The Thomas Hardy Graham Post 7059 of the Veterans of Foreign Wars held its 72nd Anniversary Dinner and Service Awards Banquet on April 21. The annual event is to honor the community emergency medical provider, firefighter, sheriffs deputy, police officer and teacher of the year, selected by their peers and supervisors. Certificates and cash awards are also presented to the winners of the VFW sponsored Patriot’s Pen and Voice of Democracy Scholarship Competitions. The scholarship entries are judged on the local, district, state and national levels with the first place national winner being awarded a $30,000 scholarship paid directly to the university, college or technical/vocational school of their choice.

Honored guests at this years banquet included Mike Boehme, VFW Virginia State Commander, Linda Bond, VFW State Auxiliary President, Gus Villalobos, VFW District 4 Commander and Patricia Baldwin, VFW District 4 President. Deputy Chief of Police Bill Hogan of the Farmville Police Department, Major David Wilmoth of the Prince Edwards Sheriff’s Office, Farmville Fire Chief Dean Farmer and Nat Carter of the Prince Edward Rescue Squad each presented resumes of their respective awardees and assisted in awarding plaques and certificates. Certificates and cash awards were presented to scholarship recipients by Peggy Emert, President VFW Post 7059 Auxiliary.

Special awards were presented to Mike Perutell for exceptional service to Post 7059 and Chapman and Sons Paint Contractors for their generous contributions to the VFW.