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Jul 14, 2008 9:05 pm US/Eastern
Vietnam Memorial Plans To Add Faces To Names
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) ―
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The new memorial is going to have a picture, a wall of faces, pictures of those who gave the ultimate sacrifice.
KDKA
Thirty-five years after the Vietnam War, Steelers legend Rocky Bleier, who was wounded in Vietnam, says a new Vietnam Memorial Center will heal old wounds.
"What the center is going to do will touch on that one-to-one personal relationship that becomes so necessary in trying to close wounds and to heal a people," Bleier said.
To be built underground, next to the current Vietnam Memorial on the Mall, the new visitors center is also important to promote the value of service to country says, Jan Scruggs, a wounded Vietnam vet who led the effort to build the first memorial and the current addition.
"What we want to do as veterans is to give something back to America and to America's youth and to teach them about these values," Scruggs said.
The 58,256 names of the men and women who made the ultimate sacrifice are inscribed on the Vietnam Memorial in Washington DC.
But each name is more than just a name; it's an individual and a family. And the new memorial is going to have a picture, a wall of faces - pictures of those who gave the ultimate sacrifice. And that's where Pittsburgh people have an important role to play.
"We need the photographs of all the casualties in Vietnam - family photographs with the high resolutions," Scruggs said.
Anyone who lost a family member will be asked for pictures for something called "The Wall of Faces," a cinematic display that will change everyday with photos of Vietnam casualties on their birthdays, finally putting a face to a name.
Scruggs, with help from Bleier, is trying to raise the funds necessary to build the center. Congress has already approved site and Scruggs hope construction can begin as early as 2010.
More Information: Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund
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