Class: ESL 097Date: 4/20/2004Sentence combining exercise The memorial which is a wide V-shaped wall lies in ConstitutionGardens. The wall which seems to rise from the earth and to recede into itis made of black granite. Entering the memorial which is inscribed withover 58,000 names that refers to an American manor woman who was lost inVietnam is a moving experience.
One sees line after line of American nameswhich for 250 feet in two directions of the nation’s loss becomes clear. The average age which was for soldiers killed in Vietnam was nineteen, andMarines suffered a casualty rate which was for Marines killed or wounded of24 percent. The wall where people come to acknowledge sacrifice, toremember a young face and express private grief is a place of quietcommemoration. And it would not exist except for one man that was a Vietnamveteran named Jan Scruggs who saw half of his company killed or wounded andbarely escape with his life. Scruggs, who wanted the Nation that had beenbitter, divided over the Vietnam war to honor their commitment, want toremember his comrades.
In 1979, he became obsessed with the project thatworked to establish a Memorial Fund and worked to secure congressionalapproval which was for the concept of a memorial. President Carter signed abill which authorized the Memorial and provided a site for it in July 1980,and Scrugg’s campaign which was to raise private funds moved into high gear .
