WHAT HAPPENS TO THE ITEMS LEFT AT THE MEMORIAL?
Items are left at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial constantly by many, although not all, of the visitors. They are usually collected by NPS rangers at the site two times per day, once during the day shift and once during the night shift. In bad weather, artifacts are collected more frequently. The artifacts are tagged, given a unique identification number, and placed in museum storage bags. Note that Memorial Day (the last Monday in May) and Veterans’ Day (November 11th) tend to be the heaviest days of the year in terms of both visitorship and artifacts left. Independence Day (July 4th), Father’s Day (third Sunday in June), and days on which there is a significant event on the Mall are also fairly heavy. Then, the artifacts are stored on the Mall until a staff member brings them to the Museum and Resource Center (MRCE). Almost everything is saved for the collection. The only things that are not saved are active organic items (such as live plant matter) and U.S.
