Pillars of the Post: VFW Post 8469

PILLARS OF THE POST tells the story of the multi-generational Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 8469 of Fairfax, Virginia. PILLARS OF THE POST is different because it tells the history of our community, our veterans' service organization - the Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW), as well as the collective history of our nation throughout our modern conflicts by telling the stories of the individual veterans who left home and fought our wars, returned and then gave back. PILLARS OF THE POST records each veteran's story from origins, to training, to overseas service, and back to a lifetime of service at home. It also documents the relationships of these veterans as they continue to serve our community via the activities of the Post. Fairfax County grew from a bucolic backwater to one of the richest in the nation, substantially on the hard work of such veterans who came back and gave back. Why is PILLARS OF THE POST important? The legacy of the VFW is more than 100 years in the making and our Post alone was there for over sixty of those years. The importance of the VFW is that the VFW is strong and organized in every community, in every city, and every state, in the United States. Through the local Post, we come together as equals - women and men forged in the fires of war, from all different backgrounds and ethnicities, to remember our fallen, help the living, and do good works in the community. Finally, our nation's modern conflicts represent a vast canvas of events which are impossible paint with the brush of any single person's experiences. These events happened over time and across the globe, from battlefields to prison camps, and back home afterwards. For many reasons, our veterans tend not to talk about their experiences. This book is a unique vision into the far-flung range of experiences that our nation's veterans typically withhold from all but each other. All proceeds from this book will benefit the George Mason University Student Veteran Scholarship Fund.