Namesake
Captain Dean K. Phillips
Who the chapter is named for, and the plaque its members restored at Fort Meade in 2006.
About
About the Chapter
Fifteen people in a club room at Fort Myer, forty years ago. Four hundred and eighteen members now, and the largest Vietnam Veterans of America chapter in the Commonwealth.
How it started
On 24 July 1985, approximately fifteen people met at the Fort Myer NCO Club in Arlington, Virginia to form a local chapter of the only congressionally chartered Vietnam-veteran service organization in the United States. The chapter was incorporated as a non-profit in the Commonwealth of Virginia in January 1986.
It took the name of Captain Dean K. Phillips — 101st Airborne in Vietnam, author of the Vietnam Era Veterans’ Readjustment Assistance Act, and one of the people who got the Vietnam Veterans Memorial approved. He died a month after the chapter was founded.
Where it stands now
- 418
- members As of 2024
- #1
- largest VVA chapter in Virginia 17th nationally
- 40
- years serving Northern Virginia Founded 1985
Membership has grown every year for five years — from 329 in 2020 to 418 in 2024 — at a time when most Vietnam-era veterans organizations are shrinking.
What we are for
To serve military veterans, their families, our community and our country.
In practice that means three things: money paid directly to veterans and families who need it, a room full of people who understand once a month, and telling the truth about the war to anyone who will listen.
The chapter helps all needy and homeless veterans in Northern Virginia, not only Vietnam veterans, and it has no paid staff. Everything is done by members.
Traditions
Memorial Day and Veterans Day
Members, family and friends spend the day together. It starts with brunch and building a commemorative wreath, moves to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial to join other veterans groups in paying homage, and ends in the late afternoon with a potluck dinner at a member’s home.
The social year
A picnic in June or July, an awards banquet in June, the anniversary dinner in October, and a holiday party in December — with other events scattered through the year.
Publications
The chapter publishes The Journey for its members. Through the Virginia State Council network the chapter is featured quarterly in the Virginia Vietnam Veteran, and members receive the national magazine, The VVA Veteran.