Leadership is changing but the focus remains the same for Arlington’s Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 3150.
Those efforts include service to military veterans coupled with initiatives benefiting youth and the county as a whole.
“We want to make the VFW more contemporary, make the community aware we are here,” Post Commander Sam Wong told ARLnow.
During a Memorial Day ceremony day at the post’s headquarters in the Courthouse area, Wong reflected on his three one-year terms leading the 91-year-old Arlington organization.
“We revitalized the post,” he said of collective efforts to bounce back from Covid.
Recent initiatives have included connecting more people to health and mental health resources, with the goal of “getting more services to the veterans,” Wong said.
Michael Cantwell, who was sworn in as post commander for 2025-26 at the event, echoed this theme.
“We have a lot of post members who are struggling,” Cantwell said. He views the post as a place “for them to go, be with their brothers and sisters and hopefully heal.”
At the ceremony, quartermaster Jim Bertine handed Cantwell the president’s gavel.
“Use it firmly but with discretion,” Bertine advised.
Cantwell said he long has been a VFW member, but only became significantly engaged during the presidency of Nancy Springer.
Springer, who became commander of Post 3150 in 2021, was its first female president.
Cantwell’s efforts on behalf of the post have included support for its popular trivia competitions and comedy nights. In a post-pandemic world, “getting together in person is so important,” he said.
In addition to Cantwell and Bertine, officers elected by the post in April included Senior Vice President Fritz Gottschalk, Junior Vice President Andrew Stewart, and trustees C.D. “Doc” Crouch and Walter Sweeney.
Jeff Mounts was elected to serve as Post 3150’s auxiliary president.
Founded in 1934, Post 3150 is named in honor of U.S. Army 1st Lt. John Lyon, a native of Arlington (then known as Alexandria County) and graduate of the University of Virginia.
Before the United States entered World War I, Lyon traveled to Belgium as a Red Cross ambulance driver.
Upon U.S. entry to the war, he served in France as a member of the 29th Division, formed in 1917 and known as the Blue and Gray Division for drawing personnel from the North and South.
Lyon was killed in action in October 1918, and was posthumously awarded the Distinguished Service Cross.
In a 2024 membership census, there were nearly 700 members of Post 3150, about three times larger than a typical VFW post. More than 100 of the members are women.
The roster included two veterans of World War II, more than 150 from both the Korean War and Vietnam War eras. More recent service members included 145 who served in Operation Desert Storm, 250 in Afghanistan and about 340 in the Iraq War.
As part of Memorial Day activities, the post was represented at wreath-laying activities at the Clarendon War Memorial and the John Lyon Memorial.
