VFW Book Helps Fund GMU Veteran Scholarship

A self-published book written by a Fairfax Station Veterans of Foreign Wars Post member sheds light on local heroes and also helps fund a scholarship for veterans attending George Mason University.

“The purpose of our organization is to do good works for the community, to help fellow veterans and remember the fallen, so this was a good use of their stories,” said Floyd Houston, author of "The Pillars of the Post" and former post commander for the Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 8469 in Fairfax Station.

Houston spent four years interviewing, writing, and creating the layout for the Pillars. The book was released through Createspace and Amazon.

Pillars records 85 post members’ lives, from their backgrounds to their military training, deployments and war service stories. It also documents the post’s community service projects and the history behind Post 8469 that local history buffs will thoroughly enjoy.

Current post commander Joshua Lawton-Belous helped establish the George Mason University Veterans Scholarship Endowment. Houston and Lawton-Belous worked to link the projects together, and now all proceeds of the $29.95 book bought on Creatspace will go towards the endowment (Amazon has more fees attached to it for the seller). The scholarship, as of Feb. 7, had raised about $19,000 of the $25,000 needed for next year.

“In the winter of 2008, we had done several funeral services and found that we knew more about what the deceased did in the military than the families,” he said. “So we decided to capture everyone’s story before their eulogy.”

And so Pillars was born, first as a collection of World War II biographies that were shared over the VFW Post’s monthly newsletters. The idea transformed and expanded, however, as more and more stories kept coming in from Post members who were veterans of different wars. The book now spans from a World War I veteran’s story to present day war veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan.

There are stories of endurance, bravery and community service within the 208-page book. One of the most touching stories, and rewarding for Houston, was the discovery that post member Carl Hall had liberated another post member, Jerry Wolf, during WWII.

Wolf was a prisoner of war with the Germans who ultimately marched Wolf and thousands of other POWs to a camp called Stalag Luft III in Nuremburg, Germany. On April 29, 1945, Comrade Carl Hall was part of the 1st Battalion that liberated Camp Stalag Luft III. The two members never knew of their link until after Houston had interviewed them both and made the connection. Last July the former POW and liberator went to Denny’s in Fairfax and “had a good chat.”

To make gifts directly to the scholarship, go online to www.supportingmason.gmu.edu , click on "Give Now," and designate the "Veterans Scholarship Endowment" in the "Other Established Fund" box, or send checks payable to GMU Foundation with Veterans Scholarship Endowment in the subject line to Intercollegiate Athletics, Attn: Dr. Butler, 4400 University Drive, MS 5EI, Fairfax, VA 22030.