Linda Souza has always been sweet on veterans.

At least once a week, the Westport resident tends bar at Dartmouth’s VFW Post 9059 — a job she’s enjoyed for the past eight years.

Along with providing local veterans with conversation and drinks, Souza also likes to give “her guys” a freshly made dessert ranging from tea cakes, trifles, and seven-layer bars free of charge.

“I just love baking for them,” Souza said. “These guys in here have my highest respect and they deserve a little something — they’re so awesome.”

All confections are made with eggs from her farm in Westport, along with other ingredients she purchases that day.

Souza, who herself served in the U.S. Navy during the 1980s, said baking has long been a hobby of her’s.

That hobby soon developed into a passion after taking a culinary arts class at Silver Lake Regional High School in Kingston.

After graduating, Souza signed up to join the Navy and was sent to Pensacola, Fla. to be the base’s mess hall cook.

It was there where the Westport resident learned the skills she still uses to this day.

“You had to learn a lot of precision in that mess hall,” she said. “You have to add just the exact amount of butter and eggs when making something like a cake.”

Upon getting her discharge papers, Souza came back to Massachusetts where she began her tradition. And every shift since then, she continues to provide “her guys” with her confections.

Along with general treats she makes that day, Souza likes to try to try and theme them around certain holidays. This past Veterans Day, for example, she topped a cake with little military figurines.

For  St. Patrick's Day, Souza brought in a cake decorated with shamrocks and other festive toppers.

“We have a lot of fun here,” Souza said.

What Souza said she especially likes about baking for veterans is that it helps to let them know “they’re not forgotten.”

“A lot of them were not really recognized when they came back from war, which is a shame,” she said.

The regulars at the Cross Road VFW post said they greatly appreciate Souza’s kindness.

Jack Cunningham, an Army veteran who served in South Vietnam between 1964 and ‘66, noted Souza’s pastries are something he regularly looks forward to when he comes to the post.

“Everything she makes is so delicious,” he said. 

In fact, he still thinks about the red velvet cake she brought in for Super Bowl Sunday.

“I’m still tasting it,” Cunningham said with a laugh.

Fellow patron Mike FitzGerald, who served in the Coast Guard between 1981 and ‘85, said he has been especially touched by Souza’s kindness to all of the post's veterans.

“She takes time out of her own day and uses her own home ingredients to do all of this,” he said. “It really brightens our day here.”

While the patrons feel like Souza’s going out of her way to give them some recognition, she said it’s the least she can do.

“They deserve the best,” she said.