For Immediate Release
November 4, 2004

Contact: JoAnn Mangione
(202) 393-0090 ext.109

VIETNAM VETERANS MEMORIAL FUND RECEIVES MAJOR GIFT
FROM U. S. GOVERNMENT FOR MINE-ACTION PROGRAM
Project RENEWTM Readies for Expansion into Other Areas of Vietnam
New American Support Will Work to Alleviate Landmine/UXO Problem

HANOI, Vietnam – The Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund – the nonprofit organization responsible for The Wall in Washington, D.C. – will be able to significantly expand its mine-action program operating in Vietnam through funding from the U.S. government, announced Jan C. Scruggs, the Memorial Fund’s founder and president.

The Memorial Fund today said that the United States has agreed to provide a multi-million dollar appropriation to the Memorial Fund’s four-year-old mine-action program, Project RENEWTM (Restoring the Environment and Neutralizing the Effects of the War in Vietnam). The legislation has been approved and monies will start becoming available later this year.

“The Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund applauds the U.S government for providing generous funding for Project RENEWTM and the people of Vietnam,” said Scruggs, an American war veteran who served as a rifleman with the U.S. Army’s 199th Infantry Brigade in Xuan Loc, Dong Nai Province, Vietnam from 1969-1970. “For more than 30 years, landmines and unexploded ordnance have deeply affected everyday life for innocent people in Vietnam. This commitment from the U.S. government will ensure that the number of victims continues to decrease drastically each year.”

The Memorial Fund estimates that $3 million will be used for projects directed by its Hanoi office and the Project RENEWTM  Coordination Office in Quang Tri Province over the next few years, Scruggs said. The program's expansion will extend into other areas in Quang Tri Province and other parts of Vietnam in addition to the development of ongoing programs including mine-risk education, victim assistance, medical support, community development and explosive ordnance disposal teams. Up to $2 million in additional monies will be available for other related expenditures, including grants through the Memorial Fund to other non-governmental organization's mine-action initiatives in Vietnam.

In December 2000, the Memorial Fund, in conjunction with the Quang Tri Province People’s Committee, launched Project RENEWTM as a replicable program with the overriding goal of Restoring the Environment and Neutralizing the Effects of the War in Vietnam.  The Project started in the Trieu Phong District of Quang Tri Province and will be expanding to other districts and areas within central Vietnam.

“Quang Tri Province commends the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund and Project RENEWTM for its tremendous work in improving the lives of its people,” said Nguyen Duc Chinh, Quang Tri Province People’s Committee Vice Chairman. “We greatly appreciate the support of the U.S. government and the American veterans community in working to make Vietnam in general and Quang Tri in particular a safer country from the danger of post-war landmine/UXO. This new funding will create more favorable conditions for more people in Quang Tri Province to benefit from the success of Project RENEWTM.”

Quang Tri Province’s nine districts (including Quang Tri and Dong Ha towns) have seen a major reduction in casualties since the establishment of Project RENEWTM. Between 1975 and 2003, landmines and unexploded ordnance (UXO) accidents resulted in 6,912 (1.2% of Quang Tri Province’s population), according to a survey conducted by Project RENEW™.  In the first half of 2004, 66 mine-related incidents occurred in Quang Tri Province with 34 resulting in fatalities.

Project RENEW™ is the first comprehensive management approach undertaken in Vietnam to address the problem of landmines and unexploded ordnance.  The initiative provides safety and injury public awareness programs, emergency medical services, prosthetic limbs for amputees, job training for survivors, database management of survey information, and overall coordination and management of mine-action projects in Quang Tri Province.  Additionally, an emergency ordnance disposal team funded in cooperation with PeaceTrees Vietnam is cleaning up more than 2,000 landmine/UXO contamination sites already identified and marked by red warning signs.

According to the U.S. military, more than 15 million tons of bombs, mines, artillery shells and other munitions were used during the Vietnam War. It is estimated that as much as 10 percent of that ordnance failed to explode on impact. Today, more than 350,000 tons of landmines and UXO continue to litter the Southeast Asian country nearly 30 years after the Vietnam War’s conclusion, resulting in hundreds being injured or killed each year. Quang Tri Province is located in central Vietnam along the 17th parallel – the Demilitarized Zone between North and South Vietnam from 1954 to 1975. That region was the most heavily bombed during the war between the U.S. and Vietnam.

Established in 1979, the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund is the nonprofit organization authorized by Congress to build the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C. Today, it has developed a series of outreach programs dedicated to preserving the legacy of The Wall, to promoting healing and to educating about the impact of the Vietnam War.

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