John was first connected to the VFW through member Brian McCarthy when it was still known as the "hole in the wall." Although John wasn’t eligible to join the VFW at the time, he was welcomed as a guest of the Commander. (Eventually they opened eligibility to those who served in Korea.) John became a Life Member in 1995 and is now a Legacy Life Member. Originally, John told himself that he was "not going to get involved” with the VFW, but he soon found that he really hit it off with a group of members. They called their spot at the left-hand side of the bar the "Table of Knowledge” and nicknamed themselves the Pelicans because of their hats. They were a fun-loving group—insisting that they had no rules—and even came up with a pelican-themed song. What started with gathering of 10 members swelled to almost 80. Soon, John got involved with other projects at the post, eventually taking over the food basket distribution and helping with pull-tabs at bingo. As the manager at Greentree Mortgage at the time, he also helped with the mortgage documents and payments when the VFW relocated to our current location. Eventually, John was placed on the Board. In the early 90s, the position for facilities manager opened at the post, so John applied. As the general manager of Post 1503 for over 20 years, John oversees everything from beverage purchases to the air conditioning systems. He is very grateful to everyone who makes up our post, especially the bartenders, as John sees them as the "lifeline” of what makes our post services run smoothly.

 

At the age of 17, John visited with a military recruiter with a friend and decided to sign up for the Army. He didn’t have a particular reason for choosing the Army, other than the commercials he saw encouraging military service. Although John’s parents had some reservations about him enlisting, they signed the permission forms which allowed him to join.

John headed to Georgia where he completed Basic Training at Fort Jackson and AIT at Fort Gordon. He soon received orders for the San Francisco Army Post Office (APO) and was sent to South Korea to work at Camp Red Cloud in Uijeongbu, a few miles from the DMZ. After many years of working at his family’s store, John was skilled with the tasks the post office required, including interacting with customers, keeping track of numbers, and typing quickly. As the morning clerk for the 2nd Missile Battalion, 71st Artillery, John was responsible for taking the information from the battalion and company morning reports and combining them in a typed brief. He was also tasked with typing up the DD-214 forms.

Upon his return stateside, John was sent to Birmingham, Alabama for the IV Corps, which was the ROTC testing center for the southeast division schools. When his cab dropped him off in front of an office building, John learned that his job was a civilian component duty for the next two years. During this time, he was promoted to E-5. Although he volunteered to go to Vietnam, he was only 11 months away from being discharged, which would require more time in service. His command also offered him an opportunity to complete Officer Training School (OCS), but he opted not to do this so he wouldn’t have to be apart from Gina for so long.

After getting out of the military, John saw an advertisement for what he believed would be a position for sports-related employment, but it turned out just to be for a job placement agency. However, he still relocated to the area, where Gina was already working in a GS position. Nine months after his military service was concluded, John and Gina got engaged. They married in November of 1965. They had four girls together and have lived in the local area since then.

Since John was comfortable working with numbers, he found a position with HFC, the Household Finance Corporation. They provided same-day loans for homes and oversaw consumer credit records. He worked there for 29 years and was promoted to manager. He then went to work at Washington Gas Light Federal Credit Union for five years.

From there, he worked at Greentree Mortgage in Lorton for an additional four years. He helped to oversee the operations there and worked in credit investigation for the credit bureaus.

With four girls, John found himself coaching girls’ softball for 29 years. Today, his family has expanded, and John enjoys life with his nine grandchildren and three great-grandchildren. John and Gina also have two collies: Bailey and Riley.

• John’s birthplace of Mount Carmel is believed to be the first town with electric streetlights, as Thomas Edison’s power plant was located here.

• As John’s 6’6” uncle was his hero as a child, he also wanted to join the state police force. At 17, John tried to sign up, but the force wouldn’t accept an application until his military duty was fulfilled, as those were still the years of the draft.
• Although the military recruiter promised John’s father that his son wouldn’t be sent overseas, his first official duty station did just that. When John initially saw his orders, he thought he would be staying in San Francisco, only to learn that he would actually be in South Korea.
• Prior to enlisting, John had never flown in an airplane before. His first time in the air was heading from Pennsylvania to Fort Jackson. Unfortunately, before they got off the tarmac, the engine he was sitting next to caught on fire. He alerted the flight attendant and they prepared to evacuate. As John tried to unbuckle his seatbelt, he realized that it had been clasped incorrectly due to his nervousness for his first flight, and they had to cut him out. When it was time for him to return from Korea, he decided to give the plane another try, since the other option was traveling via boat for 30 days. Due to the intense fog at San Francisco Airport, the plane had to be guided down solely by radar, as there was zero visibility. His airplane seat neighbor ended up vomiting on his leg and John didn’t have a change of clothes. To make matters worse, he had to endure a three-day wait at the airport in those clothes. For another trip to Anchorage, he missed a major earthquake by just one day. Although John had to endure other airline flights while in the military, he has vowed never to fly again.

• When John landed in Korea, three soldiers—including a Captain—met him at the bottom of the stairs and wanted him to play basketball. At 6’3” and 155 pounds, they knew John would be the perfect addition to the base’s basketball team. He played a few games with them to have a recreational outlet.
• While at Camp Red Cloud, John and a friend saw a long line at the local movie theater. Although they didn’t know what film would be playing, they decided to join the crowd and were eventually treated to a showing of the first James Bond movie.
• John was tasked with driving the "deuce-and-a-half” to bring the troops to a Bob Hope and Ann-Margret show in Korea. Despite John’s protests that he wasn’t familiar with driving the vehicle, he managed to get the group there safely. When the show was over, they headed to the airstrip, only to find that the famous stars were getting in their bus right in front of them. John beeped his horn, so Bob Hope and the others came over to say hello.

• His time at HFC provided John with an opportunity to work with some cutting-edge technology for the time. At his office in Tacoma Park, John received a fax machine, a system no one had ever encountered before. The company’s records would also help with the foundations of establishing consumer credit scores in the United States.
• As the new manager at Greentree in Lorton when it opened, John took the company from 0 to $42 million in receivables funded just four years later.
• In addition to coaching girls’ softball, John also coached little league football for 30 years.
• Brian McCarthy and John Meehan’s families grew very close, as both had four daughters in softball, and they lived down the street from one another. Friends even nicknamed them the "McMeehans.” 
• Through some personal connections, the VFW "Pelicans” were able to organize a softball game against the then-Washington Redskins on their field. Although the Pelicans brought three "ringers” with them, the game ended 17-3. The football team noted it was the closest game they'd had in years.