Hometown: Monroe, NY
Branch: U.S. Army 
Unit: 1st Battalion, 30th Infantry Regiment, 2nd Heavy Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division
Military Honors: Bronze Star with 2 Oak Leaf Clusters, Meritorious Service Medal with Oak Leaf Cluster, Joint Service Commendation Medal
Date of Sacrifice: June 22, 2012 - in Mazari-Sharif, Afghanistan
Age: 36
Conflict: War in Afghanistan, 2001-2021

Growing up in the small town of Monroe in New York’s Hudson Valley, Paul Voelke knew what he wanted to do. At an early age, he chose the life of a soldier. Friends interviewed by Monroe’s local newspaper—The Photo News—say that he “had his sights set on West Point for as long as anyone can remember.”

Voelke graduated from Monroe-Woodbury High School in 1994. There he excelled as a student, played baseball, ran cross country and track, and was part of the National Honor Society. He was a huge sports fan and followed the New York Knicks, New York Giants, and the Los Angeles (formerly Brooklyn) Dodgers.

His academic achievements and service to others were noticed, and his goal was realized when he earned an appointment to the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. Voelke was commissioned as a 2nd lieutenant in the Army, graduating with a bachelor’s degree in European History in 1998.

Two years later, Voelke married his high school sweetheart, Traci Maultasch, in 2000. The two would later welcome sons Andrew (“A.J.”) and Benjamin.

Rising to the rank of captain, Voelke was selected for a Joint Chiefs of Staff Internship in Washington D.C. There he studied policy management at Georgetown University, graduating with a master’s degree in 2007.

Voelke would rise to the rank of captain, and his military career would include five deployments overseas: one in Kosovo, two in Iraq, and two in Afghanistan.

For Veterans Day 2009, Maj. Voelke wrote a guest editorial entitled “Why I serve–Veterans Day Observations” for southeastern New York’s Times Herald-Record. It reads, in part:

Over the past 11 years, the Army has sent me to a variety of places, at home and abroad. There have been cold places and hot places, urban areas and rural. There have been places where I’ve enforced a peace, and places where I’ve been at war. I’ve met with village elders, teachers, engineers, sheikhs, town council members, police officers and imams.

In each case, in all of those places—Iraq, Afghanistan and Kosovo—my mission has been to help people; to help them live their lives just like Americans want to live their life—in peace, and able to provide for their families. They only want to send their children to school, and live with electricity, clean running water, functioning sewers, and safe roads and markets.

My role has been to help them achieve that, to live the Iraqi, the Afghan, the Kosovar dream. My job has been to provide the security, to protect the citizens of those countries, so the other things can happen.

In February 2012, Maj. Voelke was sent to Mazari-Sharif, Afghanistan, with the 1st Battalion, 30th Infantry Regiment, 2nd Heavy Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division, out of Fort Stewart, Georgia. The nine-month deployment was in support of Operation Enduring Freedom.

Serving his country and the Afghan people in Mazari-Sharif, on June 22, 2012, Maj. Voelke sustained fatal injuries from an accident involving a mine-protected vehicle. He was lost at age 36 and had been married to Traci for 12 years. Sons A.J. and Benjamin were just 8 and 6 years old, respectively, when their father gave “the last full measure of devotion” to his country.

Maj. Paul Clarke Voelke—who, as a child, had his sights set on West Point—was laid to rest with his fellow soldiers at the United States Military Academy Post Cemetery (Section XXXIV Row AA Site 2) on July 6, 2012.

In 2010, Maj. Voelke’s West Point class of 1998 established “The 98 Fund,” a non-profit organization that honors classmates who lost their lives. Operating under the class motto, “Duty Will Not Wait,” the mission of The 98 Fund is to serve, connect, and provide healing support for veterans, survivors, and veteran organizations. Paul’s wife Traci has served on the organization’s Board of Directors.

Sources
Details provided by Traci Voelke, Maj. Voelke’s Gold Star Wife.
Times Herald-Record, Nov. 10, 2009: My View: ‘Why I serve’ – Veterans Day observations
WBUR: ‘We Live With Memorial Day Every Day’: Wife And Son Remember Army Maj. Paul Voelke
Tunnel to Towers Foundation: Paul Clarke Voelke
Savannah Morning News, Jul. 4, 2012: Memorial held for Voelke
West-Point.org: MAJ Paul C. Voelke USA
The Photo News, Jun. 29, 2012: One of Monroe’s own native sons dies in Afghanistan
The Journal News, Jul. 5, 2012: Funeral services set for Army officer
Burial Site: Find a Grave