“When I think of his patience under adversity, of his courage under fire, and of his modesty in victory, I am filled with an emotion of admiration I cannot put into words,” said Gen. Douglas MacArthur in a speech at West Point in 1962. He was talking about the American soldier.

“He belongs to history as furnishing one of the greatest examples of successful patriotism. He belongs to posterity as the instructor of future generations in the principles of liberty and freedom. He belongs to the present, to us, by his virtues and by his achievements.”

I agree with those sentiments. When I came back from serving in the Vietnam War, I felt that our country needed to thank those who had served, to help us all heal. I felt the soldiers who went to Vietnam -- especially those who made the ultimate sacrifice -- were indeed the greatest examples of successful patriotism. That is why I began the crusade to build the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.

While, at the time, The Wall stirred up quite a bit of controversy, it is now generally regarded as a beautiful and moving monument to the 58,249 soldiers who were killed or missing in action in Vietnam.

MacArthur calls the American soldier “the instructor of future generations.” I agree with that, too. I believe we have much to teach the American people from the lessons learned in Vietnam.

And, there is a whole new generation of visitors that know nothing about this conflict. Many of the visitors to The Wall these days were not even born during the Vietnam War. Unless they have a relative whose name is inscribed there, The Wall has no context for them.

We want to change that. Several years ago, we went to Congress asking for help, and the result was Legislation passed in 2003 and signed by the president granting permission for a Vietnam Veterans Memorial Center to be built underground at or near the Memorial.

What will this Center be? It was Congress' intention that it honor veterans and educate about the war, rather than revisiting the never-ending debate over the decisions leading to that conflict. That is our goal as well.

“[The Center] will be about all about the soldiers…and it will make no statement about the war itself, other than the gallantry and the heroism of those who answered the call of their country,” explained Gen. Colin Powell, USA (Ret.), speaking on “Larry King Live.” Powell is the honorary chairman of the effort.

Indeed, we will use the Memorial Center to celebrate the basic principles of military service: duty, honor, courage, service, loyalty, trust and integrity. While the exhibits will focus on Vietnam, the Center will honor Americans who served in all wars.

At the same time that Congress passed legislation allowing the Center “at or near” The Memorial, it also acknowledged that the National Mall was becoming crowded, and it prohibited further building there -- with the last exception of the Memorial Center.

Unfortunately, some of the bureaucrats in Washington think they know better than Congress, and they feel that nothing else should be allowed to spoil what they consider a “finished work of civic art.” Even though it will be underground, they feel the Memorial Center would spoil the historic vistas of the Mall, and they have opposed it at every opportunity.

This agency I am referring to is the National Capital Planning Commission (NCPC), which unfortunately has control over where the Center is built.

Ever since we chose a site, the commission has found one reason or another to delay the approval process. We have persevered, trying to meet all of the requirements so we could move forward. As we prepared to testify at the NCPC's Dec. 1 meeting, we learned -- with scarcely 24 hours notice -- that the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Center had been pulled from the schedule. We were asked instead to submit a detailed environmental analysis of the site before being given permission to build there. This analysis will cost $80,000 and take four months or more of our time. That's a big investment and one that we shouldn't be asked to make before being given approval. In fact, that is how the process normally works.

For the past year, we have tried to comply with the requests of the NCPC, but we feel that the commission is not dealing with us in good faith. And so we are appealing to you, the American people, to protest and help us move this project forward.

We ask that readers write to their members of Congress to request their help in dealing with federal employees who are thwarting a project of importance to America. Please write these e-mails and forward them to the Memorial Fund offices: lgough@vvmf.org. We will make sure they are delivered. This is a call to action for all patriots to help us correct this outrageous situation. Thank you for your help.

This is a call to action for all patriots to help us correct this outrageous situation. Thank you for your help.

Jan C. Scruggs is the founder and president of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund. He was a wounded and decorated veteran of the Vietnam War, having served in the 199 th Light Infantry Brigade of the U.S. Army.