Project To Build Vietnam War Museum On National Mall Shuttered Amid Allegations Of Malfeasance

[douglas9]

A proposed $130 million project to build an “interactive learning center” adjacent to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial on the National Mall has been terminated, the Virginia-based nonprofit organization behind the project announced on Sept. 21 in a press release.

The decision to shutter the Education Center of the Wall marks the culmination of a tumultuous 18-year saga chronicled in a recent Task & Purpose report based on interviews with multiple inside sources who alleged that the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund (VVMF) continued soliciting donations for the project long after it became obvious that it would never come to fruition.

“I have advocated ending this campaign since 2015,” said Jan Scruggs, the estranged founder of VVMF, who first conceived of the Education Center in 2000 and retired as president and CEO of the organization four years ago. “Task & Purpose played a crucial role.”

Scruggs and others who had been involved in the Education Center campaign over the years say VVMF still has a lot of explaining to do and foresee legal battles over the tens of millions of dollars the organization has received from multinational corporations, foreign governments, veterans service organizations, philanthropist groups, and countless Vietnam veterans and Gold Star families, many of whom also contributed photographs and other mementos that were to be featured in exhibits planned for the center.


https://taskandpurpose.com/project-to-build-vietnam-war-museum-on-national-mall-shuttered-amid-allegations-of-malfeasance/

[wasupaloopa]

1. As Vietnam veteran I don't think they should build the museum. I don't think people born after

the war can ever tell a accurate story about the war. Ken Burns came very close. But I developed a belief over the years since the war and it is this: History is very seldom written by those who lived it and the truth become what the majority belief it is.

I have read many times on this board that something I know to be true "has been debunked." The truth about the war even here is what the majority says it is.

Thee biggest falsehood I read concerns the anti war movement and that the left never mistreated returning vets. So the truth that is accepted has been politicized so it its neatly into our left vs right frames of mind.

Another is he average age of soldiers in Vietnam. I was 19 when I got to Vietnam. I could not drink or vote but I could die. 38% of the deaths in Vietnam were 19 to 20 years old. There is no real valid statistic of the average age but many of my buddies were my age or a little older.

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

2. I'd guess the average age of E1 thru E3 was 19 or 20.

E8-E9 were the ancient ones, in their 30s or 40s.

When you got to Vietnam at age 19, wasn't that old enough to drink in Vietnam? I was stationed in Germany at 19, and that was old enough to drink there.

For history written by someone who lived it, We Were Soldiers Once ... And Young, by Gen Harold Moore and Joseph Galloway is a vivid account. I don't know about its accuracy, but it's probably far better than the movie "We Were Soldiers", a ripoff by Mel Gibson.

[wasupaloopa]

5. In Vietnam there were alcohol ration cards.

If you were old enough you got a new card every month. Most guys did not drink gin and I would ask for their old ration cards that still had gin available, I drank a lot of gin and 7up.

[dixiegrrrrl]

3. Another point is......who has the money?

Was this just another Republican rip-off, and who has the answers.

[LastLiberal in PalmSprings]

4. I think a Vietnam War education center is appropriate, just not at the proposed location.

But then, I was opposed to putting the WWII monument on the Mall. Up until then, we didn't have war memorials on the Mall. In fact, the committee that had been formed to determine the location had decided on a place along the Potomac, but then someone higher up walked in and said, "No, it's going to be on the Mall."