VIETNAM VETERANS OF OREGON LIVING MEMORIAL
"remember us. so long as we are not forgotten, we do not die"
ALCOVES
There are 6 alcoves along the spiral path that ascends from alcove to alcove to convey the level of combat and of Oregonians lost during that period. But the greater import is one's growth from birth through the joys and travails of life to our own journey's end.
VIETNAM VETERANS OF OREGON
LIVING MEMORIAL
Five of the six alcoves are time-related and record when a man fell. The sixth alcove lists MIAs. When an MIA is found, his name is then added to the time-related alcove. A narrative of the war and events at home is carved into the five horizontal "caps" of each alcove.
There are five horizontal segments to each time-related alcove running from left to right. Each of these segments has five panels and each panel displays a top to bottom listing of names from line (1) at the top. Each alcove consists of a total of 25 panels.
If you are looking for Richard E. Olson at 3-15-19, you will find his name listed at Alcove 3 / Panel 15 / Line 19. And so, the panels run side to side (left to right) while the names run line to line down from the top of each panel. That's how our Fallen are listed.
Terence O'Donnell wrote the first drafts of each narrative. A number of other versions were done. It was Doug Macy's intent to "offset" the level of the war's intensities with a mix of both exceptional and routine events here and there across our diverse state.
