VFW Post 3208 - Harry L. Embree Memorial Post
Meets at the Senior Center in Memorial Park, Sierra Madre, CA 91024
(626) 355-7016
Bill Newbery, Commander 
Ted Evans, Quarter Master

For links to the National VFW, Veterans Administration, Social Security and more, see below.  

The VFW Hall on Montecito closed on July 20, 2002.  Meetings will be held at the Senior Center in Memorial Park for now.  New members are sought, to bolster declining membership.

VFW Memorial Day Service at Pioneer Cemetery, 5/26/03

Click here to view photos from the VFW service dedicating the Weeping Wall Memorial, April 24, 1999

There was a Pioneer Days Chicken Dinner held at the VFW in 1999.  Click here.

Click here to view photos of the 2000 VFW Memorial Day Service at Pioneer Cemetery, and the reception immediately following.

Click to see the VFW Commanders through the years.  I took these pictures  from West to East as they hung on the north wall of the Louis Van Iersel Memorial Hall before it closed.  There's some overlap on the photos.  I hope to be able to get Ted to help me make a list of who they all are and when they were Commanders.

Click to see more of the mural by Frank Bowers that you see below, left to right as it hung on the west wall.  Congressional Medal of Honor Winner Louie Van Iersel is in Pics 3, 4, 5.  The distinguished looking gentleman with glasses sitting at the desk.  The blue around his neck is the ribbon from the medal.  The nurse in Pics  4 and 5 was also a local veteran nurse, I believe her name was Rose Smith, and I have a picture of her at the dedication of the Weeping Wall Memorial.

Here is the text of the Citation received by Sierra Madre's Louie Van Iersel when he received the Congressional Medal of Honor for his service in World War I.  That's Louie in the picture below.

VAN IERSEL, LUDOVICUS M. M.

Rank and organization: Sergeant, U.S. Army, Company M, 9th Infantry, 2d Division. Place and date: At Mouzon, France, 9 November 1918. Entered service at: Glen Rock, N.J. Birth: Holland. G.O. No.: 34, W.D., 1919. Citation: While a member of the reconnaissance patrol, sent out at night to ascertain the condition of a damaged bridge, Sgt. Van Iersel volunteered to lead a party across the bridge in the face of heavy machinegun and rifle fire from a range of only 75 yards. Crawling alone along the debris of the ruined bridge he came upon a trap, which gave away and precipitated him into the water. In spite of the swift current he succeeded in swimming across the stream and found a lodging place among the timbers on the opposite bank. Disregarding the enemy fire, he made a careful investigation of the hostile position by which the bridge was defended and then returned to the other bank of the river, reporting this valuable information to the battalion commander.

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