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Vietnam Exhibit to Show Faces Behind the Names
posted 09/17/09 6:06 pm
ABC 7 News - Vietnam Exhibit to Show Faces Behind the Names
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WASHINGTON - The Vietnam Wall is already one of the most powerful monuments on the National Mall. Now, there's a push to expand it by finding photos of everyone of the men and women whose names are etched in stone.

Their pictures - snapped decades before the computer was in every home - are being scanned and saved on one now. It's a collection of men and women who died serving their country during the Vietnam War.

"This will move the heart and. If you want to teach, first you must move the heart," said Jan Scrugg, founder Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund.

The massive Vietnam Veterans Memorial is filled with thousands of names of those who never made it home alive. The new exhibit called 'The Education Center at the Wall' is in the works near the Vietnam Wall, and it captures the faces behind the names.

"When you see a face, you know there was a person there. It's not just a name engraved. This was a person who had hopes and dreams that were cut short," said

Army Corporal Michael Pynnonen was from Lewiston, Michigan, and two eighth graders from his hometown were chosen to honor his memory Thursday at the Newseum.

"He was the only person from our community that didn't make it back from the Vietnam War. The only one out of quite a few that went," said McKenzie Mathewson, an eight grader.

"I think it's important that younger people get involved with the Vietnam Wall because they didn't get much recognition when they got back," said Shannon Kievit, an eight grader.

Retired Air Force Sergeant John Miller came to the ceremony. He says he doesn't want people to forget about what fellow Vietnam veterans sacrificed.

"We forget it's not the politician that gives you freedom of speech, it's not the clergyman that gives you freedom to worship. It's the soldier," Miller said.

So far, the exhibit has 10,000 pictures of soldiers whose names are on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, but they still need the remaining 48,000. Family and friends are urged to send their loved ones photos in.

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