New York City Vietnam Veterans Memorial / Vietnam Veterans Plaza
Joseph helped build a memorial whose wall carries soldiers' own letters home — then the plaza was rebuilt and rededicated in Lower Manhattan just weeks after 9/11.
The New York City Vietnam Veterans Memorial on Water Street, photographed in 2008.
Current view · 2008 · Photo: Ben Franske · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Source
Why this project matters
- Project identity
- Verified
- Kelly connection
- Corroborated
- Masonry scope
- Strong
Rita’s list
Transcription: Vietnam Memorial — 1985
Recorded by Rita Bartscherer · Bartscherer family record
KM-176
2 of two
“Vietnam Memorial — 1985”
Excerpts from 83 letters home from Vietnam are etched into the memorial wall. The plaza was dedicated in 1985 and rededicated after a major reconstruction in November 2001.
A deeply human project where masonry literally preserves testimony: 83 letters are inscribed into the memorial wall. Its 1985 dedication and 2001 post-9/11 rededication connect Joseph's work to two generations of New York remembrance.
What Kelly did here
Corroborated
Strong
Likely the memorial's glass-block masonry wall and associated masonry support/setting work; granite scope should remain separate unless contract records tie it to Kelly.
This scope is recorded as strong, not documented. It is a disciplined reading of the building and the trade practice of the period, not a contract-level record of Kelly’s work.
Robert Massina, principal/president of Kelly Masonry, lists the Vietnam Veteran Memorial among Kelly projects in his professional profile. This is retrospective company-affiliated corroboration; exact period masonry scope still requires municipal contract records.
The construction team
- 01Architect
Peter Wormser; William Fellows; Joseph Ferrandino
- 02Masonry
Kelly Masonry
What happened to it
Still standing
The Friends of Vietnam Veterans Plaza continues to maintain and fund the memorial. The organization says the wall itself needs significant ongoing attention to preserve the legibility and infrastructure of its inscriptions.
55 Water Street / Vietnam Veterans Plaza, New York, NY 10041
Sources
3 citedOpen →
- 01vietnamveteransplaza.com
the making of a memorial
- 02
- 03linkedin.com
robert massina 3044102b
- Ben Franske · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons · 2008-08
The New York City Vietnam Veterans Memorial on Water Street, photographed in 2008.
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