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Former Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund leader Jan Scruggs joins more than 40 volunteers in cleaning the Vietnam Wall in Washington, D.C., Saturday, April 21, 2018. It was Scruggs' first visit to the memorial he helped build since spending 28 days in a coma last year due to endocarditis.

Former Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund leader Jan Scruggs joins more than 40 volunteers in cleaning the Vietnam Wall in Washington, D.C., Saturday, April 21, 2018. It was Scruggs' first visit to the memorial he helped build since spending 28 days in a coma last year due to endocarditis. (Ken-Yon Hardy/Stars and Stripes)

Former Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund leader Jan Scruggs joins more than 40 volunteers in cleaning the Vietnam Wall in Washington, D.C., Saturday, April 21, 2018. It was Scruggs' first visit to the memorial he helped build since spending 28 days in a coma last year due to endocarditis.

Former Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund leader Jan Scruggs joins more than 40 volunteers in cleaning the Vietnam Wall in Washington, D.C., Saturday, April 21, 2018. It was Scruggs' first visit to the memorial he helped build since spending 28 days in a coma last year due to endocarditis. (Ken-Yon Hardy/Stars and Stripes)

Employees of NewDay USA and the New Day USA Foundation scrub the iconic wall at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial on Saturday, April 21, 2018.

Employees of NewDay USA and the New Day USA Foundation scrub the iconic wall at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial on Saturday, April 21, 2018. (Ken-Yon Hardy/Stars and Stripes)

Jan Scruggs takes questions after a brief ceremony at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C., April 21, 2018.

Jan Scruggs takes questions after a brief ceremony at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C., April 21, 2018. (Ken-Yon Hardy/Stars and Stripes)

WASHINGTON — As a group of volunteers cleaned the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Saturday morning, they were joined by a man who was arguably the most important figure in the planning and construction of the wall that honors the more than 58,000 Americans who died in the conflict.

Jan Scruggs, an Army veteran who retired as head of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund in 2015, was making his first visit to the memorial since spending 28 days in a coma after an attack of endocarditis last year. He helped employees from NewDay USA carefully scrub the iconic wall.

news@stripes.com

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