WASHINGTON — Thousands of Vietnam veterans whose names never made it onto the wall at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington because they did not die from battle-related injuries or accidents will now be honored there, though not by name.
Under legislation signed by President Clinton on June 15, a plaque will soon go up near the memorial to honor the veterans who died after the war from exposure to Agent Orange, post-traumatic stress disorder and other causes not directly related to combat wounds.
Experts estimate that the number of veterans who died from those conditions is at least equal to the number of names inscribed on the wall — 58,220.
The plaque, which is expected to go up within a year, will be paid for with private donations. It will not carry the names of the veterans it honors but instead will bear a short commemorative inscription. The American Battle Monuments Commission will provide the text and determine the plaque's design and its location on the memorial site.
Memorial rules allow people's names to be added to the wall, but only after the Defense Department determines that those people died from wounds directly related to hostilities or accidents in combat zones. Since the wall was completed in 1982, 261 names have been added.
The legislation calling for the plaque was passed unanimously in the House and the Senate in May. The bills were sponsored by Rep. Elton Gallegly, R-Calif., and Sen. Ben Nighthorse Campbell, R-Colo.
Nevertheless, the plaque has stirred controversy. The organization that built the memorial, the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund, said the plaque threatened to detract from the memorial's power by lessening its simplicity.
"There are certain works of architecture in the world that should be allowed to make a statement without additions," said Jan C. Scruggs, the president and founder of the fund. "We must get Congress to bring an end to permanent new additions to the Vietnam memorial, just as France has done with the Eiffel Tower and Egypt has done with the Pyramids."
Scruggs said he did not oppose the plaque but feared that it would open the floodgates to more additions.
"We are just concerned about the next plaque," he said. "It's just a matter of time."
Some veterans are also concerned about recognizing deaths attributed to post-traumatic stress disorder. They consider that a euphemism for suicide and believe it is an inappropriate subject for a national memorial.
The plaque is a product of years of grass-roots efforts by families of veterans. In 1993, Ruth Coder Fitzgerald began looking for a way to honor veterans like her brother, John Keath Coder, who had died the year before from non-Hodgkin's lymphoma after being exposed to Agent Orange in the Vietnam War.
The Department of Veterans Affairs officially presumes that all Vietnam veterans who have non-Hodgkin's lymphoma or certain other diseases have been exposed to Agent Orange.
Fitzgerald, who lives in Fredericksburg, Va., said that after years of writing letters, attending meetings and lobbying, she finally got what she wanted: "a place I can go to any day of the year and honor people like my brother."