Since its opening in 1982, visitors have been leaving items for their loved ones at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, or “The Wall.”
“We’ve seen really the gamut of things from the expected to unexpected,” said Janet Folkerts, curator of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Collection.
“It was unprecedented when people started coming to the Memorial and leaving things. And really the things that were being left were so personal and meaningful that they couldn’t bring themselves to throw them away, so they started keeping them. And that’s how the collection started. It was an unusual phenomenon.”
The Wall was the first memorial to be built on the National Mall since the Jefferson Memorial in the 1940s. It has stood as a tangible symbol of recognition of the 58,000 men and women who gave their lives or remain missing from the Vietnam War.
According to officials from the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund, some of the more common items left at The Wall include POW bracelets and documentary artifacts, such as letters, poems, and photographs. More unusual things include motorcycles, televisions — even a yellow suede bikini.
Each item is carefully cataloged and stored in the Museum Resource Center, a climate-controlled facility in Landover, Maryland, which is part of the National Parks Service.
“I like seeing photographs,” said Folkerts. “Photographs taken by service members in the war. It really puts a face to the names because there’s so many names on The Wall. But when you see what they actually look like, it kind of brings it home a little bit more. And it’s kind of nice to see what it was like for them in Vietnam, and see what they did on their downtime and what they were interested in taking pictures of.”
One of the more unique items left behind is an old, rusted bicycle with a laminated note for visitors to share its story. It reads:
“This is Buddy’s bike … It’s an antique with no determined value, other than its value that is realized when one is able to trace its history to a name inscribed on the Wall. Today Buddy’s bike is returned to the young man who cherished it for years and passed it to a friend. I’m humbled to be able to deliver it to Buddy and thank him for his sacrifice. Buddy, you have not and will not be forgotten.”
Items from the collection are shared with the public through exhibitions and loans to institutions around the country, and curatorial records of a small portion of the items left at The Wall can be found online.
“Sometimes people kind of want the story to be told and other people to share that experience. Sometimes they don’t,” said Folkerts. “Sometimes they just leave the object and let it speak for itself.”
