The Vietnam Veterans Memorial was dedicated 32 years ago on November 13, 1982. Thousands of Vietnam veterans marched to the memorial’s site on the National Mall to pay tribute to their fallen comrades…more than 58,000 killed and missing service members who were memorialized on the 246-foot-long wall.

The Vietnam memorial has become a pilgrimage site for millions today, but the design was controversial when it was announced. The design, created by a Yale architecture student named Maya Lin, was chosen from over 1,400 entries. Many felt that the somber display did not pay adequate tribute to the heroism of those who served and died in Vietnam. The wall was called “a black gash of shame” and Ronald Reagan’s Interior secretary initially refused to issue it a building permit.

Since its dedication, the arguments have abated and the wall has become a place for silent reflection, uniting observers who were divided on the war itself. (That reflection is literal; the surfaces of the wall’s gabbro panels are meant to reflect the present-day observers, symbolically uniting them with the names from the past.) Etching the name of a loved one on paper is among the most common acts by the wall’s 3 million annual visitors, as is leaving gifts. With the exception of perishable items and unaltered American flags, which are redistributed, the National Park Service catalogues the many offerings left at the wall. In addition to notes and stuffed animals, the collection includes at least one Medal of Honor returned to the government by the veteran who received it, large works of art like a glass door painted with a Vietnam scene, and a Harley-Davidson motorcycle with “HERO” on the license plate. The wall has also inspired several traveling and stationary replicas for those unable to visit Washington, D.C. At least one veteran has called it “the parade we never got.”

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