The American Legion Turns 105 Years Old!

Happy Birthday to The American Legion, America’s largest Veterans Service Organization.

Why is this important to those of you who have not served? Because each of us has been either directly, or indirectly affected by all that we have accomplished since our founding, March 15, 1919.

First, a brief history. We were founded, by among other veterans of the Great War, Theodore Roosevelt, Jr., son of the President. These founding veterans wanted to create an organization based on Four Pillars: Americanism (promoting patriotism and love of Country); Children & Youth (provide for those orphans, whose fathers did not return from the war, or were seriously wounded), National Defense (create an army and navy that would keep us prepared for any future conflicts) and Veterans Affairs and Rehabilitation (to care for, retrain and support those who returned from the war).

With over 8 million mobilized troops, 116,000 dead and 300,000 wounded, sick or injured, at the time the United States had no way to deal with such large numbers. The American Legion was created to assist these men and women, as well as their families.

The Legion was chartered by Congress September 16, 1919. One very important fact of membership was that anyone who served in uniform, regardless of gender, religion, race, that service member was eligible to join. You might say, we were one of the very first organizations that recognized only one fact: if you served honorably in the military, we wanted you as a member.

Some of the accomplishments of our great organization? We were instrumental in the creation of the Veterans Bureau, the precursor of The Veterans Administration. During a Legion conference, we wrote the U.S. Flag code, which Congress adopted in 1942. We were the sole supporter of the GI Bill, which was signed into law, June 22, 1944, by a single vote. Why was it so important? It created a law that funded returning service members to continue their education, find jobs and receive loans to find housing for their new families. This Bill was considered the most impactful on American’s lives since the Homestead Act of 1862.

Today, The American Legion raises millions of dollars and provides a wide variety of services and programs for our veterans, servicemembers, their families and our communities.

For more detailed information, or to find out about membership, go to www.legion.org. I promise you will not be sorry!