Jan Scrugs, the man to founded the current Vietnam Memorial in Washington, DC, is enlisting the help of people around the country to add faces to the roll of names of people who lost their lives in the Viet Nam War. The woman pictured above, Janna Hoehn, has helped collect dozens of pictures from her current home on Maui and her native Bay Area.
The full story printed in Contra Costa Times article can be found here.
The planned Education Center that will house the pictures will cost an estimated $100 million to build, and will be constructed underground adjacent to the current Memorial Wall. So far, $15 million has been secured. It will not only host the photographs of fallen soldiers, but be a display for many of the more than 200,000 items left at the wall, telling countless personal stories.
To see the pictures collected to date, and to donate to the project, click here.
Looking at the pictures is striking. In my mind, today, a Viet Nam Vet is someone in his or her late fifties or even older. These pictures belay a harsh reality however- those who gave their lives in Viet Nam never had the chance to grow old. Many of the pictures are from high school yearbooks or even prom pictures. Images of my dad come immediately to mind- the dad who looks back at me from the few pictures I have from his youth- lean, energetic, with a determined, wily smile.
The video below illustrates the vision of the Education Center's supporters.
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