Robert Blood was among the 5000 artists who submitted entries for the Vietnam War Memorial competition in 1980-1981. Entry designs were required to display the names of the 58,000 Americans who died in Vietnam. The winning design, chosen by the award committee, is well known: a simple rectangular black wall. The design earned the artist a “B” in her Yale art class. Peter recalls his father’s entry, “I will never forget it. Dad’s clay model showed a US Army helicopter swooping low and gunning down fleeing Vietnamese running across a rice patty. It was elicited emotions and appeared very kinetic. I wish he had not destroyed it. I don’t even have a photo.”