Army Veteran and Comrade Nekohl Johnson served during the Persian Gulf War with deployments to Saudi Arabia.  After joining the Post, she has become an active and contributing member of VFW Post 311 including the management of our Social Media pages and the creation of “A Day for Men” which is in conjunction with Father’s Day.  In 2025, Comrade Johnson was honored as one of the Top 25 Veteran Women Leaders in Illinois and currently serves as the State of Illinois VFW Women’s Chairperson. 

 

Nekohl is also the founder of veteran centric organizations such as Where We Meet and Be Whole with Nekohl.  Be Whole with Nekohl creates programs and provides education, information, and resources to empower veterans, women, and trauma survivors.  Her book, A Queen Was Born Again, is available on Amazon and informs about Operation Wholeness, a 12-Step Wellness Program created to achieve sustainable wholeness.

 

Comrade Johnson is also the creator and facilitator of Coffee Chats which began in the Pullman neighborhood.  The Coffee Chats are fun and engaging “meetups” to support mental wellness.  Due to the success of the events, the Coffee Chats expanded to Governors State University, the Richton Park Vet Center, and to VFW Post 311.  At our Post the Coffee Chats are held on the 2nd and 4th Fridays.  From the Coffee Chats, Nekohl leads the Grief and Loss Sessions held on the 2nd and 4th Mondays at Post 311.  All her efforts support her original goal of making veterans and (especially women veterans) whole.