Retired U.S. Navy Chief Warrant Officer 4 Solomon Atkinson, center, is greeted by Verdie Bowen, right, the director of the Alaska Office of Veterans Affairs, and escorted by son-in-law Franklin Hayward before receiving the Alaska Governor’s Veteran Advocacy Award during a ceremony in Metlakatla, Alaska, Dec. 10, 2018. Atkinson returned to his native Alaska after 22 years of Naval service in 1976, continuing to serve his community on the Indian Community Council and Board of Education, as a founder and president of the first veteran’s organization on Annette Island, and as mayor of Metlakatla.