Vietnam Veterans' Memorial: universal symbolism.

WHILE ATTENDING a recent meeting of the Academy of Marketing Science in Washington, D. C., I had the opportunity to visit the Vietnam Veterans' Memorial. Doing so gave me a brief opportunity to relive my emotions of those tumultuous Vietnam War years and to become aware of how much of what we know and experience is influenced by symbolism.

As a reluctant 1954 Korean War draftee, I readily empathized with the Vietnam War protesters in the 1960s, and yet, having been a child during WW II, I was uncomfortable about not supporting our country's political leaders.

I recall how innocuously the Vietnam War started. At first, U.S. military advisors were sent to South Vietnam to help "the freedom loving people of South Vietnam" protect themselves against "Communist aggression." Such "aid to a friendly ally" seemed to be reasonable and prudent in those cold war days.

However, those military advisors soon were under attack. Certainly, we were told, the U. S. couldn't allow a 'third-rate power such as Communist North Vietnam to attack our soldiers with impunity." Hence, additional soldiers were sent to "protect the advisors."

It was not long thereafter that the additional troops sent to Vietnam needed help to "accomplish their mission." How could the U.S. not provide "the needed support to protect our boys over there?" Naval and air power was next.

A short while later those naval forces and air bases were under attack by "the Communist invaders from North Vietnam." Surely, "those Commies had to be taught a lesson." Consequently, their supply lines and homeland became bombing targets. Still, the war continued unabated.

The military and political leaders of the time repeatedly told the American public that the next escalation of U. S. military power would bring all the troops "home for Christmas." But more and more troops were being poured into the conflict. Campus protests, marches, and demonstrations against the war increased. American families were often divided on the issue of the war, commonly on generational lines to an extent not seen since Civil War times. Could the Vietnam Veterans' Memorial serve a healing purpose to finally close that conflict of twenty years ago?

As I approached the Memorial from a distance, it first appeared as a large chevron. "How appropriate," I thought, since most of the individuals named on the Memorial had worn the military rank of private.

As I started slowly walking on the path alongside the Memorial, I noted how the first slab of marble started at ground level and rose but inches at the end of its width. The first few slabs had but a few names on them but the number of names increased with each slab passed. Remembering that each name was that of a once living, vibrant human being who was loved and mourned by his family, the impact of the increasing volume of names became stifling. The closest experience I have had was that of visiting Yad Vashem in Israel, the memorial to the Holocaust victims. I'm sure the feeling I experienced would be similar at the former Nazi death camps in Europe.

Soon, the slabs towered over my head, each one listing increasing numbers of names of the tens of thousands who died. The Memorial physically symbolizes the gradual nature of how the U.S. became involved in the war in the first place. First, a few casualties, then more and more until eventually, the nation felt overwhelmed by the sheer volume of deaths. Upon reaching the apex of the slabs, the Memorial makes a turn representing to me the nation's turning away from trying to win the war to simply getting out of it "with honor." Still, at that time, Americans continued dying in large numbers. As the slabs continued to decrease in both height and the number of names, it seemed to symbolize the declining will of the American people to persist in what appeared to be the senseless continuation of the war. And finally, the wall ended as it had started. I experienced a sense of relief similar to that of leaving a cemetery.

Most of the memorials in Washington dedicated to earlier wars attempt to enoble, glorify, and stimulate patriotism and nationalism. However, the Vietnam Veterans' Memorial is stark in its dispassionate neutrality. It lists, quite simply, the names of those who were killed in the Vietnam War. But the ingenious design of the Memorial encourages many interpretations. The white engravings on the black marble could symbolize the racial integration of those killed. The lack of indication of the military ranks of those killed emphasizes the equality in death. The symbolism is limited only by the minds of those who visit.

Those who still believe that the Vietnam War was a noble endeavor come to honor the dead. Those who were opposed to the war come to grieve the dead. Both bring flowers, flags, and wreaths. Both stand at the wall and cry for the dead because it is apparent to them that in death we are all truly equal.

Franklin B. Krohn, Ph.D., is Professor of Marketing in the Department of Business Administration at the State University of New York College at Fredonia.