VFW: OUR FIRST CENTURY, 1899-1999, by Herbert Molloy Mason, Jr., Addax Publishing Company, 240 pages, $24.95.
Written by one of the country’s premier military writers, VFW: Our First Century details the history of a great American institution, the Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW), which today has approximately two million members. The organization’s accomplishments during the past 100 years include winning a bonus for economically strapped World War I veterans during the Depression; waging legislative battles for World War II, Korea, and Vietnam GI Bills; building and maintaining a national home to house veterans’ widows and orphans; donating one million dollars to the Vietnam, Korean, and other war memorials; and actively supporting United States troops overseas. Through anecdotes, newspaper articles, cartoons, and a large selection of color and black and white photographs, this splendid volume details how the VFW has impacted American life during the past century.
Blaine Taylor is a freelance writer from Towson, Maryland, and the author of three books.
