By BROOKE DONALD
.c The Associated Press
WASHINGTON (AP) - It is Washington's most visited memorial, honoring the dead of the 20th century's most divisive war. Now the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, created two decades ago amid bitter acrimony, is becoming the subject of dissension and controversy yet again.
The veterans who helped build the memorial want to add a structure nearby to educate visitors, not about the war but about the memorial itself. Critics, not least among them the National Park Service, are appalled.
The black granite wedge is engraved with the names of the 58,226 men and women killed in or still missing from the war. Its designer, architect Maya Lin, intended it to be ``a quiet place, meant for personal reflection and reckoning.''
The proposed 1,200-square-foot education center would change that intent, says the park service, which manages the memorial in addition to those within its sight honoring George Washington, Thomas Jefferson and Abraham Lincoln.
``We believe we risk diminishing the original work by adding adjunct structures to this site,'' John Parsons, a regional park service official, told a congressional committee last month.
Lin's simple concept for the memorial, chosen from a national design contest, roused a furor among many Americans who felt it cheapened and demeaned the memory of those who died. Inclusion of a statue of three combat-weary servicemen overlooking the wall was a key part of the compromise that had the Wall built. Many now consider the monument the most poignant of all the sites on the National Mall.
The memorial's purpose, the park service says, is ``to separate the issue of the sacrifices of the veterans from the U.S. policy in the war.'' A quarter-century after the last American GIs left Vietnam, scholars agree that passions still run so strong as to defy an objective assessment.
``Objective, noncontroversial history that everyone can agree on doesn't exist with the Vietnam War,'' said Ronald Spector, chairman of the history department at George Washington University.
The National Capital Planning Commission, the government agency that reviews federal land development proposals, also opposes the proposed center. Lin is remaining mum for the time being, according to her spokeswoman.
Nonetheless, plans for the education center are speeding ahead, and legislation authorizing it is before committees in both the House and Senate, where support is overwhelming.
Among the backers are Sens. Chuck Hagel, R-Neb., Max Cleland, D-Ga., and John Kerry, D-Mass., all Vietnam veterans. Kerry, who earned three purple hearts in the war but led demonstrations against it after he returned home, said focusing on the veterans makes Vietnam easier to understand.
``Despite the war's confusing moral backdrop, we tried to make sense of our mission,'' Kerry said. ``The faults in Vietnam were those of the war, not the warriors.''
Veterans groups also support the idea, saying the project would elaborate on the lives of the men and women whose names are on the wall and provide basic information about the war without interpreting it.
``The purpose is not to teach the long and difficult and confusing history of the Vietnam War,'' said Jan Scruggs, originator of the memorial and president of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund. ``The purpose is to understand why the memorial is such a significant place.''
The education center, with space to accommodate about 50 people at a time, would replace a Park Service kiosk now at the site. Financed by private and corporate donations, its construction would take about a year once approved by the government.
Scruggs said it would house some of more than 62,000 items such as dog tags, photographs, bracelets and toys that have been left at the memorial since its construction. It would also have computers where students and visitors could read and view remembrances about the veterans whose names are on the Wall.
Ten years after completion, the center would be evaluated, and Congress would decide if it should stay or come down.
The Vietnam War inflames American passions. It is nearly impossible to keep controversy at bay when talking about it, scholars say.
``You can't do anything about Vietnam today without aggravating someone,'' said Texas Tech University history professor James Reckner. ``As long as two people are alive from the Vietnam generation, there will be an argument.''
The Vietnam Memorial, which attracts 3.7 million visitors each year, now includes the Wall, two statues and a commemorative flagpole. In the works is a memorial plaque honoring veterans who died after the war but as a direct result of their service in Vietnam.
The bills are H.R. 510 and S. 281
On the Net: http://thomas.loc.gov
Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund: http://www.vvmf.org
National Park Service: http://www.nps.gov/vive/home.htm
AP-NY-08-23-01 0146EDT
Copyright 2001 The Associated Press.