The Vietnam Veterans Memorial, set in the 42-acre Constitution Gardens, is a national war memorial honoring the members of the U.S. armed forces who fought in the Vietnam War and who died in service or are still unaccounted for, consisting of three separate parts: the , the Three Soldiers statue, and . The idea for the monument originated with Jan Scruggs, a Vietnam veteran, who organized the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund, Inc a nonprofit organization formed April 27, 1979, and Congress authorized the site on July 1, 1980. Maintained by the U.S. National Park Service, the memorial receives around 3 million visitors each year. The Memorial Wall, designed by 21-year-old undergraduate student, Maya Ying Lin, the winner of a 1. 421-entry 1981 public design competition, was dedicated on November 13, 1982. It consists of two black granite walls, 246 feet-9 inches long, sunk into the ground at a 125-degree angle, meeting at an angle of 125 12 where they stand 10.1 feet tall and tapering of f to a height of eight inches at their extremities. The 58. 159 etched names etched represent the serviceman who were either KIA (Killed In Action) or remained classified MIA (Missing in Action) when the walls were constructed. There is a pathway along the base of the Wall, where visitors may walk, , or leave . Negative reactions to Maya Lins initial design were so strong that several Congressmen protested, and Secretary of the Interior James G. Watt refused to issue a building permit. As a compromise to those who wanted a more traditional approach, Frederick Hart, who placed third in the original design competition, was commissioned to augment the memorial in 1982. Harts Three Soldiers, also known as The Three Servicemen, was unveiled in a grove of trees near the west entrance to The Wall on Veterans Day, November 11, 1984. The , of purposely identifiable ethnicity but unidentifiable service branch, stand approximately 8-feet tall. The lead soldier was modeled after a 21-year-old Marin e who was stationed in the Washington, D.C. area in 1983. The soldier carrying the machine gun on his shoulder was modeled after a Cuban-American, and the African-American is a composite of several young men who the sculptor used as models. At the far end of the figures, at the entrance to the Vietnam Memorial site, is a companion flagstaff. Lin protested at the proposed adulteration of her design, which resulting in its disconnected setting, even though the statue and wall appear to interact with each other--the soldiers look off in tribute to the distant names of their fallen comrades. Further lobbying led to the Vietnam Womens Memorial, which was dedicated on Veterans Day, 1993, just a short distance south of the wall. Glenna Goodacres sculptural group commemorates the women of the United States who served in the Vietnam War, most of whom were nurses. In 2007, the Vietnam Veterans Memorial was ranked on the AIA 150 Americas Favorite Architecture list.