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By NOAH WORTHAM | Staff Writer

ALABASTER – Danny Sample of Alabaster was recently elected as state commander of the Veterans of Foreign Wars of the United States, Department of Alabama.

In his new role, Sample will lead 10,000 combat veterans of the Alabama VFW for the next year. Sample’s term as state commander will expire in 2024.

“Coming from an Alabaster, post to being able to lead the department has been an honor,” Sample said.

The VFW is a nonprofit veterans service organization comprised of eligible veterans and military service members from the active, guard and reserve forces. The VFW has approximately 1.5 million regular and auxiliary members in all 50 states and many foreign territories.

“Our goal is to really ensure that veterans and their families are taken care of,” Sample said. “We promote a lot of legislative initiatives to support Veterans and their families. We want to work in the communities because the community showed their support for us when we deployed and served our country, and this is a way for us to show our appreciation.”

Samples succeeds Tammy Johnson of Huntsville who served in the state commander position since 2022.

“She set a stage to be able to promote and make our state better,” Sample said. “She stepped up as the first woman commander for the department of Alabama. She faced the challenges head on and left the department in really good shape for me to grow on.”

Sample has previously served as senior vice commander at the state level. He is also a former commander of Lance Cpl. Thomas Rivers Memorial Post 12185 in Alabaster. A retired U.S. Army colonel, Sample and his wife, Tammy, are owners of Siluria Brewing Co. in Alabaster.

“I couldn’t do this without the support of my wife Tammy and her role in the auxiliary,” Sample said.