The Vietnam Veterans Memorial not only honored the dead, but it offered the hope of healing to the living. More than any movie, more than any book or newspaper article could, the Wall describes the true cost of the war... one name at a time. Over forty million people are closely related to those names. Many of them are still paying the price of that war, with wounds still waiting to heal.
It quickly became evident to the National Park Service volunteers that the line of people who needed to touch a name, to confront a memory, extended far beyond the low, sloping pathway beside the Memorial, deep into the heartland of America.
It included millions of people who would never be able to travel to the nation's capital. The Friends grew out of the need to help all of these people and has evolved into a national non-profit, non-political, membership organization which brings the Memorial to the thousands of families and friends and fellow veterans of those whose names are listed on the panels.
Members of the Friends can be found everywhere, working quietly to insure that the reasons why the Vietnam Veterans Memorial was created are never forgotten. Our volunteers and our volunteer services enable FVVM to meet the special needs of thousands of people and to further the healing process still so necessary on both the personal and national level.
All of the FVVM's programs are offered free of charge.
Back