AJ stands for Andrew Jackson, our 7th president. His reputation for toughness earned him the nickname "Old Hickory." A hero of the War of 1812, Jackson has appeared on the $20 bill since 1928.

"...this memorial is for those who have died, and for us to remember them."
—Maya Lin

Maya Lin is a small woman who is huge in the minds and hearts of many Americans. Even if most people don't know who she is.

Look around

That big black wall in Washington D.C. with thousands of names etched on it? Lin created that.

It's the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, honoring the heroes of the Vietnam War.

Maya Lin was 21 years old when she designed the Wall.

As a young woman, she's played a big part in changing the way we remember the Vietnam War. Here's how she did it.

It started with a contest

How many names are on the wall? How Many Names?

With the addition of ten names added in 2004, the total is now 58,245 names listed on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. Eight of them are women, the rest are men. They are from all branches of service. For more information on finding a name, click here.

Approximately 1200 of these are listed as missing in action (MIA), prisoners of war (POW), and others. For a list of frequently asked questions, click here.

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When Lin was a senior in college, she entered a contest to design a national memorial for the Vietnam War. So did more than 1,400 other people!

Lin worked hard for months. She walked around the grounds for the memorial in Washington, D.C., studying every detail.

Then she spent two weeks drawing a design that recognized the veterans of the Vietnam War by individual name.

Her hard work paid off—she won the contest!

Watch Maya Lin  transform an urban park in Grand Rapids, Mich.

She turns war into life

Why did she use two, 246-foot long black granite walls with names inscribed on them?

Lin says, "It was to help the veterans coming back, to help their families, to talk to people 100 years from now who will know nothing about the war and nobody on that wall."

"To me, it's a very simple notion," she says. "You cannot ever forget that war is not just a victory or loss. It's really about individual lives."

Many people fought against the design because it wasn't traditional. The two walls seem to gash the earth. Lin says, "I felt a memorial should be honest about the reality of war, and be for the people who gave their lives."

What was the controversy? What Was the Controversy?

Americans were divided over the creation of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, just like they were over the war itself.

Some Vietnam veterans and others were angry. They felt the memorial didn't convey the heroism, patriotism, and honor inherent in most war memorials.

The black memorial was placed below ground. They felt it hinted at a feeling of shame. They thought the memorial focused too much on death and loss.

The veterans, their supporters and their opponents met to find a compromise. They decided to add a statue of three servicemen and a flagpole to the memorial.

The compromise of the Three Servicemen Statue and flagpole fulfilled a purpose of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial—to help heal our nation's wounds.

A former design opponent today says that although "the wall of the memorial could have been a wall between us," it instead "became a bridge."

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But other people fought for the design, and finally the memorial was built.

Today, people like the Wall. We finally have a place to remember the thousands of men and women who died in Vietnam.

In fact, travelers from around the world to come see the Wall and touch the names etched on the stone.

They leave flowers and mementos to remember their loved ones. Some take pencil rubbings of their loved ones' names and keep them as special memories.

Once completed, the Wall turned on Maya Lin's imagination...

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