(Front row, L to R) Marian Paxton, VFW Post 1033 President; Nancy White, District President; Kathy Voss, Department President; Debbie Rodgers, Junior Vice President of VFW Post 1033; and Reverend Rosetta Stewart, Chaplain. (Back row, L to R) Mary Lee Cooke, Life Member; Lora Deitrich, VFW Auxiliary; Martha Terry, Conductor and 3rd Year Trustee; Linda Morrison, Secretary of VFW Post 1033; Commander Paul Linkenhoker, VFW Post 1033; Brenda Linkenhoker, VFW Auxiliary; and Cindy Arthur, Patriotic Instructor. Not pictured: Loretta Lambert, Treasurer of the VFW Post 1033

VFW Leaders Discuss Operation 'Bring Them Home' Prior to Meeting By Jennifer Bailey Staff Writer   Covington, VA (Sept. 17, 2026)— On September 17, VFW Post 1033, located at 710 Dolly Ann Drive in Covington, hosted a significant gathering attended by notable figures from the VFW Auxiliary Department of Virginia: Nancy White, the District President, and Kathy Voss, Department President. Just prior to the 6:00 p.m. meeting, members held a social hour that began at 5:00 p.m. featuring several refreshments and a quick chat with the Journal. Commander Paul Linkenhoker and VFW Post 1033 President, Marian Paxton, also joined the conversation which centered on the 'Bring Them Home' campaign. Paxton shared a few details about her upcoming trip to Hawaii with Nancy White, all to aid in the efforts of the pivotal operation. As it happens, Oahu, Hawaii, is the location for the Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, which are the headquarters for the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA). The Bring Them Home operation, jointly sponsored by the VFW and VFW Auxiliary, aims to assist the DPAA in its mission to locate, identify, and repatriate the remains of missing American service members. "We're going to ask our members to raise funds and bring awareness to this project," said Voss, "which is going to provide funding and, hopefully, resources to the facility in Hawaii, in Honolulu, which is on one of the military bases there, and what they do is, they are still in process of identifying remains for missing POW's and MIA's." Commander Linkenhoker paused to remember a late Army Corporal from 1950 whose remains were brought home thanks to the efforts of the Bring Them Home campaign. "There was a soldier in the Korean War, Ralph Cale from Alleghany County, who was missing in action (MIA), and just within the past couple of years, they found his remains, and he is no longer MIA." Cale was just 19 years old when he was killed following an attack on his unit near the Chosin Reservoir in North Korea. He was reported missing on December 2, 1950, though his remains were finally identified in recent years, and he was laid to rest on August 14, 2020, at Arlington National Cemetery. "If you've seen the various banners that we have hung, Ralph Cale's is hung coming up the town hill towards this post," Linkenhoker stated, "so that program means a whole lot to a lot of people." VFW Post 1033 President, Marian Paxton, sent the Journal the following statement: "It was a tremendous honor to have Department President Kathy Voss visit VFW Post 1033 to recognize the hard work this auxiliary and our post have done. President Voss has been an avid supporter of our auxiliary and shown us ways to do more things for our veterans. It is an honor for me to be the President of Post 1033 Auxiliary and have the respect of the auxiliary to accomplish all the great things we do. Also in attendance was District 6 President, Nancy White. Thank you, President White, for joining us. Thank you to Commander Paul Linkenhoker for conducting the ceremony and helping make the evening memorable." (L to R) Marian Paxton, Nancy White, Kathy Voss, and Dr. Paul Linkenhoker VFW Post 1033 President Marian Paxton was tearful as Commander Paul Linkenhoker discussed the monumental impact of operation Bring Them Home.

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