Kentucky Vietnam Veterans Memorial facts for kids
The Kentucky Vietnam Veterans Memorial is a very special place in Frankfort, Kentucky. It sits high up, looking over the state capital building. This memorial remembers 1,103 people from Kentucky who lost their lives in the Vietnam War.
The memorial is designed like a giant sundial. The names of the fallen soldiers are placed so that the shadow from the sundial's pointer, called a gnomon, touches each name on the exact day that person died. This way, every soldier gets their own personal memorial day, marked by the sun.
How the Memorial Was Created
A group called the Kentucky Vietnam Veterans Memorial Foundation was started on March 23, 1984. This non-profit group was created by the Kentucky government. Their goal was to design and raise money for a monument. It would honor all Kentuckians who fought and died in Vietnam.
People, businesses, and companies gave money to build the memorial. The land for the memorial, which overlooks the state capital, was given by Kentucky in 1987. Once it was finished, the memorial became owned by the state. The Memorial Fund will always help take care of it.
A contest was held to choose the design for the memorial. Everyone who entered had to make a small model of their idea. The rules for the design said it should be special but also respectful. It shouldn't copy other memorials. Instead, it should make people feel strong emotions and also be a true piece of art. The design also had to show the names of all Kentuckians who died or went missing in the Vietnam War.
The winning design was chosen by everyone, and it was created by Helm Roberts. He was an architect from Kentucky and a Navy pilot. The first ceremony, called a groundbreaking, happened on November 7, 1987. Governor Martha Layne Collins helped dedicate the gnomon, which is the sundial's pointer. The rest of the memorial was built in the summer of 1988. Governor Wallace Wilkinson officially dedicated the memorial on November 12, 1988.
Understanding the Design
The memorial was planned as a quiet place for people to think about the Vietnam War. It's also a place for ceremonies to honor those who were lost. The hours on the sundial stand for the years of the war. Each section between the walkways shows the losses from one year in Kentucky.
The length of the gnomon's shadow changes with the date. It's longest around December 21, which is the Winter solstice. It's shortest around June 21, the Summer solstice. Each name on the memorial's floor is placed on the sunline for their death date. The exact time the shadow touches a name is special for each person. This time stays the same every year.
The way the names are arranged shows how many Kentuckians were lost during the war. The first two deaths happened in 1962. The last person was killed in 1975. The year with the most losses was 1968. This section is located between Noon and 1:00 PM, Eastern Standard Time. The names of those who went missing or were prisoners of war are in front of the gnomon. The shadow never touches these names.
A special inscription marks Veterans Day ceremonies. It's on the plaza where the shadow falls on November 11 at 11:11 AM. This date and time remember the end of World War I in 1918.
There's a quiet area where you can look down at the main plaza. From here, you can see the state capital building in the distance. It's framed by the gnomon and the flags of America and Kentucky.
Around the bottom of the gnomon, there's a circle of stones. These stones have a special verse carved into them from the Bible, Ecclesiastes 3:1–8:
- For everything there is a season;
- and a time for every matter under heaven:
- A time to be born, and a time to die;
- A time to plant, and a time pluck up what is planted;
- A time to kill, and a time to heal,
- A time to break down, and a time to build up;
- A time to weep, and a time to laugh;
- A time to mourn, and a time to dance;
- A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together;
- A time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;
- A time to seek, and a time to lose;
- A time to keep, and a time to cast away;
- A time to rend, and a time to sew;
- A time to keep silence, and a time to speak;
- A time to love, and a time to hate;
- A time for war, and a time for peace.
Facts About the Memorial
The curved lines on the plaza show where the Summer and Winter Solstice shadows fall. They mark the shortest and longest shadows of the year. A straight line going East to West shows the path of the shadow during the Equinox (Spring and Fall). The times carved on the outer stone circle show natural "Sun" time. The walkways are set for Eastern Standard Time. The inner circle has words from Ecclesiastes about time and seasons.
The gnomon, or pointer, stands about 14.62 feet above the plaza. It is 24.27 feet long along its main part. The gnomon is tilted at an angle of 38 degrees, 10 minutes, and 25 seconds from flat ground. This angle points directly to the true North Pole and Polaris, also known as the North Star. The gnomon was made from strong stainless steel. It was built in Springfield, Oregon, by a metal artist named Arthur Ross Cady.
The main plaza area is about 89 feet long and 71 feet wide, including the benches. The floor of the plaza is made of 327 pieces of thick granite. These pieces weigh between 66 and 2421 pounds each. On average, each slab weighs about 1,144 pounds. The longest pieces are 12 feet long. The benches are made of 120 pieces of granite, weighing over 20 tons. All the granite in the memorial weighs a total of 215 tons.
All the granite for the memorial came from the "Pyramid Blue" quarry in Elberton, Georgia. The surface of each granite piece was smoothed. Then, it was sand-blasted to make it as light as possible. This helps the gnomon's shadow stand out clearly. All the granite was shaped in Elberton using computer drawings. These drawings included exact guides for where each name should go and how it should be spelled.
The names and lines were carved into the granite using rubber stencils and sandblasting. All the carving was done at the factory. Only the lines for the summer and winter solstices and the bench lines were carved on site. The lettering for all the names, months, and the Ecclesiastes verse is the same style used for official government grave markers across the country. This includes those at Arlington National Cemetery.
The flagpoles are 35 feet tall. They are placed 10 feet on each side of the True North line. The area north of the Winter Solstice line is used for ceremonies. These ceremonies happen on national holidays like Memorial Day, Independence Day, and Veterans Day.
