2016年，11月22日，越戰紀念碑 (Vietnam Veterans Memorial) 設計人，華裔建築師林瓔，獲美國總統頒授國家最高榮譽的＂自由勛章＂（Medal of Freedom）。
1982年，21歲的林瓔是耶魯大學建築學院 Yale School of
Architecture 三年級學生，就憑著她那簡潔純樸的設計方案在越戰紀念碑參選者脫穎而出。在1441件應微中，當然不乏世界知名建築/設計大師，包括林璎在耶魯的建築系主任。
當年林瓔的設計在耶魯班上拿個 B 等而已。她那V字型的建築設計，選擇在林肯紀念堂東北的 Constitution
Gardens 小山坡割下一個倒寫的 V 字型，詮譯一個沈痛的傷口，當然那亦是Vietnam 的V字，亦代表 Veteran, Victory 的倒寫，但無獨有偶那也呈現越南人傳統的草葉帽 Nón Lá。（後面，且看林瓔的參選設計圖案)。
林瓔的設計宛如展現打開一頁美國黑色歷史的外一章， 熠熠生輝如鏡的印度黑花崗石上，依每個為國殉身的越南戰爭戰士的日期為序，鐫刻著美軍57000多名1959年至1975年間在越南戰爭中陣亡者的名字，亦包括MIA Missing In
Actions 戰陣中的失蹤者。也許林瓔的理念就是予人去感應，站在這陣亡者前反䀗自己，作個歷史的反醒吧！
當年這是最引眾多爭議的國家級設計選核。包括退伍軍人、國會、内閣成員，甚至總統雷根…都同聲異議。批評逐步升級到人身攻擊。什麼「丟臉的破牆」、「令人羞辱的陰溝」、「黑色傷疤」等等。有人嘲諷林瓔，連建築也未畢業，只在紙上畫一道黑線，如此而已。最後，人身攻擊又升格為政治攻擊。說什麼：「怎麼能讓一個亞洲人設計在亞洲發生的戰爭的紀念碑，那對我們美國人豈不是太諷刺了嗎？」。甚至，一個美國大富豪看到紀念碑是一位亞洲人設計的，大怒。他自己掏錢給那些氣憤的越戰老兵買機票，鼓勵他們去華盛頓抗議。他還糾集了一批人提出由政府撥款，請一位白人雕塑家，再設計一個包括三個美國軍人和一面美國國旗的雕塑，建在林瓔紀念碑的正前方。鬧到最後，連美國內政部長沃特也出來干預，他說：如果不能和反對者達成妥協，就取消建紀念碑的計劃。
但林瓔非常執著的一意孤行，＂寧為玉碎，不為瓦全＂，毅然要求撤回她的設計方案。結果評選委會最終決定，尊重林瓔的越戰紀念碑原創的設計方案精神，只好把美國國旗及三個美國軍人的雕塑移到側邊。
這就是今日我們見到的 一一 越戰紀念碑
[東原撰］
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| An aerial view of Maya Lin's v-shaped design of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. (Photo: © Maya Lin Studio/The Pace Gallery/Photo by Terry Adams/National Park Service) |
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| A flag left to honor U.S. service members at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, DC. |
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| Veterans search for the names of soldiers etched in granite on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. |
1987年，林瓔獲耶魯大學博士學位，她是耶魯大學有史以來獲得該項學位的人中最年輕的一個。並為美國《生活》LIFE 雜誌評為“20世紀最重要的100位美國人”。2002年以絕大多數選票當選為耶魯大學校董。
2009年，2月25日，白宮東廳，美國總統奧巴馬為身著黑色鑲紅邊套裝的林瓔披掛上紫綬帶的金質獎章。表彰她作為建築師、藝術家環保人士的卓著成就。這是美國官方給予藝術家的最高榮譽。
林瓔的父親林桓精於陶瓷，曾任美國俄亥俄美術學院任院長。母親是一位詩人，曾任俄亥俄大學亞洲和英語文學教授。林瓔的姑母林徽因及姑父梁思成都是中國著名的建築大師，就是他倆共同設計北京天安門廣場上的人民英雄紀念碑。
記得當年咱們在鳴遠讀國文的時候，那篇林覺民的 ＂與妻訣別書＂，革命先烈林覺民亦是林瓔的祖軰。
[東原撰］
白宮舉辦自由獎章頒獎典禮。(記者胡毓玲／攝影)
華裔建築師林瓔(左)獲總統歐巴馬(中)頒自由獎章，她是今年唯一亞裔得主。(記者胡毓玲／攝影)
歐巴馬總統(右)為林瓔(左)掛上自由獎章。(記者胡毓玲／攝影)
華裔建築師林櫻獲頒象徵美國最高平民榮譽的自由獎章。(記者胡毓玲/攝影)
林瓔家人到場觀禮。(記者胡毓玲／攝影)
華裔建築師、藝術家林瓔(Maya Lin)22日獲頒象徵美國最高平民榮譽的自由獎章(Medal
of Freedom)，她是今年唯一的亞裔得主，得獎人有NBA傳奇「天鉤」賈霸(Kareem
Abdul-Jabbar)、喬丹(Michael
Jordan)、比爾‧蓋茲夫婦共21人。
美國總統歐巴馬在白宮舉行的授獎儀式上，逐一為得獎人掛上自由獎章。在為林瓔頒獎時，歐巴馬先給她一個大大的擁抱。林瓔的丈夫、兩個女兒以及兄弟一家人都到場觀禮。
歐巴馬說，林瓔當年還是一名大學生，初試啼聲設計越戰紀念碑即一舉成名，她試圖透過作品表達，戰爭不只是勝利或失敗，而是與每個人的性命息息相關，並相信景觀能夠傳遞訊息。
歐巴馬逗趣地說：「林瓔在大學課堂上的設計作品，不僅讓她得了B+，還在美國歷史上贏得永久地位…所有得B+的學生們聽好了！」
歐巴馬說，越戰紀念碑扭轉了人們對紀念碑的既定觀念，也讓人們重新思考何謂犧牲及愛國心，並引導大家自省；林瓔不僅創造了緬懷之地，更提供了眾人編織新記憶的地方，她用雕塑、教堂等實體建築寫出一首首詩歌，再三提醒大家，人類情感才是藝術最重要的本質。
白宮稱讚林瓔的設計引導人們懷念，省思並學習謙卑，她的偉大作品不但改變了國家景觀，影響社會對話，更幫助無數美國人療傷止痛。
今年的21位得獎人，除了林瓔，還包括脫口秀主持人艾倫‧狄珍妮絲(Ellen DeGeneres)、奧斯卡影帝湯姆‧漢克斯(Tom Hanks)、勞勃‧狄尼洛(Robert
De Niro)、傳奇播報員史考利(Vin
Scully)、「周六夜現場」執行製作人麥可斯(Lorne
Michaels)等各領域傑出代表。
美國總統自由獎章是前美國總統杜魯門於1945年設立，由美國總統向在科學、文化、體育及社會活動等領域，擁有傑出貢獻平民頒發的獎章，是美國對平民的最高獎勵，獲獎者不限美國公民。
(世界新聞網資料)
影片/取自YouTube，如遭刪除敬請見諒
The
Remarkable Story of Maya Lin’s Vietnam Veterans Memorial
As the United States honors those who
served in the military on Veterans Day, read the story of how an unknown
21-year-old architecture student, Maya Lin, designed one of the most moving
monuments in the nation’s capital—the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.
Whenever 18-year-old Maya Lin walked through Yale University’s Memorial Rotunda, she
couldn’t resist passing her fingers over the marble walls engraved with the
names of those alumni who died in service of their country. Throughout her
freshman and sophomore years, she watched as stonecutters added to the honor
roll by etching the names of those killed in the Vietnam War. “I think it left
a lasting impression on me,” Lin wrote, “the sense of the power of a
name.”
Those memories were fresh in the mind of the daughter of
Chinese immigrants senior year when, as part of an assignment in her funereal
architecture seminar, she designed a walled monument to veterans of the Vietnam
War that was etched with the names of those who gave their lives. Encouraged by
her professor, the architecture student entered it in the national design
competition being held for the Vietnam Veterans Memorial to be built on the
National Mall in Washington, D.C.
Adhering to the competition rules that required the memorial
to be apolitical and contain the names of all those confirmed dead and missing
in action in the Vietnam War, Lin’s design called for the names of nearly
58,000 American servicemen, listed in chronological order of their loss, to be
etched in a V-shaped wall of polished black granite sunken into the
ground.
The competition garnered more than 1,400 submissions, so
many that an Air Force hangar was called into service to display all the
entries for the judging. Since all submissions were anonymous, the eight-member
jury made its selection based solely on the quality of the designs. It
ultimately chose entry number 1026, which it found to be “an eloquent place
where the simple meeting of earth, sky and remembered names contains messages
for all.”
Maya Lin's Vietnam Veterans Memorial design
submission, entry number 1026. (Photo: Maya Lin [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons)
Her design
only earned a B in her class at Yale, so Lin was shocked when competition
officials came to her dormitory room in May 1981 and informed the 21-year-old
that she had won the design and the $20,000 first prize. Not only was Lin not a
trained architect, she didn’t even have a bachelor’s degree in architecture at
the time. “From the very beginning I often wondered, if it had not been an
anonymous entry 1026 but rather an entry by Maya Lin, would I have been
selected?” she later wrote.
Although she
designed an apolitical monument, the politics of the Vietnam War could not be
avoided. Like the war itself, the monument proved controversial. Veterans
groups decried the lack of patriotic or heroic symbols often seen on war
memorials and complained that it seemingly honored only the fallen and not the
living veterans. Some argued that the memorial should rise from the ground and
not sink into the earth as if it was something to be hidden. Businessman H. Ross Perot, who had pledged $160,000 to
help run the competition, called it a “trench” and withdrew his support.
Vietnam veteran Tom Cathcart was among those objecting to the memorial’s black
hue, which he said was “the universal color of shame and sorrow and
degradation.” Other critics thought Lin’s V-shaped design was a subliminal anti-war
message that imitated the two-finger peace sign flashed by Vietnam War
protestors.
“One needs no artistic education to see
this memorial design for what it is,” remarked one critic, “a black scar, in a
hole, hidden as if out of shame.” In a letter to President Ronald
Reagan, 27 Republican congressmen called it
“a political statement of shame and dishonor.”
Maya
Lin at the dedication ceremony of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in 1982.
(Photo: The Washington Post/Getty Images)
Secretary
of the Interior James Watt, who administered the site, sided with the critics
and blocked the project until changes were made. Over Lin’s objection,
the federal Commission of Fine Arts bowed to political pressure and approved
the addition to the memorial of a 50-foot-high flagpole on which to fly the
Stars and Stripes and an eight-foot-high statue of three soldiers sculpted by
Frederick Hart, who called Lin’s design “nihilistic.” The commission, however,
mandated that they not be placed directly adjacent to the wall in order to
preserve Lin’s design intent as much as possible. (A statue dedicated to the
women who served in the Vietnam War was also added to the site in 1993.)
After the memorial wall was unveiled on
November 13, 1982, however, the controversy quickly subsided. When Lin first
visited the proposed location for the memorial, she wrote, “I imagined taking a
knife and cutting into the earth, opening it up, an initial violence and pain
that in time would heal.” Her memorial proved to be a pilgrimage site for those
who served in the war and those who had loved ones who fought in Vietnam. It
became a sacred place of healing and reverence as she intended. Not even three
years after the memorial opened, the New York Times reported it was
“something of a surprise is how quickly America has overcome the divisions
caused by the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.”
Lin went on to design the
Civil Rights Memorial in Montgomery, Alabama, and Yale University’s Women’s
Table, which honors the first female students admitted to her alma mater. As
the owner of her own New York City architectural studio, she designs a wide
variety of structures from houses to museums to chapels. She is still best
known, however, for that memorial design that earned her a B at Yale. Lin
ultimately schooled her professor, who also entered the national design
competition for the Vietnam Veterans Memorial and lost to his student.
[東原撰］
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