The Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Second Life (2007)

In November 2007, a replica of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial was opened in Second Life. This was a detailed replica of it's real life counterpart, often called simply "The Wall" due to it's shape, two black granite walls of a 50,000+ list of names of the dead and missing. SL Newspaper wrote about the event a few days later.

Read the republished article in Places.

Second Life Vietnam Memorial Designer Says "The Wall" May Return

In November 2007, A virtual replica of the Vietnam Veterans Menorial went up in Second Life. Constructed at the sim appropriately titled "The Wall," it listed the names of all 58,000+ American soldiers whom lost their lives in the conflict. The memorial would stand until sometime in 2011 when it vanished from the Grid without so much as an announcement.

Recently Second Life Newser was contacted by Evian Argus (the figure on the right in the image to the left), one of the designers of the memorial. He told me that the sim it was on had a financial sponsor, "Long story who funded it. I was surprised to find it was taken down, and sad. ... Still bothered by it. ... I have done a lot in life. The Wall was my proudest thing I was involved in."

Evian told me he was interested in bringing back The Wall, saying he needed to get in touch with Bleys Chevalier. Anyone interested in helping out or asking about his progress is free to message him inworld.

Others involved in building The Wall were Corwin Chevalier, the other designer, and  Melini Fairymeadow, who did the Three Servicemen Statue that was near the memorial.


Image credit: 3pointd.com

Bixyl Shuftan

Vietnam Wall Builder Would Help Bring Back Momument if Sponsor Comes Forward

In November, The Vietnam Veteran's Memorial was found to have vanished. Contacting the head of Meme Science, Evian Argus, which built "The Wall" sim where it was, he told me someone had been sponsoring hit, but must have decided to suddenly up and stop paying the tier. He would try to help bring it back if there was someone else offering to sponsor the Memorial.

So who can help bring back this replica of the memorial to the 58,000 soldiers who gave their lives in the Vietnam War?

What Happened to "The Wall?"

"The Wall" is missing from the map, nor does landmarks and SURLs to it work. It's website at http://www.thewallsl.com/ is also gone, replaced by something in Japanese kanji.

A faithful reproduction of the Vietnam Veterans' Memorial, "The Wall" in Second Life was constructed by the Meme Science group (memescience.com doesn't work either) with Corwin Chevalier and Evian Argus designing the build, with Bleys Chevalier leading the building effort. It was opened to all residents on Veterans day 2007.

A moving tribute, The Wall listed all 58,000 names of US Veterans whom gave their lives in the Vietnam War, including a few that didn't quite make the list to the real-life one in time for it's construction. Each of the names could be looked up and found, allowing visitors to find them. Also at the wall was a virtual Three Servicemen Statue, by artist Melini Fairymeadow.


"The Wall" was one of the first places I wrote about in Second Life, and to me one of the best examples as to what one could create on the Grid. I last visited it in May, and there was no sign then there was a problem. It is unclear when the decision to take the place down was made, and SL Newser heard of no call for help to raise donations for upkeep.

It's vanishing would truly be a loss for the Grid.

Bixyl Shuftan