American Legion History

The American Legion was chartered and incorporated in 1919 and, with over 2.5 million members, is the largest veterans service organization in the United States. The group has a long history of supporting both veterans and communities through programs to support veterans, children, youth and families on a local and national level. The American Legion has been instrumental in assuring that Veterans are protected and receive benefits they have earned. In 1930 the organization was instrumental in the creation of the Veterans Administration and support its rise to the Department of Veteran Affairs in 1989, which made it a represented Cabinet position. There are over 14,000 posts located in the United States, District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, Mexico, Philippines and France. The members of these posts volunteer in the programs that are supported by the organization. A post, located in a city or town, is used for formal business and is host to community events such as holiday celebrations, Bingo, breakfasts, etc. Members of each Post vote for members who represent their post in a County Council. The Country Council is made up of members from all posts in the county in which the posts are located. This group performs annual inspections of the 14 to 20 posts making up the Council. The council also reports findings regarding activities regarding each post to the District. Division are made up of 4 or more Districts. These groups choose one or two delegates to represent their membership at conferences, conventions or gatherings. In recent years, the organization has also provided Virtual Posts to members so that they can participate in the activities of their local Post more easily. The National headquarters are location at the Indiana World War Memorial Plaza in Indianapolis where the historical archives of the Legion are kept as well as a library and other departments that help local Posts function effectively. Efforts continue to ensure that the VA hospitals receive the funding and support needed to provide effective and quality care to veterans. In 2009 over 916,598 volunteer hours were provided to hospitalized veterans in their communities which saved the government $18.4 million dollars to the Veterans Administration. The American Legion is very active in grassroots efforts to secure, maintain and preserve veterans rights and benefits. The organization played a pivotal roll in the expansion of educational benefits for at both the State and National levels of government. Many important benefits including the expansion of educational benefits, and added benefits to Veterans exposed to Agent Orange during the Korean War are just two of the ongoing efforts to improve benefits to veterans of all wars. Many veterans, and their families are not aware of the types of programs that the American Legion provides to its members. However, they have played a significant role in assuring that vets of all wars receive the benefits that they have earned and receive the assistance they need to transition back into civilian life. These programs are focused on the four pillars of the organization, which are Veterans Affairs and Rehabilitation, National Security, Americanism, and Children and Youth. It has been a well-documented fact that unemployment and homelessness run higher for veterans than for the general population. To combat this statistic, the American Legion works closely with community organizations to build, manage or support homeless shelters for vets across the US and actively advocates programs to house vets. Working with organizations such as Rebuilding Together and Habitat For Humanity, the members of the American Legion have donated hundreds of thousands of hours of time and money to assure that vets are able to live in quality housing. The members of local Posts work tirelessly in the community to encourage and educate the community through various scholarship programs for high school students that are focused on Americanism and the constitution. The Heroes To Hometowns Program is the only nation-wide re-integration assistance program for wounded vets from Iraq and Afghanistan. Millions of dollars in donations have been given to fellow vets and their families. The program offers mentoring and professional representation in claims appeals, discharge disputes as well as scholarship opportunities to the children of vets. Depression is often a huge factor in the difficulty of vets to re-integrate into their home and community after returning from a war. In recognition of this problem, The Suicide Prevention and Referral program was created. This Program connects service members who are experiencing a mental health crisis with the VA National Suicide Prevention Hotline and provides other assistance to provide the support needed by the veteran. The Temporary Financial Assistance Program is available to vets with minor children. This program helps vets with a sudden, unexpected need for funds to pay a debt that will have an impact of the well-being of their family. Many vets have participated in this program when faced with foreclosure when they cannot catch up house payments to refinance their home loan. Just as there are many different interests and types of vets, there are also innumerable activities and programs where a Vet can become involved. The Ride 2 Recovery is an annual week long cycling event that takes place in several location in the United States to speed the recovery of injured vets and enhance the rehabilitation process. Another great program is the American Legion Legacy Run which is a cross country motorcycle trek help annually to raise funds for the scholarship fund. The organization provides hundreds of thousands of dollars to students throughout the US through scholarships. One such program is the High School Oratorical Scholarship Program which teaches an appreciation of the US Constitution. Students who compete for the scholarship compete at both local, state and national levels for different amounts of money towards their education. There are several other scholarship programs supported by local posts that benefit all of the students in a community. The members are key to working with the community to provide education and information about the Legion and give returning veterans the opportunity to become a part of this great organization. By building local posts, it is possible to have a greater voice in preserving the benefits available to veterans.