Honoring Vietnam Veterans with United States Coins

The Vietnam War was a conflict that unfolded in the nations of Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1955 through 1975, and it became one of the longest and deadliest wars in which the United States had ever engaged. The war was waged between the communist-backed North Vietnam and the anti-communist South Vietnam. And given the global backdrop of the Cold War, when the United States was entrenched in a decades-long standoff with the Soviet Union, the Vietnam War marked a particularly pivotal chapter of history of the U.S., which by the late 1960s had seen support of the Vietnam War winnow among many Americans.

More than 2.7 million Americans served in Vietnam during the course of the protracted military engagement overseas, with more than 58,000 dying in combat or as a result of injuries sustained in the war. The scores of deaths over the course of the war inspired the nation to honor its fallen heroes who lost their lives in the Vietnam War with a special memorial in Washington, D.C. The Vietnam Veterans Memorial was dedicated in 1982, solemnly carrying the names of more than 58,000 servicepersons who died serving their nation and the cause of Liberty in the Vietnam War.

The Vietnam Veterans Memorial is depicted on the 1994 Vietnam Veterans Memorial Silver Dollar, a commemorative coin released by the U.S. Mint in uncirculated and proof formats. The West Point Mint struck 57,290 uncirculated specimens while the Philadelphia Mint produced 227,671 of the proofs. The Vietnam Veterans Memorial Silver Dollars can be included in various PCGS Registry Sets, giving coin collectors several opportunities to include this important coin in their collections.