A Texas Tech historian and Vietnam veteran has been named to an advisory committee for a newly-planned education center.

Ron Milam, associate professor of history, Vietnam veteran, and author of “Not a Gentleman’s War: An Inside View of Junior Officers in the Vietnam War,” will serve on the 10-member committee for the Education Center at The Wall, a learning facility planned for construction on the grounds of the Vietnam Veterans and Lincoln Memorials.

Members will collaborate with the National Park Service and the museum-design firm Ralph Appelbaum Associates on the creation of the center, which is expected to break ground at some point in 2013.

“When they interviewed me, I kept thinking that there were so many Vietnam scholars who had written more books than I,” said Milam. “And when I saw the names of my colleagues who had been chosen, it was overwhelming. I think the reputation of Texas Tech University regarding military history and our Vietnam Center and Archive was instrumental in me being asked to serve,” he continued.

The team will craft a concise narrative of the Vietnam War for the education center, which will give context to the 58,282 names that appear on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall.

Milam said his contribution will focus primarily on the work of the soldiers who were sent to the front lines.

Organizers say that they want the center to serve as a central point where every American can learn about the war and its impact on both those who served, and those who remained at home.

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