Enlarge By Mick Cochran, USA TODAY People listen to speeches on the National Mall prior to the Vietnam Veterans of America 25th Anniversary Parade. Digg



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Facebook WASHINGTON  Jan Scruggs stretches his arms toward the Vietnam Veterans Memorial he imagined and made real 25 years ago. As the names on the wall are read aloud in the distance, he stands on the spot where he plans an underground visitors center as one last tribute to the war's dead. "This is where the entrance will be," says Scruggs, his back to the nearby Lincoln Memorial. Pointing to a gift shop kiosk nearby, he says, "This is not a historic vista." That's not how preservationists see it. Like the divisive Vietnam War and the unconventional design of the monument to it, the center is opposed by critics who fear it will mar the already crowded National Mall and overshadow the memorial itself. As thousands gathered Sunday for Veterans Day, though, the controversy seemed a faint echo compared with the furor that preceded the wall's dedication on Nov. 13, 1982. The design by Yale student Maya Lin was below ground, black and unlike any war memorial before it. Vietnam vet Tom Carhart called it "a black gash of shame." PHOTOS: Vets, others participate in parade REMEMBERING VETS: Memorial still gets offerings 25 years later VIDEO: Cheney pays tribute to Iraq vets Over time, though, the memorial became a place for healing that 4.4 million people visit each year. Pressure prompted a series of additions to the site. A flagpole. Statues of soldiers on patrol. A tribute to female veterans. A plaque honoring those who died after the war as a result of injuries suffered in it. None of those additions compare to the visitors center. The 35,000-square-foot space could cost up to $100 million. The memorial cost $8.4 million, or just under $18 million in today's dollars. The Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund has raised $15 million. It hopes to open the center by 2012. Final design details must be approved by local review boards, but the project got a boost last month when the advisory U.S. Commission of Fine Arts granted conditional approval. 'A new way of mourning' Visitors would descend ramps into the center, which the architect says would not be visible from the wall or the Lincoln Memorial. They would see a large screen of changing photos of the more than 58,000 people whose names are engraved in the black granite wall. Their pictures would appear on their birthdays. Karen Zacharias of Hermiston, Ore., hopes to see a photo of her father, David Spears. He was killed in 1966 at age 34 when she was 9. She worries about the future. "What's going to happen in two generations when we have a whole society of people for whom the wall is just a list of names?" she asks. "Without knowing their personal sacrifices … it's just a wall with names on it." Across from the faces would be some of the 100,000 objects that have been left at the memorial: dog tags, medals, boots, whiskey, stuffed animals, birthday cards, even a Harley-Davidson motorcycle. The memorial "defined a new way of mourning, leaving things" to recall a lost one, says retired Army general Barry McCaffrey, who has helped raise funds. Next, visitors would see a timeline of the war and the effort to build the memorial. There would be no photos of such figures as President Nixon or anti-war protests. "This is not about the politics of the Vietnam War," says Scruggs, 57. "We're teaching citizenship. We're teaching loyalty. We're teaching sacrifice." Before leaving, visitors would pass images of the fallen from all of America's wars from the Battle of Lexington in 1775 to the current conflict in Iraq. Scruggs says exhibit designer Ralph Appelbaum suggested the center expand its focus to reflect "a larger national purpose." Scruggs rejects criticism from the National Coalition to Save Our Mall and others that the aim was to placate veterans of Korea and World War II whose nearby memorials don't have interpretive centers. A moratorium on building on the Mall has stymied groups that want a place on the nation's prime memorial grounds. Years of lobbying by Scruggs won an exception from Congress. Like the Capitol Visitors Center, which is estimated to be a year from completion, and a planned National Law Enforcement Memorial museum here, the new center was required to be built mostly out of sight. Architect James Polshek says the design adheres to guidelines issued by the National Capital Planning Commission last year. "It is as subtle as anything could be," he says. Opposition to visitors center Not so, says Elizabeth Merritt of the National Trust for Historic Preservation. She calls the center's entry courtyard "a huge gash," a description that calls to mind Lin's critics. Viewed from some angles, the entrance is "too evocative of the memorial," whose uniqueness should not be overshadowed, Merritt says. Judy Scott Feldman of the National Coalition to Save Our Mall says the center would set a precedent that would encourage other groups to push for interpretive adjuncts to their monuments. "We are mistaking the power of our memorials with the educational value of our museums." For Ray Saikus, a Vietnam War veteran from Cleveland, the underground center evokes the tunnels where the Viet Cong hid. "It will be distracting," he says. "It will diminish … the wall, (which) should stand on its own. Nobody should be interpreting anything." Many at the memorial last week welcomed the prospect of the addition. "It will continue the healing from this war," said Annmarie Emmet, 77, a volunteer at the wall. "I think it's a good idea," said Ron Traaseth, 57, a wounded veteran who came from Eleva, Wis., to trace the name of his brother Larry, who died in Vietnam at age 19. "If you don't learn from the war, you'll repeat it." Kim Carnahan, 13, of London, Ohio, said she knew the war "ended in the early 1970s, a lot of people risked their lives to help our country and a lot of people died. And that's about it. A center would help people be able to comprehend it a little better." Share this story: Digg del.icio.us Newsvine Reddit Facebook Enlarge By Kate Patterson, USA TODAY A veteran plants a flag Saturday at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C. An artsits rendering of an exhibit that will feature photos of those listed on the wall.



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