Washington ? The Vietnam Veterans Memorial has helped heal a war-torn nation and inspire tributes to other victims of tragedy.

The 58,229 names of those killed or missing in the war from 1959 to 1975 ” all inscribed in black granite ” are being read aloud over four days to help mark the memorial’s 20th anniversary.

Michael Milan’s uncle, Army Pvt. George W. Milan of Atlantic City, N.J., is among those names that will be read this weekend.

Pvt. Milan was 22 when he was killed. His death came before his nephew was born. The wall bearing his name went up when the younger Milan was only 9.

Still, Michael Milan feels a connection to his uncle and the service he gave his country.

“He’s the reason I went into the Army,” said Milan, a specialist from Evansville, Ind., as he used charcoal to rub his uncle’s name onto paper in the blustery hours Thursday before the name-reading began.

“This memorial makes it permanent, what they went through,” Milan said. “As long as this wall is here, people know what these soldiers fought for. They will know what they died for.”

The recitation of names is part of the healing process that designer Maya Lin envisioned when she sought to build a memorial that would separate the nation’s political divisions over the war from the human loss that resulted.

“This was something that gave Americans the license to mourn publicly,” said Jan Scruggs, founder of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund that is sponsoring the anniversary events.

A concert Wednesday was followed Thursday by a ceremony that opened the name-reading at the memorial. That endeavor was expected to take 65 hours over four days, ending at noon Sunday. Veterans Day will be observed there a day later.

Jan Scruggs, a decorated Vietnam War veteran, is founder of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial fund. The black granite memorial, which was dedicated Nov. 11, 1982, is marking its 20th anniversary this year.