Jan is Founder and President of the Vietnam Memorial Wall. He conceived the idea of building a memorial dedicated to all who served in the U.S. Armed Forces in Vietnam.
Scruggs was a wounded and decorated Vietnam War veteran, having served in the 199th Light Infantry Brigade of the U.S. Army. He felt a memorial would serve as a healing device for a different kind of wound – that inflicted on our national psyche by the long and controversial war.
In May 1979,
Scruggs took $2,800 of his own money and launched the effort. Serving as president of the Vietnam Veterans
Memorial Fund, Inc., the non-profit organization set up to build the Memorial,
Scruggs headed up the effort that raised $8.4 million and saw the Memorial
completed in two years. It was dedicated on
Scruggs is a native of Washington, D.C., and grew up in Bowie, Maryland. He received his BS and MEd degrees from The American University, Washington,D.C., and his law degree from the University of Maryland,Baltimore
Rob Wilson
Rob,
the Director of the Veterans Education Project in Amherst, MA, is a
former classroom teacher. VEP works in Western New England, training veterans to
share their military and war experiences in classrooms, to deglorify
war and violence, teach important history lessons, and help young
people to think about alternatives to violence. Their methods are
included in a national curriculum on the Vietnam War produced by the
National Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund. Their work has won recognition
from the National Council on Crime and Delinquency, the Congressional
Black Caucus of the U.S. Congress, and other national and regional
organizations. VEP staff have provided workshops and
presentations at a variety of conferences for teachers, PTSD counselors
and veterans
Stephen Sossaman
Stephen, who served in Vietnam with the Army's 9th Infantry Division, is the
training director of VEP and will serve as advisor and writer of the
accompanying Discussion Guide to Beyond the Wall, which is planned to
facilitate dialogue with veterans and families from all wars, including
our newest generation of veterans who have served in Iraq and
Afghanistan. He and Rob Wilson collaborated on a writing project for the Vietnam Veteran's Memorial Fund's film called Echoes from the Wall.
Dar, a national singer and songwriter, has contributed “Mercy of the Fallen” from her hit album “Beauty of the Rain” released in 2003. The songs are rooted in a migration she made to New York from Massachusetts, and like the people in our film, tell a story of people in transition.
Sonya
KitchellSonya, at 15, is a rare
talent. There is an undeniable warmth
to Kitchell, which her debut record, Cold Day
(produced by
Steve Addabbo - Shawn Colvin, Suzanne Vega) perfectly captures. All of
the songs on Cold Day are originals. To date, she has written over 100
songs, an incredible feat given that she only started writing three
years ago, at the age of twelve.
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