A quick algebra problem for Veterans Day. Feel free to correct my math or dispute my numbers.
The Vietnam War Memorial in Washington D.C. catalogs the names of 58,260 Americans who died during the Vietnam War. The wall stretches an ominous 246 feet 9 inches, (2961 inches) which I had the opportunity to walk when we visited D.C. a few years back.
In adding up the average death calculations for Vietnamese soldiers and civilians I come up with about 1,255,000 dead. I do believe that would be a conservative estimate.
So....
2961 inches divided by 58,260 names gives us about .05 names per inch of wall.
So if the wall documented Vietnamese names instead of Americans we would take 1,255,000 million dead multiplied by our .05 names per inch gives us about 62750 inches of wall.
Or about 5229 feet.
Or about one very solemn mile.
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7 comments:
Good post, Scott. I really makes one think....we sure get our priorities messed up sometimes.
I never understand why they don't count the deaths of the civilians that we are in war with. They are people too!
Missy
Dude...I so meant "it" really makes one think. Geesh.
Well apparently it didn't make you think about your grammar.
OH SNAP!!!!11
Ya, great post Scott. I really get bugged by "God Bless America", it should be "God Bless Everyone". Your post made me think of that.
I wonder how long the wall would be for the First or Second World War....
Unfortunately, it's part of the way we're programmed to think about war - us vs. them. In situations like Vietnam, Iraq, Afghanistan, where it's very hard to distinguish "them" then enemy vs. "them" civilians, we're taught to ignore it. It's terrible and I think we should put more thought into ALL those killed in war, not just our soldiers.
It's too early to check your math, so I'll just say it looks about right. It's the thought that counts
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