Heroes’ Path Board of Advisors

Jan Scruggs

Jan Scruggs is the founder of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. Drafted at 19, he was wounded in combat in Vietnam and came home carrying shrapnel and the invisible weight of PTSD. One night in a theater, watching The Deer Hunter, he had the idea of building a memorial that could heal a divided nation. A $2,800 gamble launched the effort, and he carried it through the fight over Maya Lin's minimalist design and the backlash that followed.

The Wall is now America's most visited war memorial. Jan leads the visit to the Wall on the National Mall that closes the Heroes' Path Vietnam leadership experience, and he told his story on the Heroes' Path Podcast in Founding The Wall.