For Immediate Release March 24, 2008

Contact: Lisa Gough (202) 393-0090, ext.109

VIETNAM VETERANS MEMORIAL FUND PLANS
DELEGATION TO VIETNAM ON AUG. 1-10
TO REVIEW MINE ACTION, HUMANITARIAN PROGRAM
Participants Must Register by June 16

Washington, D.C.—The Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund will be taking delegates to Vietnam on Aug. 1-10 to tour the country and review the progress of Project RENEW™, the group’s mine action and humanitarian program, said Memorial Fund Founder and President Jan Scruggs.

Persons interested in joining the delegation should contact the Memorial Fund for more information by June 16.

Scruggs will be the host of the delegation, along with former Ambassador to Vietnam Michael Marine. This will be the seventh delegation the Memorial Fund has led to Vietnam.

During the 10-day excursion, visitors will see the many picturesque and beautiful sights in Vietnam, traveling in Hanoi, Hue, Quang Tri Province and Ho Chi Minh City. Along the way, they will tour historic areas, sites significant during the Vietnam War and areas being helped by Project RENEW™, which currently focuses most of its energies in the Quang Tri Province area—the site of the Demilitarized Zone during the Vietnam War and the focal point for bombing and land mines.

Delegates will also meet with Vietnamese officials, Project RENEW™ staff members, and representatives from the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command (JPAC) in Hanoi, who will brief visitors on the ongoing efforts to identify Americans still unaccounted for after the war.

During the delegation, visitors will also be present for the grand opening of the cultural center and community complex that was built in Ha Bac Village near Khe Sahn for the Van Kieu ethnic minority tribe there. The building of the complex was sponsored by the Memorial Fund and funded by Florida businessman Jimmy Mosconis and NY Stock Exchange Chairman Marshall Carter. Both Carter and Mosconis are Vietnam veterans.

“The mission of the Memorial Fund is healing and education, and our delegations to Vietnam serve both of those goals,” said Scruggs. “Our delegates, whether they are veterans, educators or interested citizens, are always moved by the beauty of the country, the friendliness of the people and the work that remains to be done there.”

The Memorial Fund launched Project RENEW™ in December 2000 in partnership with the Quang Tri Province People’s Committee as the first comprehensive management approach undertaken in Vietnam to Restore the Environment and Neutralize the Effects of War. The program 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.

Since its inception, Project RENEW™ has dramatically helped to reduce casualties resulting from land mines and UXO in Quang Tri and surrounding provinces. It is estimated that more than 350,000 tons of land mines and UXO remain scattered throughout Vietnam.

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

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