heard your final call.

In January 1982, the decision was made to add a flag staff and sculpture on the memorial site in order to provide a realistic depiction of three Vietnam servicemen and a symbol of their courage and devotion to their country. On March 11, 1982, the design and plans received final Federal approval, and work at the site was begun on March 16, 1982. Ground was formally broken on Friday, March 26, 1982.
In July 1, 1982, the Memorial Fund selected Washington, D.C. sculptor Frederick Hart to design the sculpture of the servicemen to be placed at the site. On October 13, 1982, the U.S. Commission of Fine Arts unanimously accepted the proposed sculpture and flag staff.
Construction at the site was completed in late October 1982, and the Memorial was dedicated on November 13, 1982. The Three Servicemen statue was added in 1984.

The Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund created the In Memory program in 1999 to honor Vietnam veterans whose lives were cut short as a result of their service such as illnesses associated with Agent Orange exposure, PTS, and other causes.

A plaque dedicated near The Three Soldiers statue in 2004 reads: 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.