VFW senior leader appointed to Commission

By Chris Isleib
Director of Public Affairs, U.S. World War One Centennial Commission

Commissioner Debra AndersonThe Veterans of Foreign Wars of the U.S. has appointed VFW Quartermaster General Debra Anderson as a commissioner to the United States World War One Centennial Commission. She will be officially sworn in as a member of the commission in a ceremony later this year.

Anderson is a senior leader within the VFW, and the first Operation Desert Storm and woman elected to serve as the 117-year-old organization’s chief financial officer. She is a 13-year Army veteran who graduated with a bachelor’s in economics from the University of Missouri-Columbia, where she attended on an ROTC scholarship. Her awards and decorations include the Bronze Star, two Meritorious Service Medals, the Southwest Asia Service Medal, Kuwait Liberation Medal and Parachutist Badge.

The U.S. World War I Centennial Commission is a Congressional Commission established in 2013 to mark American service during the war, through public outreach, education programs, and commemorative events. The commission has also been authorized by Congress to create the new National World War I Memorial in Washington DC.

Anderson joins other current commissioners, who include: Col. (Retired) Robert Dalessandro (Chair), Edwin Fountain (Vice Chair), Jerry Hester, Col. (Retired) Thomas Moe, James Whitfield, Dr. Libby O’Connell, Major General (Retired) Alfred Valenzuela, Dr. Monique Brouillet Seefried, Dr. Matthew Naylor, and Ambassador (Retired) Tod Sedgwick.