. >> my name is jan scruggs i decided in 1979 there should be a national vietnam veterans memorial. >> his nine months in nam he didn't do much but scoring points for other side. he didn't accomplish much, it was as a civilian nine months later he left an indelible mark. >> i started an organization with a lot of help from very important people, we figured out how to build this, raised the money and get it built in three years. >> to build it required money $8.4 million from private donations, land, some of the motion valuable on the national mall and a design. the design almost killed the dream. >> the vietnam veterans memorial design was controversial because it was black. they said all the other monuments are white why is this one black? what statement are you making because it's black? >> the winning design industry was amateurish, from an unknown architecture student mia lynn, who saw the proposed black chevron as an ugly gash, open wound on the mall. the concept wasn't meet clear to a lot of people including scruggs. >> i saw the original drawing and it didn't look like much. di

. >> my name is jan scruggs and i decided in 1979 that there should be a national vietnam memorial. >> jan scruggs describes his 12 months in vietnam as mostly unremarkable mostly firing mortar but he did get shot up. and as a corporal, he didn't accomplishment. but it was a civilian, nine years later he left an indelible mark. >> i started an organization with a lot of people including graduates from harvard business school, we found out how to build this and with he did it in three years. >> it required $3.4 million, all from donations land, some of the most valuable in the u.s. on the national mall. and it the design. the design almost killed the dream. >> the vietnam veterans memorial design was controversial because it was black. they said all of the other monuments are white and why is this black? what statement are you making? >> the winning design was an amateurish drawing from an architectural student myelin. they saw it as an ugly gash in the ground, an open wound on the national mall. concept, let's say wasn't immediately clear to a lot of people, including scruggs. >> i ha

. >> reporter: at age 65 jan scruggs is retiring as head of the memorial fund but he has one last mission to build an education center nearby to house all of the artifacts left at the wall over the years, and teach about the sacrifice of all americans in all wars. >> that will be a crowning achievement, but it's kind of hard to top this. >> reporter: and adding a traditional element to its radical design a statute of three service members. and the outrage is now in his words, just a footnote in history. jamie macintyre, al jazeera, washington. >>> there are questions this morning about the fbi's involvement in paying ransom for a hostage held by al-qaeda. the fbi vetted a middleman who transported $250,000 from the family of warren weinstein, an aid worker held by al-qaeda for years. he was accidentally killed by a u.s. drone strike in january. >>> why some in los angeles want to take control of an elementary school. >>> and users find a big glitch with their apple watches. ♪ >>> parents in los angeles are trying to force change at what they call a failing public school. a 2010 law gives