"To Heal a Nation": Award a Presidential Medal to Jan Scruggs for the Vietnam Wall

Please add your name to this petition asking Pres. Biden to award the Presidential Medal of Freedom to Jan Scruggs for founding the Vietnam Memorial in Washington, and for all the Wall stands for in honoring those who served and healing our nation.

More than 2.1 million men and women served in the Vietnam War, many of them draftees who were torn from homes and communities and sent to a far off struggle. But when they returned, these soldiers were too often scorned and humiliated.

Today, thanks in large part to the Vietnam Memorial, their military service is acknowledged and appreciated. Some 5 million people a year visit the Wall to honor and remember the 58,320 men and women whose names are inscribed on its black granite face.

Jan Scruggs had the original idea for the Wall and led the long, difficult campaign to build it. A wounded veteran himself, Jan had seen 12 of his buddies killed in the War and was determined to find a way to honor them and the others who gave their lives in service to our country.

Today, Jan is beloved across the entire political spectrum, and his name is synonymous with the Wall. "Without Jan, those of us who went through the ordeal of the Vietnam conflict would have no place to heal," says John Weber, who was badly wounded near Chu Lai by shrapnel from a rocket-propelled grenade.

At a time when the U.S. is again divided, the Wall can serve as a potent reminder that our nation can heal from the challenges that sometimes divide us.

For more about Jan and the dramatic story of how the Wall was built, read "To Heal a Nation": the Vietnam Wall by James Reston, Jr. in the new issue of American Heritage Magazine.