Jan Scruggs

Jan Craig Scruggs (born March 11, 1950) is a United States Army veteran who served in the Vietnam War, and later founded the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund, which built the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C., in the United States.

Scruggs was born on March 11, 1950, in Bowie, Maryland to James and Louise Scruggs.

He was the youngest of their four children.

His father drove a taxicab and delivered milk door-to-door.

His mother, who had dropped out of school in the eighth grade, worked as a waitress.

His parents were from Alabama, where his older siblings were born, and moved to Maryland after World War II.

Scruggs' parents divorced when he was 14 years old.

His mother moved away, and his father remarried when Scruggs was in his senior year in high school.

The summer after he graduated from Bowie High School, he turned 19 years old.

With his parents unable to afford college and feeling awkward at home around his newly married father and step-mother, he decided to leave home.

He enlisted in the U.S. Army in August 1968, having given little thought to the fact that the Vietnam War was raging.

His unit was sent to Vietnam in April 1969 for a one-year tour of duty.

In May 1969, his unit took up duty in the Xuân Lộc District northeast of Saigon.

On May 27, 1969, his unit engaged the Viet Cong in a forested area.

The next day, while leaving the jungle at about 9:30 AM, a rocket-propelled grenade attack left Scruggs wounded in his back, right arm, and both legs.

Scruggs spent three months in the hospital, then returned to combat duty.

Scruggs received the Purple Heart Medal for wounds received in combat.

In November 1969, Scruggs was involved in another firefight with the Viet Cong.

During the battle, he retrieved a weapon from the battlefield while under fire, for which he was awarded an Army Commendation Medal, with 'Valor' device.

Scruggs signed up for a second one-year tour of duty in Vietnam.

His unit was still serving in the Xuân Lộc District.

On January 21, 1970, 12 of his comrades were killed when three mortar rounds accidentally exploded while being unloaded from a truck.

Scruggs, who was more than 200 yd away, was not injured in the blast, but the image of the explosion stayed with him.

Scruggs left the Army in March 1970 as a corporal, by which time he had also received three Army Commendation Medals, as well as the "V" device for Valor which is attached to the Army Commendation Medal.

After leaving the Army, Scruggs returned to Maryland, where he obtained a job as a security guard at an apartment building and enrolled briefly at Prince George's Community College.

"[V]ery disillusioned and disenchanted" (Scruggs believes he was struggling with a mild form of posttraumatic stress disorder), Scruggs had difficulty adjusting to civilian life again.

He quit his job and school, bought a motorcycle, and spent a year roaming the country, drinking heavily.

During this time, he and another friend and veteran spent five months roaming southern California, drinking, goofing off, and visiting Native American reservations.

Returning to Maryland, Scruggs enrolled at American University in Washington, D.C. He met Becky Fishman at a 7-Eleven store late one night.

They married in 1974.

Scruggs received his bachelor's degree from American University in 1975.

He then enrolled in the graduate program in psychology, researching posttraumatic stress disorder.

He received his master's degree in 1977.

Beginning in 1977, Scruggs began working as an investigator in the equal opportunity employment office at the United States Department of Labor.

He was recognized as an expert on posttraumatic stress disorder, and testified before Congress on the issue.

In March 1979, Scruggs and his wife went to see The Deer Hunter, a drama about three friends whose experiences in the Vietnam War leave them badly emotionally scarred.

That night, Scruggs began drinking and brooding over the film.

About 3:00 AM, he began having flashbacks, particularly about the mortar truck accident that killed 12 of his friends.

Trained as a mortarman, Scruggs was assigned to Company D, 4th Battalion, 12th Infantry Regiment, 199th Light Infantry Brigade.

Scruggs was the President of the foundation until 2015, when he retired.