Katy, TX News – Katy Veteran Wins Texas VFW Election
Katy, TX News (January 21,2015) – The election for the State of Texas Veterans of Foreign Wars Junior Vice Commander was recently held at the Texas State Convention in Dallas, and Colonel Peyton Lumpkin won by a resounding margin. There were approximately 48,000 delegate votes cast, and Lumpkin received over 70% of the votes. This win places him on track to assume Command of the Texas VFW in 2016 at the annual VFW Convention in Dallas. In this capacity, he will be serving approximately 78,000 combat veterans in the Texas Veterans of Foreign Wars.
Peyton Lumpkin, is a retired United States Air Force Colonel, a highly decorated Vietnam veteran, and as a pilot flew for most of his Air Force career. In addition, he is a past VFW All State and All American Post and District Commander. In 2013 he led his District to number one in the State of Texas and to number one at the National level.
Although Texas VFW membership is 78,000 strong and is the largest combat veteran service organization in the state, he wants the Department of Texas to lead the nation in membership. He stated that, “Out of the 1.8 million veterans in the State of Texas at least one-third of them qualify as combat veterans.” Continuing, he says, “The challenge is to bring as many of these veterans into the organization as possible. The combat veterans are there – it is about doing the hard work of finding them and bringing them in to the Veterans of Foreign Wars. It is all about veterans helping veterans and their survivors. We can help them with their educational benefits, employment opportunities and issues with the Veterans Administration.”
He also noted during his campaign that, “ Now is not the time to decrease the forces in our services and that past funding cuts in the services’ budget should be restored to insure our country’s safety, security and sovereignty.” Echoing President Reagan’s maxim, “We must always deal from a position of strength, not weakness.”
Junior Vice Commander Lumpkin is very proud to represent veterans in the Katy area and all of Texas. He is looking forward to working to enhance the lives of all veterans. In addition to promoting patriotism and serving our communities, the VFW primary mission is to support those who have sacrificed so much for this country – all veterans and their families. He stated that, “The VFW message is that – No One Does More For Veterans”
Colonel Lumpkin is married to Jeanenne, who he says was key to his success in the VFW with her organizational and motivational skills. He says “I think they elected me to get her. “ They have two sons , Paul, married to Kimberly, and Steven, married to Brittany, and three grandchildren.
The VFW has been serving veterans since 1899 and is a Congressionally Chartered Veteran Service Organization. The local VFW Post 9182 is located in Katy at 6206 George Bush Drive and has been continually ranked as one of the top Posts in Texas and the Nation. It is open 8 – 5 daily. Interested veterans are invited to call or come by to find out more about the Veterans of Foreign Wars or just to see the Post military museum
