Vietnam Veterans Memorial Plaza

The Vietnam Veterans Memorial Plaza commemorates the quarter-million New Yorkers who served in Vietnam, especially the 1,741 who died in the conflict. It has an internally lit glass brick structure, etched with fragments of letters sent home by soldiers and sailors, and stainless steel and granite pylons with the names of the fallen. Place of honor goes to: Private First Class Dan Bullock, from Brooklyn, who falsified his birth certificate at the age of 14 to join the Marines and was killed in action on 7 June 1969, at the age of 15, the youngest American serviceman to die in action in a modern conflict; U.S. Army Specialist Fourth Class George D Lang, from Flushing, Queens, who was awarded the Medal of Honor for his actions in Kiến Hòa on 22 February 1969 (he survived, but was paralyzed from the waist down as a result of his injuries); and Lieutenant Vincent R. Capodanno, Maryknoll priest and Navy Chaplain, who was awarded the Medal of Honor posthumously for his actions during Operation Swift in the Que Son Valley on 4 September 1967.