a very intense, ambitious man." Although Scruggs sometimes fell into a deep depression due to the constant criticism of the memorial effort and the memorial's design, he overcame the depression by calling up the memory of his 12 dead friends and by reading letters to the foundation written by veterans and their families. The Vietnam Veterans Memorial was unveiled on November 13, 1982. He was interviewed in the book Boots on the ground by Elizabeth Partridge, where he talked about his experience in the war and in the making of the wall. Post-Memorial work Scruggs left the VVMF in 1985 to pursue other challenges. He sought a career as a corporate lobbyist, but found no one willing to hire him despite his success with the memorial. In the fall of 1987, Scruggs enrolled at the University of Maryland School of Law, graduating with a JD degree in 1990. Unwilling to join a law firm and be managed by supervisors 15 years his junior, Scruggs rejoined the VVMF and began raising funds to celebrate the memorial's tenth anniversary. Although most memorial foundations fold once the memorial they support is completed, Scruggs made the decision to keep the VVMF going. In part, he was motivated by the neglect of the District of Columbia War Memorial, a structure on the National Mall which commemorates those individuals from the District of Columbia who lost their lives serving in World War I. Scruggs did not want the Vietnam Veterans Memorial to fall into disrepair, and felt that a strong VVMF would help avoid that. He and the Board of VVMF took note of groups like Friends of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial who were attempting to use the Memorial for sales of T-shirts. In 2008, Scruggs underwent surgery to have a damaged valve in his heart replaced with an artificial one. Two years later, while driving home from a meeting in Richmond, Virginia, he passed out at the wheel of his automobile and ran off the road onto the shoulder. The artificial valve had become infected, and the infection caused him to black out. He underwent surgery again a short time later, replacing the artificial valve with a biological valve taken from a pig's heart. Scruggs advocated for an "education center" to be built next to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. His concern was that too few younger Americans knew much about the Vietnam War, and the