More than 20 volunteers from NewDay USA, a financial services company primarily for veterans, active-duty service members, and their families and other members of the military community gathered early Saturday morning at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial to scrub and wash the 492 feet of black granite dedicated to the U.S. service members who died in the Vietnam War.
Volunteers wash the wall of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, Saturday, Nov. 2, 2024 in Washington. (Eric Kayne/Stars and Stripes)
Jan Scruggs, a decorated Vietnam veteran who first conceived of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall in 1979, said about the event, “Maintaining the Vietnam Veterans Memorial is about more than preserving a physical structure; it’s about honoring the sacrifice and memory of those who served. Having companies like NewDay USA join in this solemn responsibility demonstrates the deep reverence our community has for the 58,276 names etched on this sacred wall.”
A volunteer temporarily moves a memorials left at the wall before volunteers wash the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, Saturday, Nov. 2, 2024 in Washington. (Eric Kayne/Stars and Stripes)
Memorials left at the wall are temporarily moved out of the way before volunteers wash the wall of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, Saturday, Nov. 2, 2024 in Washington. (Eric Kayne/Stars and Stripes)
Using scrub brushes, buckets and hoses transported to the site by a National Park Service truck, the volunteers spent nearly an hour cleaning the memorial in preparation of Veterans Day, which is Nov. 11.
A father and son wait to wash the wall of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, Saturday, Nov. 2, 2024 in Washington. (Eric Kayne/Stars and Stripes)
A volunteer scrubs the wall of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, Saturday, Nov. 2, 2024 in Washington. The wall, about 492 feet long, took about 45 minutes to clean by the 24 volunteers. (Eric Kayne/Stars and Stripes)
A volunteer takes a quiet moment to look at the memorial after helping to wash the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, Saturday, Nov. 2, 2024 in Washington. (Eric Kayne/Stars and Stripes)
Volunteers temporarily removed any items left by visitors in remembrance of loved ones who had died in the war. This was done in silence.
A volunteer reads a memorial item left at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial as it was washed, Saturday, Nov. 2, 2024 in Washington. (Eric Kayne/Stars and Stripes)
The group worked steadily, occasionally pausing to read some of more than 58,000 names on the wall or messages left with the mementos.
Volunteers wash the wall of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, Saturday, Nov. 2, 2024 in Washington. (Eric Kayne/Stars and Stripes)
The Vietnam Veterans Memorial, designed by American architect Maya Lin, was completed in 1982. It is located in Constitution Gardens, next to the National Mall, northeast of the Lincoln Memorial.
The wall of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial after it was scrubbed and rinsed, Saturday, Nov. 2, 2024 in Washington. (Eric Kayne/Stars and Stripes)